Therese Schwarz

Reducing Conflicts of Interest in Eco-design: The Relation of Innovation Management and Eco-design in the Automotive Sector

Product development lately has to deal with economic, technical, consumer-related and environmental issues. Environmental concerns owed to changing climate, local natural catastrophes and lack of resources are pushing into the foreground. Eighty percent of a product’s environmental footprint is determined in the design phase. Eco-design, integrating environmental matters while improving the environmental performance, is familiar to industries but rarely applied, hemmed by various barriers and obstacles. Conflicts of interest emerging in the R&D phase impair considering and enforcing a switch to eco-design. Conflicts are produced by different legal and normative frameworks, aims of corporate departments or product requirements. A closer look at two life-cycle phases (product development and end of life) helps understand eco-design in automotive battery development.