05 – Conclusion

It is clear that a large proportion of designers are already designing for environmental impact, and that design is a core tool for the green economy.

However, designers’ potential is being held back by a significant capability and skills gap. We need to invest in upskilling current and future designers in green skills if we are to leverage the design sector as a transformative asset for the green transition.

This starts at school, where teachers must be supported to mainstream regenerative and sustainable design into design education. And stretches right up to the c-suite where design leaders need technical upskilling to navigate the green transition.

The latest Climate Change Commission report has rated the UK government’s ambitions on plans to deliver net zero skills as ‘red’. Including design skills can boost this ambition through an additional 1.97 million people working across industry, from retail to transport.

Through our Design for Planet mission, we will work with partners across education and industry to develop a proposition for how we can best support the UK’s design industry to upskill, in the lead up to hosting the World Design Congress in 2025.

Please do get in touch with the Design Council if you would like to be part of this and look out for the fuller report into The State of the Environmental and Social Value of Design in the UK, to be published in summer 2024.