Talking Design for Sustainability with Pierre David (CIMPA)

The Design for Sustainability team withing the PLM Green Global Alliance, Matthew Sullivan (NCC) and Erik Rieger (PTC) have been active in the background during the summer months to further explore the actions for the Design for Sustainability workgroup.

One of their actions was to reconnect with Pierre David, with whom we, as a PGGA, spoke in a broader context about a year and a half ago when discussing sustainability activities within his company, CIMPA PLM Services: PLM and Sustainability: talking with CIMPA.

Follow the link to learn more about this interview.

In a recent PGGA discussion, Pierre David shared his perspective on how Design for Sustainability (DfS) is evolving from an environmental assessment activity into a core part of product development. Central to this evolution is a shift from traditional “eco-design” towards Design to Value, where sustainability is considered alongside cost, technical performance and other engineering objectives rather than being managed as a separate workstream.

You can watch and listen to the full discussion here on our YouTube channel:

What we discussed

A recurring theme throughout the conversation was the growing maturity of sustainability reporting, but with a lack of integration with engineering methods. Many organisations now have well-established processes for measuring and communicating sustainability performance, driven by Corporate Social Responsibility reporting, Science Based Targets initiative commitments and sustainability ratings.

However, Pierre highlighted a disconnect between these activities and the engineering teams that design products. While sustainability metrics are increasingly available at a corporate level, they are not always accessible at the point where engineering decisions are made. As a result, sustainability can become an activity that reports on outcomes rather than influences them.

Part of the challenge is expertise!

Established engineers often lack DfS training, so those who want to work on sustainability may lack the technical skills. Additionally, engineers are typically driven by improvements in cost, weight or performance, whereas sustainability’s financial benefits are often less clear.

The second challenge is tooling!

While PLM providers are increasingly introducing sustainability capabilities, the current landscape remains fragmented. Designers often have to work across multiple specialist applications, databases and data sources, making sustainability analysis hard to embed in day-to-day engineering workflows. Engineers already work within established processes and digital toolsets, and introducing additional sustainability activities can create friction if they are not embedded within existing workflows.

What to do?

To address this challenge, Pierre discussed EFCAT (Environmental and Financial Cost Analysis Technology), a parametric modelling approach now integrated within 3DEXPERIENCE, designed to provide designers with rapid environmental and cost insights during the early stages of product development.

One key finding of EFCAT is that environmental and costing models are about 80% similar in their inputs, structures and assumptions. Both disciplines require materials, manufacturing processes, transportation routes and supplier information.

Rather than treating environmental analysis and cost analysis as separate activities, Pierre advocates bringing them together through a common Design to Value approach. This lets engineers assess environmental and financial impacts simultaneously, reducing duplicated effort and improving decision-making.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, Pierre highlighted several challenges likely to shape the sustainability landscape in the coming years.

• The first is the growing focus on Digital Product Passports (DPPs). As new regulations begin to take effect, including the battery passport requirements arriving in 2027, sustainability teams are expected to spend significant time preparing the data, governance and processes needed to support compliance.
• He also identified supplier data as one of the biggest unresolved challenges. Accurate Scope 3 reporting relies on environmental data from suppliers, yet widespread adoption will require greater trust across the supply chain. Suppliers must be able to share environmental information without exposing commercially sensitive data that could reveal their cost structures or affect future negotiations.
• Finally, Pierre highlighted the need to better support smaller suppliers. While large organisations may have dedicated sustainability teams, many lower-tier suppliers lack the resources to employ sustainability specialists. The industry therefore needs to provide simpler methods, clearer guidance and practical rules that allow smaller businesses to calculate and share Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions data without creating a significant financial burden.

Key Takeaways

The discussion highlighted that the challenge facing Design for Sustainability is no longer simply measuring environmental impact. Instead, the focus is shifting towards integrating sustainability into engineering decisions and existing product development workflows.

Pierre’s challenge to the PLM Green Global Alliance is to compile a benchmark of PLM providers to map their actual sustainability features and identify gaps between platforms, providing key insight into the sustainability tooling at engineers’ fingertips.

The DfS team has started working on it, and feel free to contact us if you represent a (PLM) provider supporting design for sustainability in a broader sense than impact analysis. Matthew or Erik will be happy to connect with you.

Join us at the PLM Roadmap & PDT 2026 for more discussions related to PLM and Sustainability. Have a look at the agenda.