As countries and regions around the world began to develop, it slowly became evident that industrialization and economic growth come hand in hand with environmental damages. With the rise of environmental pollution, climate change and other sustainability challenges, the concepts of eco efficiency vs eco effectiveness became increasingly important.
More and more people are talking about these terms. However, only a few know what they really mean. Actually both approaches are quite different from each other.
So, what’s the difference between eco efficiency vs eco effectiveness?
Definition of Eco Efficiency
Eco efficiency aims to promote a transformation from unsustainable development to one of sustainable development. It is based on the concept of creating more goods and services while using fewer resources and creating less waste and pollution.
In other words: Eco efficiency means achieving the same result while, at the same time, reducing the environmental damage caused by achieving these results.
The foundation of eco-efficiency can be found in the 3 R’s (“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”). Thus, eco-efficiency means to achieve more (or the same) with less environmental damage.
The reduction in ecological impact translates into an increase in resource productivity, which in turn can create a competitive advantage for businesses, as it helps them in reducing costs.
Critical aspects of eco-efficiency are:
- Reduced material intensity of goods or services
- Reduced energy intensity of goods or services
- Reduced dispersion of toxic materials
- Improved recyclability
- Increased use of renewable resources
- Greater durability of products
- Increased service intensity of goods and services
Example of Eco-Efficiency
Let’s consider a product we all know: the plastic bottle!
A company that aims to make a plastic bottle more environmantally-friendly by applying the concept of eco efficiency could do the following:
- Increase the % of recycled plastic used in the plastic bottle
- Reduce the amount of energy used to produce the plastic bottle
- Improve the recyclability of the plastic bottle
- Reduce the carbon emissions of delivering the plastic bottle to the buyer
All these initatives can help in reducing the plastic bottle’s negative impact on the environment (per-unit).
The pitfalls of Eco-Efficiency
However! There is one problem with this approach: Ultimately, a plastic bottle will still be a plastic bottle. It will still require fossil fuels (oil) for it to be produced. It can still be damaging to our health (by containing toxic materials). And it can still end up in our oceans, causing harm to the marine ecosystem.
All these initiatives only slow down the rate of environmental depletion and don’t reverse the production of unused or non-recycled waste.
Indeed, oftentimes the result of eco efficient initiatives like these is the exact opposite of what they were supposed to achieve. This is what is also called the “rebound effect”.
Rebound Effect
Many people believe that an eco efficiency approach aligns business’ economic objectives with the environmental objectives of reducing the use of natural resources. However, it is not that simple. We need to distinguish between the natural resources used per unit produced (often highlighted by companies engaged in an eco efficiency approach) and the natural resources consumed overall, which are linked to global demand for these resources. It is this last point that determines the environmental impact.
For example, let’s examine the case of a car that is more fuel efficient, travelling more miles per gallon of gasoline. Less fuel is required to make the same trip, which also means that the same trip has now become cheaper. This money savings can encourage us to drive more, and therefore to consume more petrol. This is known as the “rebound effect”.
We can observe the same effect for LED bulbs, which cost less to use than traditional bulbs. We can make fewer efforts to turn off these low-consumption lights than those with traditional bulbs, which can paradoxically increase energy use. In addition, manufacturers are likely to market their LED bulbs as sustainable (thanks to the reduced energy-consumption) although they are not – a perfect example for greenwashing.
By reducing production costs, eco efficiency can thus have a “cost effect”: As production costs decrease, the selling price also decreases and, consequently, demand and production can rise. We consume more, which runs counter to our environmental objectives. This argument seems valid in mass markets. When total resource use increases as a result of an eco-efficiency policy, it is said that there is a “rebound”, with an ultimately negative impact on the environment.
Thus, eco efficiency cannot be a long-term solution to problems like environmental pollution and climate change, as it often results in the opposite of what it aims to do. Instead of having a positive impact on the encironment, it has a negative one.
However, there is an alterantive to this approach. And this is exactly where eco effectiveness comes in.
Definition of Eco Effectiveness
Eco effectiveness aims to achieve the same result (or even more) by completely eliminating the environmental damage caused by achieving it. That way, eco effectiveness goes beyond eco-efficiency in abolishing the very idea of waste.
Overall there’s only one goal of eco effectiveness. And that is the complete elimination of waste from the product-life cycle.
But how can this be achieved?
Well… This is where Craddle-to-Craddle comes in!
What is Craddle-to-Craddle?
Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is about seeing garbage as an eternal resource and doing the right thing from the beginning. It is about making community and product development function in the same way as a healthy ecological system where all resources are used effectively, and in a cyclical way (as opposed to the current linear system that can be better described as a Cradle to Grave system). In other words: C2C is about being more good, not less bad!
In order for the C2C system to be sustainable, all materials in products need to be kept clean and should not be mixed. Alternatively, there needs to be a separation system in place that can be applied after the item is discarded. C2C methodology builds on the concept that “waste = food”, meaning that what is considered waste can become food in a new product cycle. In fact, C2C is the circular economy at its best and describes how eco effectiveness can be applied in practice.
This methodology was developed by professor Michael Braungart and William McDonough in 2001 and it has been used as inspiration in products, buildings and production systems.
Cradle-to-Cradle is based on three principles derived from nature:
- Everything is a resource for something else
- Use clean & renewable energy
- Celebrate diversity
In practical terms, C2C requires products to be designed in such a way to ensure that all materials can be classified into one of two cyclical systems: the biological cycle & the technological cycle.
Biological cycle
The biological cycle contains materials and products for consumption that naturally biodegrade and can be returned to the ecological system. Examples of such materials are natural fibres and bio plastics.
Technological cycle
The technological cycle contains materials and products for services. Metals, oil-based plastics and chemicals are examples of valuable materials that can be recycled or reused producing the same or better quality in closed systems, provided they are not mixed.
Example of Cradle-to-Cradle
There are already many products that have received the Craddle-to-Craddle certiciation. One of them is the SunPower solar panel. The residential solar photovoltaic system is the world’s first fully integrated residential solar platform and the first solar system to achieve Cradle to Cradle certification.
The 6-kW system that tops the Unity Home rooftop includes 18 Signature Black 62-cell AC panels and is made of non-hazardous materials. The solar system hooks up to the SunPower EnergyLink, monitoring hardware that provides real-time information on energy production and consumption.
In the end, this solar panel does not only generate clean energy, but is also produced in a sustainable way and only contains materials that are safe for humans and the environment.
The difference between Eco Efficiency vs Eco Effectiveness
To illustrate the difference between eco efficiency vs eco effectiveness, think again about the issue of plastic bottles. A person with an eco efficient approach would try to reduce the number of plastic bottles he is using, maybe reuse old ones, and buy bottles made out of recycled plastic.
The Issue with Recycling
The issue with recycling is, that most of the time recycling is actually “downcycling”. “Downcycling” describes the process through which the materials of a product go through during their lifetime. For example: In the beginning high-quality plastics are used in cars and other expensive goods. Nevertheless, when the car will be too old, its materials will be used as resources for new products. According to the concept of recycling, all of the old car’s materials should be used as resources for new cars.
However, this is not the case. Most materials, such as plastics, will be indeed used in new products, but not in cars. Instead, they will be used in lower-quality goods, until their quality becomes so poor that they can only be used in inferior goods such as plastic bottles. Ultimately, when the plastic has become so inferior that it cannot even be used in such low-quality products, it will be landfilled or burned, either ending up in the ocean or polluting the air (creating waste).
Thus, one has to be careful when being confronted with the claim of recycling, as it often actually is downcycling.
Coming back to the example of eco effectiveness, a person with an eco effective approach would search for a solution that achieves the result (i.e. carrying water) without damaging the environment (i.e. no use of plastic).
To put it in the words of McDonough and Braungart, “eco-efficiency only works to make the old, destructive system a bit less so. In some cases, it can be more pernicious, because its workings are more subtle and long-term. Being less bad isn’t good enough”.
Thus, eco efficiency can also be described as slowing the process of destruction, or making a bad design last longer.
Of course, this is everything but sustainable in the long-term…
Although the terms eco efficiency and eco-effectiveness sound very similar, the meaning of them is very different. Understanding such concepts is of utmost importance when discussing issues related to climate change, environmantal pollution and other ecological problems. And this is why nature-based solutions for climate change and sustainability education are so important.
