Workshop B

Green by Design, Lean by Default: How Sustainable Design Decisions Cut Product Cost

11 Sep (Fri) Day 2 : 10:15 – 11:30

Full Programme
Workshop B

Sustainability mandates and cost-reduction pressure are the two dominant forces shaping sourcing and product decisions in Hong Kong’s global brand offices today. Too often, they are treated as forces in conflict. This workshop challenges this paradigm head-on.

Hosted by — a Global strategic design and innovation consultancy — this session makes the case, through
evidence, tool-kit, Simplified frameworks, and hands-on group work that the product design decisions with the greatest environmental benefit are frequently the same over arching decisions that can help reduce material cost, streamline manufacturing, and improve logistics efficiency.

Drawing on 3Spheres’ methodology and real-world product development and sourcing examples across consumer products, apparel and consumer electronics, participants will work through a understanding material, recycling streams, regulations, practical cost-impact mapping exercise using a product category. The participants will leave with a personalised design lever brief — a single, actionable design change identified during the session that can be brought back to their next product development cycle.

Who should attend: Sourcing directors and managers at global brand offices, senior merchandisers – product development managers responsible for product briefs, sustainability leaders seeking commercial traction for ESG initiatives, and operations leaders managing cost-to-market performance.

Session Learnings:

  • Sustainable design and cost reduction share the same upstream lever.
  • The five design levers that unlock dual benefit across product categories.
  • Where in the product lifecycle the sourcing team has the most leverage — and how to use it.
  • How to make the commercial case for sustainable design internally.
  • Cross-sector insight: the same design principles apply across consumer products, apparel and electronic.
  • LCA is a great tool, where to use it, how it doesn’t solve the core material-design issues.

Post-Event Actions:

  • Bring the design lever brief into the next product development cycle
  • Reframe an existing sustainability requirement as a cost management proposal.
  • Conduct a cost-impact audit of one existing packaging or material specification.
  • Initiate a peer conversation across cross functional teams, developers, designers, sourcing and sustainability functions.
  • Explore a design-led sustainability assessment for priority product lines with 3Spheres.

Speakers

Venkatesh Sheregar

3Spheres Limited

Director – Chief Innovation Officer

Venkatesh, hold over 18 years of global innovation and sustainability leadership experience across FMCG, beauty, and F&B sectors, he has lead large-scale product and packaging transformation for some of the world’s most influential consumer brands. In senior leadership global and regional roles at L’Oréal, Mondelez, Unilever, and Vitasoy, he has led multi-market innovation programs, built and scaled innovation centres, shaped long-term sustainability roadmaps and delivered transformation initiatives across Asia.

Venkatesh, holds an MBA from HKUST, a Master’s in Packaging Technology, and more than 50 patents in packaging, materials, and design, supported by multiple global awards and industry recognitions.

As Co-Founder of 3Spheres Limited — a design-led sustainability and innovation studio based in Hong Kong with leadership presence in London, Boston, and Mumbai — He partners with FMCG, luxury, and beauty brands to build next-generation sustainable innovation ecosystems. His work integrates systems thinking across design, user experience, across end-to-end supply chain, ensuring sustainability is not only environmentally responsible but also intuitive, desirable, and commercially scalable. He helps organisations translate ESG ambitions into practical, high-impact innovative product and packaging solutions that strengthen brand experience and long-term business value.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

  • Accelerate adoption of sustainable innovation through partnerships.
  • Support climate‑positive outcomes by designing solutions that contribute to measurable emissions reductions across product lifecycles

Speaking at 2026 sessions:

Day 2

Green by Design, Lean by Default: How Sustainable Design Decisions Cut Product Cost

Aditya V

3Spheres Limited

Director – Design

Aditya holds more than 10 years of Design and Innovation expertise in product and packaging within automotive and Beauty sectors. He has spent his best years in converting user needs and pain points into effective upstream design strategies that are intuitive, value driven and future-secure to both the manufacturer and the end user.

As Co-Founder of 3Spheres Limited — a design-led sustainability and innovation studio based in Hong Kong with leadership presence in London, Boston, and Mumbai — He partners with FMCG, luxury, and beauty brands to design the next-generation sustainable innovation products. His work integrates systems design, user experience, product ergonomics and aesthetics, ensuring sustainability is not only environmentally responsible but also intuitive, desirable, and commercially scalable. He helps organisations visualize their product recycling life cycle into practical, high-impact innovative product and packaging solutions that
strengthen brand experience and long-term business value.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

  • Design and engineer intuitive recycling world for the consumers through easy identification and differentiation of products, through design and systems.
  • Help manufacturers convert sustainable design to visibly distinguishable products.
  • Support climate positive outcomes by designing solutions that contribute to measurable emissions reductions across product lifecycles

Speaking at 2026 sessions:

Day 2

Green by Design, Lean by Default: How Sustainable Design Decisions Cut Product Cost

Amy Zhang

3Spheres Limited

ESG Advisor

Amy is an ESG advisor to Sunlight Partners, an Australia-headquartered activist hedge fund targeting uncorrelated returns and environmental impact. She is also a Certified Virtual Asset Professional accredited by the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute.

Previously, Amy was the Head of Sustainable Solutions & Products for Asia Pacific,Global Markets at Société Générale, where she led the systematic consideration of ESG within Global Markets through product innovation, client advisory, and capacity building.

Amy developed her passion for sustainability through her participation in United Nations climate change conferences and an expedition to Antarctica. She began her career as an environmental scientist and has 15+ years of experience spanning banking, sustainability and ESG consulting, technology risk, and data, working with ESG consulting firms, Big 4s and Fortune 500 company.

Amy holds double bachelor’s degrees in biotechnology and global economy & trade from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), an MPhil degree in marine science & ecotoxicology from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and an MBA degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

Amy is a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager (CIWEM), a Chartered Environmentalist (Society for the Environment), and holds certifications in Green and Sustainable Finance (Chartered Banker Institute, UK), ESG Investing (CFA Institute),and Impact Investing (CFA UK).

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

  • Drive sustainable roadmap and goals for organization

Speaking at 2026 sessions:

Day 2

Green by Design, Lean by Default: How Sustainable Design Decisions Cut Product Cost

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