Environmental Lifecycle Hotspots and the Implementation of Eco-design Principles: Does Consistency Pay off?

Structured approaches to diminishing products’ environmental footprint include the identification of hotspots, e.g., lifecycle phases or aspects that feature criticalities in terms of environmental sustainability. Still in these approaches, measures are taken consistently binvesting eco-design efforts to improve the situation in the identified hotspots. However, many products implement eco-design principles irrespective of hotspots, i.e., without taking into account the major sources of environmental footprint. A sample of products has been analyzed in terms of hotspots, and lifecycle stages are affected by the implementation of eco-design principles and achieved success. The study reveals that, while eco-design principles in the use phase of the product favor success, the consistency between the hotspot and the lifecycle stage does not modulate the relationship between implemented eco-design principles and success. As a result, while the identification of hotspots is a best practice as for the attempt to maximize environmental benefits brought on by eco-design initiatives, it plays a limited role in terms of customer’s acceptability and appreciation of new products.