by Christopher Marquis / © 2025, Fast Company. Mansueto Ventures, LLC. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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As global temperatures rise and there’s a seemingly endless series of climate disasters, it’s natural to look to technology as a solution. From carbon capture (where emissions aren’t released into the atmosphere but buried in the ground) to geo-engineering (where particles are sprayed into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and lower temperatures), green innovations are frequently touted as the way to resolve our continued reliance on fossil fuels.
But in our eagerness for silver bullets, we may be susceptible to optimism bias, focusing too much on potential benefits while ignoring many of the negative effects or drawbacks. A 2022 essay in Nature argues that many of these technologies are often overhyped and don’t include the significant associated challenges, costs and unintended consequences. For instance, discussions of EVs and their required batteries usually don’t address the harmful extraction of necessary minerals like silicon, lithium and cobalt.
A less flashy type of climate innovation that can have real impact now doesn’t hype technical fixes and instead focuses on rethinking a company’s operations, including its use of materials and redesign of supply chains.
Sustainability must start with product design
Studies have shown that 70%–80% of a product’s environmental impact is determined during the design phase, something I’ve also heard from many of the companies I’ve researched over the last two decades.
For instance, Riccardo Bellini, former CEO of luxury fashion house Chloé, told me that an analysis of the company’s full environmental footprint in 2020 revealed that 80% of the company’s sustainability challenges could be “solved at the design table”—specifically that 58% of Chloé’s emissions stemmed from raw materials like cotton, leather and virgin cashmere.
Understanding this led the company to prioritize lower-impact materials like linen and hemp in new collections and increase its use of recycled materials, particularly cashmere. And for leather products, Chloé began sourcing through a supplier that had third-party certifications ensuring that their tanning and manufacturing processes followed strict environmental standards.
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