For more than 50 years, Renishaw has helped customers solve complex technological and scientific challenges. Today, the company is committed to delivering high-performing products while minimising their environmental impact. A significant portion of Renishaw’s carbon footprint comes from scope 3 emissions – indirect emissions from activities outside its direct control, such as logistics and product usage by customers. To address this, Renishaw has committed to reducing scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2030 as part of its wider Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy.
While sustainability had been considered during product development, there wasn’t a consistent way to measure or cut emissions during design. Engineers needed a practical approach to factor in environmental impact without compromising product performance or quality. Previous carbon assessment tools were time-consuming, put too much pressure on engineers, and weren’t widely shared – so they didn’t have much impact. This gap made it difficult to address emission reduction during the Product Innovation Process (PIP).
To embed sustainability into the PIP, Renishaw introduced two new tools:
- Design for Sustainability guidance
This educational resource helps engineers consider emissions reduction, material selection, and energy and air consumption during product use. It focusses on identifying inefficiencies and opportunities to reduce emissions and cost while maintaining performance.
- For electrically powered products, engineers are encouraged to optimise movement efficiency, reduce computing power requirements, shorten cycle times, and introduce low-power or sleep modes.
- For products using compressed air, strategies include reducing purge rates, adjusting purge hole dimensions, and limiting purge durations and frequencies.
- Material selection guidance promotes the use of low-emission materials and minimising excess use, while considering production processes that generate less waste
2. Product Carbon Calculator
Based on the GHG protocol product standard, the tool applies the Pareto principle to capture most emissions with minimal data. It gives engineers real-time insight into the environmental impact of their design decisions without needing a full lifecycle assessment. Both tools are now integrated into Renishaw’s standard PIP approval workflows, ensuring sustainability becomes a routine part of product development. This step begins the process of giving customers verified sustainability data for key products.
By implementing these initiatives, engineers can now systematically incorporate sustainability into their design decisions with greater transparency. The guidance and calculator have made energy and material consumption visible, allowing teams to evaluate the environmental impact of a product from the earliest stages of design. These streamlined, user-friendly tools reduce the time burden on engineers and encourage informed decision-making that balances performance with emissions reduction.
George Bramton, Product Marketing Manager at Renishaw commented: “Embedding sustainability into our product innovation process is essential to achieving our Net Zero goals. By giving engineers the tools to make informed decisions at the design stage, we’re not only reducing our emissions – we’re helping our customers do the same, and hopefully creating some cost savings too! This is how we create real impact, together.”
This approach has strengthened alignment with Renishaw’s ESG targets and supports the company’s broader commitment to reducing scope 3 emissions. By embedding sustainability into the PIP, Renishaw has made environmental responsibility an actionable and measurable part of its product innovation process, ensuring that new products can contribute a lower carbon footprint without compromising quality.
For further information on Renishaw’s ESG strategy, visit https://www.renishaw.com/sustainability
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