Design Museum Academy Design for Business
Design Your Way to Net Zero
In this one-day decarbonisation workshop for businesses, learn about innovative design-led net zero solutions and discover methods and practical tools to measure and reduce carbon emissions in the workplace.
What to expect
This introductory-level CPD-certified decarbonisation course for small and medium-sized businesses is designed to demystify and support you to start implementing carbon reduction actions immediately. Whatever business sector you are in, or your level of design interest or expertise, the workshop will equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to start making change.
Through the facilitation of designer Alexie Sommer, you will learn from a team of industry experts and gain practical insights from business leaders. Aimed at leadership teams and those interested in greening their organisations, this workshop will introduce methodologies including Life Cycle Assessment, GHG Protocol and carbon management platforms.
Using case studies from our recent 'Waste Age: What can design do?' exhibition, the course will explore innovative carbon tracking solutions and provide a rich and stimulating mixture of inspiring ideas and practical tools.
This workshop is supported by Lancaster West Neighbourhood Team’s Green Skills Academy.
Learning outcomes
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has called on businesses to reduce their 2018 carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Do you know what your 2018 emissions were? If not, this introductory course will teach you design-led methodology and tools that can be applied to measure, reduce and remove carbon.
• Discover design methods that support businesses to reduce their impact
• Use tools to calculate your business carbon emissions
• Develop a 'carbon reduction action plan' to implement day to day carbon reduction behaviour
• Learn about applying methods in practise and innovative net zero carbon solutions
Participants will work in teams to discuss the opportunities and challenges that carbon removal presents and develop a carbon reduction action plan for their businesses.
Previous Net Zero workshops photographed by Matthew Kaltenborn.
Programme outline
With the guidance of industry leaders, participants will work in teams to discuss the opportunities and challenges that carbon removal presents and develop a carbon reduction action plan for their businesses.
09:00 Arrival reception and coffee
09:30 Welcome and introductions
09:40 Alexie Sommer: Why we need to decarbonise, LCA – GHG Protocol – Scope 01, 02, 03
10:30 Nitesh Magdani – Scope 01, 02, 03 and the built environment
11:15 Break
11:30 Calculating the impact of Waste Age – Gabria Lupone & Tom Power
12:15 Xtonnes - Carbon Management Platform – Bengt Cousins-Jenvey
12:45 Lunch
13:30 Activity: Calculate your business carbon
15:00 Break
15:15 Carbon Hotspot exercise
15:45 Notpla – Making packaging disappear
16:15 Summary: Participant Questions and Feedback
16:30 End
Lunch and light refreshments will be provided.
Facilitator
Alexie Sommer
Sommer is a Designer and Communicator focused on the intersection between design creativity, business sustainability and authentic communication. A founding member of URGE collective, Alexie is passionate about delivering positive impact applied through strategic thinking and design intuition. Previously creative director at Thomas Matthews and Design Director for creative at The Guardian and The Observer newspaper group.
Speakers
Bengt Cousins-Jenvey
Cousins-Jenvey is co-founder and CTO of xtonnes and has been working with businesses for over a decade to assess and address the environmental impacts of their assets and activities. He has authored policy for the Greater London Authority to support the London Plan, published award-winning academic research and had integral roles in the pioneering methodologies and software tools used by major sports events, ‘green gown’ universities and iconic footwear brands.
Gabria Lupone
Lupone is a Project Manager experienced in the arts and culture sector. She worked on our recent 'Waste Age: What can design do?' exhibition. Prior to joining the museum, Lupone worked for ten years on a variety of projects for biennials, museums and galleries in Europe, Africa and the USA. She holds an MA degree in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art and a BA degree in Criticism and Curating from Central Saint Martins.
Hoa Doan
Doan is the Head of Impact and Sustainability at Notpla, a startup that recently won The Earthshot Prize for its plastic-free packaging products made from seaweed and plants. She is a climate policy expert and has advised the UK government and large organisations on delivering their net zero commitments. She developed the Net Zero Plan for the National Health Service and was a policy advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Nitesh Magdani
Magdani is the Founder of Net Positive Solutions. With over 20 years of experience working across design, construction and property development, his focus on sustainability came about through R&D of natural and passive design solutions for clients. He has held leadership roles at Royal BAM Group and the Supply Chain Sustainability School. Magdani's helps companies to design and implement solutions to reduce emissions and become more circular, promoting positive benefits to society and our natural environment.
Tom Power
Power has spent his career in the Cultural sector specialising in the built environment with positions at the British Library and the RAF Museum. A Member of the Museums Association, Tom is passionate about the Cultural sector and the role the built environment plays in developing and sustaining its future. With extensive experience in Estate and Property management of large multi-site portfolios Tom leads on both Hard and Soft FM service contract management, capital works and property management.
Book online
Booking information
Adult: £330
Early bird Adult: £300
Members: £280
Early bird Members: £250
Capacity is limited, please book in advance to avoid disappointment.
Check out the Design Museum Academy refunds and cancellations policy here.
Early bird tickets are available until Tuesday 26 September 2023.
What people are saying
From March 2023 course
“I left with a much better understanding and some clear pathways to look into, as well as good quality resources and a reading list! It was also a great opportunity to network with like-minded design led businesses.”
“SO much content, …, it was excellent. Great to have so much variety and such a high level of info packed into one day.”
“I've got lots to research and share with others. You've given great starting points and platforms.”
“It has convinced me to do carbon emissions analysis for my buildings.”
“Huge insights on so many levels. Need to go away and digest it all.”
Further reading
Working to make change in ‘Waste Age’
Reducing impact is everyone's business and a continuous learning process. Discover how the Design Museum is experimenting with adopting new methods to cut the environmental cost of its exhibitions. Through Waste Age: What Can Design Do, on display until 20 February 2022, the museum set out to understand the resource use, production methods, supply chains, and lifecycles of all exhibits and materials.
To make sure the museum was genuinely challenging existing methods, an advisory panel of leading experts were appointed alongside URGE to guide the development of the exhibition, and the museum teams also partnered with designers dedicated to ecological practices.
"We asked specialists to monitor our process, helping us to make change throughout."
– Gemma Curtin, Waste Age Curator, the Design Museum
The museum's commitment to a greener future
The Design Museum makes the impact of design visible to all, therefore we are committed to showing how we can all do things differently to get better outcomes for the environment. Through our programmes and how the museum’s operations are run, the museum will continue to champion design that makes a difference. Below you can find how we have sought to put in practice this thinking so far.