“Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” By Gro Harlem Brundtland
Sustainability, in simple terms, is to avoid any depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance. Innovation for sustainability is to innovate certain technologies to help maintain an environmental balance of the Earth. We can even say innovation of sustainability in green technologies.
Green technologies is an umbrella term for sustainability innovation that contributes to lowering our negative impact on the environment while sustaining our natural resources.
Although innovative sustainability solutions are relatively young at our current point, they will become quite important soon. There are pros and cons of innovation for sustainability; you must consider how there can be cons for sustainability as it’s there to help us. Let’s find that out in detail.
Pros of Innovation for Sustainability
1. Energy Saving
Sustainability innovation, if used by the industries, can limit energy by half. One of the main reasons why sustaining innovation was first invented is to save energy. For instance, by producing more energy-efficient products, we have to use less energy in our daily lives. Saved energy can reduce our global energy consumption, which in return saves a lot of natural resources.
2. Reduce Air Pollution
Electric cars are one of the sustaining innovation examples. Electric cars are an innovation for sustainability that serves the purpose of transportation and massively reduces air pollution. Conventional vehicles emit harmful gasses daily, contributing to air pollution. One of the biggest enemies of air pollution is aircraft which are figuring out how to slow down their emissions of harmful gasses.
3. Reduce Plastic Pollution
We all know plastic pollution has no solution, and we should avoid it to improve our ecological footprint. Green technologies or innovative sustainability solutions can help you solve this issue when different companies step in to take matters into their own hands. Brands can make more sustainable clothing; industries can make eco-friendly packaging, or individuals can recycle their waste accordingly to reduce plastic pollution.
Related article: Top Sustainable Outdoor Apparel
4. May Allow us to Feed more People on a Global Scale
Sustainability innovation may allow us to feed more people on a global scale. Since our world population is growing at an alarming rate, we have to produce a significant amount of food for them and resources. Innovative sustainability ideas will help us achieve that goal when we find alternatives and do not deplete our resources—for example, using biochar as a fertilizer instead of using harmful chemicals affecting our livestock and crops.
Related article: Biochar for Sustainable Soil
Cons of Innovation for Sustainability
1. High R&D Cost
Innovative sustainability solutions can be a little heavy on the pocket because the manufacturing cost jumps high. Another problem with environmental technology is that it’s new, and plenty of $$$ is spent on its research and development. Thus, companies have to spend large amounts of money upfront, which may discourage them and slow down the growth of sustainability innovation.
2. High Implementing Cost
Only the development is not costly, but implementing innovative sustainability solutions can also add a specific cost to the manufacturers. E.g. companies wanting to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the equipment and the work needed will cost plenty of money and might take years to implement.
3. Sustainability Innovation is Not in Demand
The innovation for sustainability is new to the market, and these promising technologies are required in the future. The technologies are still relatively immature since the pressure on the industries is not high enough in many countries. The reason for not having high pressure is that most the demand of green technologies is still in the developing stage, so that puts production in a slow process.
4. Lack of Knowledge of the General Public
One of the cons of innovation for sustainability is the lack of knowledge of the general public. Many people are still not aware of the environmental problems as they are not visible on a daily basis. Therefore, people might not understand why they should use green technology and are unwilling to pay for the products.
Innovative and sustainable thinking go hand and hand as sustainability innovations need more awareness as they can help us save our ecological footprint. Everything has pros and cons, so why work towards the cons to help make the earth a better place to live in.