Lang-Koetz, C., Beucker, S. & Heubach, D. (2008). Estimating Environmental Impact in the Early Stages of the Product Innovation Process. In, Schaltegger, S., Bennett, M., Burritt, R.L. & Jasch, C. (Eds.), Environmental Management Accounting for Cleaner Production (S. 49-64). Dordrecht NL: Springer.

During the early stages of a company’s innovation process sustainability concerns are only taken into account in the form of strategic guidelines. In contrast, many different methods, tools for design, and impact assessment, support the decision-makers at the end of the innovation process. An approach for environmental impact estimation of product ideas based on the guiding barrier concept is presented. The approach uses the stage gate methodology and action strategies for the reduction of environmental impacts of a product.