Adobe is helping these 5 brands make a sustainable impact on their business

At a time when customers, communities, employees, and investors are all prioritizing climate action more than ever before, businesses are leaning on technology to operate more sustainably and reduce society’s impact on the environment.

Research from the Aalto University School of Economics finds that using digital documents vs. paper-based invoicing, for example, can decrease the carbon footprint for invoicing by up to 63 percent. A separate study by McKinsey on the circular economy finds that designing and developing products with the entire product lifecycle in mind has benefits for the consumer experience and environment both, pointing to the fact that “when design teams get together with other company departments and use design thinking, they can conjure up resource-efficient ways of delighting customers.”

Our digital tools and workflows are helping customers reimagine design, marketing, and business processes, enabling more sustainable practices, and driving positive change in the world. For example, through Adobe Sign, we have created 95 percent less environmental impact than a paper workflow. Every 1 million transactions through Adobe Sign equates to taking over 2,300 cars off the road for a year.

Our innovation in cloud-based software delivery — which is increasingly powered by renewable energy — as well as digital documents, artificial intelligence, 3D & AR, and virtual collaboration, contribute to a zero-waste future and reduce carbon footprints from transportation and shipping. All this helps our customers operate more efficiently in a digital world and get closer to achieving their sustainability goals. Below we look at just some of the ways that our customers are using Adobe technology to innovate and operate more sustainably.

Ben & Jerry’s: Digital photography can be a sustainable option

During the COVID-19 pandemic Ben & Jerry’s used Adobe Dimension, our 3D design tool in Creative Cloud, for a “virtual photoshoot,” cutting out the travel, shipping of materials needed for in-person shoots, energy for lighting, and the emissions that go along with physical photoshoots. Ben & Jerry’s was also able to create infinite versions of product shots at low cost. Read more about why digital photography was a more sustainable option for Ben & Jerry’s here.

Adobe Dimension allowed the Ben & Jerry’s team to produce a huge number of visual assets quickly for a fraction of the budget, while also making a sustainable impact by cutting out the travel and materials needed for in-person shoots.

U.S. Census Bureau: Minimizing paper waste with digital forms

The Census Bureau used Adobe Experience Cloud solutions to bring the decennial U.S. Census online. According to the Bureau, a 1 percent increase in paper to digital fulfillment is estimated to save about $107 per survey—and there are of course environmental benefits to digital fulfillment as well. Adobe created a Resource Calculator that shows users estimated environmental savings by avoiding paper use. Check it out here to see how much money your business can save with paperless workflows. Or, read more on about the benefits of a digital decennial here.

TerraCycle & Loop: Investigating how 3D technology can cut down waste

In partnership with Loop, TerraCycle is trying to address our planet’s single use packaging problem, exploring how 3D design technology can have a positive environmental impact by eliminating wasteful physical properties such as rendering, prototyping, and even photoshoots, and solve them digitally. Prototyping digitally, rapidly, and bringing that to the production process through digital printing and other methods brings us all closer to a zero-waste, circular future. Read more here.

Electrolux: Prototyping to motivate sustainable design

The design team at Electrolux has several great examples of how Adobe Creative Cloud can be used to design innovative sustainability solutions. From a dishwasher that matches user behavior to conserve energy and water, to a pay-per-use model for vacuuming, solutions like Adobe XD are helping the Electrolux design team make a tangible impact on the sustainability of its products. Read more here.

Electrolux built the QuickSelect Eco-Indicator, which is a user interface that prioritizes the most environmentally friendly way of doing dishes.

NatWest Group: Crafting paperless customer journeys

Adobe Sign is helping NatWest Group reduce operational costs, accelerate business processes, simplify and improve customer experiences, and meet sustainability goals. In fact, by switching to Adobe Sign, the British banking and insurance holding company has saved 9M sheets of paper, 960K gallons of water, and 336K pounds of wood with paperless workflows. Read more about the company’s move to electronic signatures here.

Building a sustainable future

Adobe’s mission to change the world through digital experiences has been our guiding light as we’ve worked to advance sustainability and enable our customers to do the same through our technology.

Our mission has always been to create products that empower people to change the world. Adobe technology is helping customers reimagine the creative process with digital at the center, fuel the paper-to-digital transformation, and power digital businesses of all sizes.