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A consortium of some of the world’s most prominent design-led companies and institutions is joining forces to combat the climate crisis.
Design for the Good, a new nonprofit announced today, will develop open-source products and services that chip away at the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a Group of 17 goalsTo build a sustainable world by 2030. Each year, the alliance will find solutions to a different UN goal. This year’s start was with clean water, sanitation, and other basic needs.
Participating design teams hail from General Mills, Logitech, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Nedbank, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Philips, and the Royal College of Art. Together, the alliance generates more than $400Billion in revenue, almost one Million employees, and 5,000 design teams.
The alliance members commit to funding designers and volunteering their time. Designers can sign up for five days to help develop a scalable solution. They then collaborate with other designers, businesses, NGOs, and NGOs to refine their ideas. The best ideas are then funded on the basis that they will eventually be made (and made open-source, and licensed-free). Design leaders at the alliance’s member companies will form an advisory council overseeing the process.
“The scale of the environmental and societal challenges we face today—climate change, poverty, water and sanitation, global inequality and injustice—requires collaboration of equal scale if we are to find solutions for all people,” says Alastair Curtis, chief design officer at Logitech, in a press release. “The role of a designer is to improve the way we live, and this is a chance of a lifetime to do just that.”
Design for Good is a unique initiative that aims to unite the design community. The community has struggled for years with its role in perpetuating global climate change. It remains to be seen how and what the impact will be. Some of the companies involved have poor records in environmental performance. PepsiCo and Nestlé are frequently criticized for being among the world’s top plastic polluters. There are many well-intentioned people. Socially conscious designs have failed to achieve their lofty ambitions..
These are companies that have proven their ability to influence consumer behavior globally and have great design talent. We’ll be following this initiative closely in the coming months and years. Keep checking back for more updates.
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