Eco-socio-design: beyond eco-design

What if we looked at products and services from a different perspective? At EVEA, we promote an approach that links environmental and social concerns. We call it eco-socio-design. It may sound technical, but the idea is simple: to design better — for the environment and for everyone — across the entire life cycle: producers, consumers, and all stakeholders.
 

What is eco-socio-design?

The term eco-socio-design is neither standardized nor formally defined. Today, it refers to the integration of social considerations (inspired by ISO 14075 on social life cycle assessment) into eco-design approaches (as defined in standards such as NF X30-264 and ISO 14006). Though still a neologism and not yet widely recognized in scientific litterature, it is well understood within professional circles.

To think in terms of eco-socio-efficiency

Eco-socio-design is built around a core concept: eco-socio-efficiency. In other words, how can we design a product or service that reduces its environmental footprint, considers people’s needs, and remains technically and economically efficient?

It’s all about balance: reducing pollution, limiting resource use, but also ensuring decent working conditions, promoting equality, and making sure that decisions benefit as many people as possible — without compromising performance or usability.

Eco-socio-design isn’t about ticking boxes. It questions the real value created by a solution: for the company, for the user, for the environment, and for society.

A continuous improvement approach

Like eco-design, eco-socio-design is based on the life cycle. But here, every stage is also viewed through a social lens. This might include working conditions in a factory, service accessibility, user ergonomics, or the impact on local communities.

It’s an iterative process: we adjust, reassess, and do better each time. There’s no such thing as a perfect product — the goal is to make informed, relevant and coherent decisions at every level: design, functionality, materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, and end of life.

Assess to act better

Eco-socio-design alternates between two phases: assessing impacts and choosing levers for action. It’s this back-and-forth that enables progress.

At EVEA, we draw on two areas of expertise: environmental life cycle assessment and social life cycle assessment. We combine these with an analysis of the product — or the product or service portfolio — to identify where action really matters. It’s not a formula. It’s a perspective. A cross-disciplinary perspective that guides decision-making.

How to start an eco-socio-design approach?

One example: Rebond, a small company with the ambition to make sports balls from bio-based materials. EVEA’s Social Footprints team supported Rebond in its eco-socio-design process for a sports ball, using life cycle assessment (both social and environmental) as a decision-making tool. The aim was to compare an existing so-called “conventional” ball with a bio-based version throughout their respective life cycles.

The objective: to provide the project lead with clear conclusions and well-founded recommendations, helping integrate both environmental and social considerations into the design of the new ball. The analysis also aimed to deliver an accessible assessment of the current product’s impacts, to avoid any unintended trade-offs and to steer development towards relevant and actionable eco-socio-design scenarios.

This project highlighted the value of local know-how through workshops certified "fair trade" and the replacement of petro-based materials with bio-based alternatives.

Among the improvement areas :

• Strengthening the traceability of bio-based materials to prevent deforestation and uphold the rights of indigenous communities.
• Planning for the product's end-of-life (a circularity initiative is underway).

More and more companies and collectives are adopting this approach. Other examples include: shoes designed to be fully recyclable and produced within cooperatives; everyday items designed for local repair and sold at fair prices; or the creation of responsible supply chains. Eco-socio-design is becoming a lever for innovation.

Of course, embracing this approach does come with challenges: higher initial costs, rethinking traditional business models, longer design times, and so on. But it enables the creation of more resilient, sustainable products that align with today’s social challenges.

Want to get started but unsure where to begin? The key is to ask the right questions from the outset:

• What need(s) does my product address?
• What are the needs and constraints of the stakeholders?
• What are we trying to improve?
• Who are we doing it for?
• What decisions can we revisit?

That’s where we come in.

Key takeaways

Eco-socio-design is about doing better — with clarity and intention. Better for the planet, better for people. It’s an approach that requires perspective, consistency, and dialogue. At EVEA, we believe it’s this kind of mindset that will make a difference.

Adopting eco-socio-design means rethinking not just your products, but also your priorities — by looking at the bigger picture. It’s about shifting from a logic of extraction to one of contribution. It means designing not just for people, but with them — and for all living systems.

It is also a continuous improvement approach. However, it is not a silver bullet:

• Rebound effects are possible; but acknowledging them is part of a responsible process.
• Even if all products were one day improved through an eco-socio-design approach, it would still be necessary to slow down and question our consumption patterns in order to stay within planetary bouderies.

A collaboration between our Social Footprints team (Marie Manus, Monika Mousavi, Marie Vuaillat, Julien Larrenduche) an our Product and Services Team (Fabien Bouton)