Sustainability in technical design: from world goals to LCA

According to the education ordinance, a technical designer must be able to contribute to ensuring environment and sustainability in technical design solutions based on knowledge of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It is not a ceremonial formulation: In both industry and construction, climate and environmental requirements are today concrete numbers that must be calculated and documented — and documentation is precisely your profession.

§The world goals as a professional compass

The UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015 as a common agenda towards 2030. For a technical designer goals on sustainable industry and innovation responsible consumption and production and climate action are particularly relevant: In practice they translate to questions like — can the design be made with less material? Can it be disassembled and recycled? Can a lighter design save energy throughout the product's lifetime?

§Climate requirements in the building regulations

In construction the requirements have become mandatory: Since 1 January 2023 the building regulations BR18 have required a climate calculation — a life cycle assessment (LCA) — for new construction. The first limit value was 12 kg CO₂-equivalents per m² per year and applied only to new construction over 1,000 m². From 1 July 2025 the requirements were tightened and differentiated: the limit values now apply to all new construction regardless of size the level is significantly lowered (an average limit around 7 kg CO₂e per m² per year e.g. 6.7 for single-family houses and 7.5 for office/apartment building) with further tightening planned towards 2029 and a separate limit for the construction process itself has been introduced. Always check the current wording in the building regulations. This means material choice no longer just concerns price and strength but also documented climate footprint.

§From BIM model to climate calculation

Here the technical designer becomes central: An LCA requires quantities — how many cubic meters of concrete, tons of steel and square meters of insulation does the project contain? Those quantities are drawn from the BIM model, and the calculation is never better than the model behind it. Incorrectly classified objects, duplicates or missing building parts give incorrect climate figures. Precise modeling and correct property data have thus become a climate competence.

• 01Model building components with correct material and classification so quantity extraction can be mapped to climate data.
• 02Keep the model in sync with the project — an outdated model gives an outdated climate calculation.
• 03Save the basis: which EPDs and assumptions were included in the calculation, and which version of the model was used.
• 04Think disassembly: joints with bolts rather than glue make component reuse possible.

§Design changes most at the beginning

Experience from both industry and construction shows that the vast majority of a product's environmental impact is determined in the early design phases — when geometry, materials and production method are chosen. Later you can only optimise on a small scale. Therefore sustainability belongs in the sketch phase: a leaner cross-section, a recycled material or a construction that can be repaired instead of replaced, is drawn in from the start. It is the designer at the keyboard who concretely makes the difference — one parametric change at a time.

“The most sustainable material is the one you don't need to use.”

— Basic principle in material-saving design