麦肯锡-通过减少碳和成本来增加创新和性能（英）

Operations PracticeAdd innovation and performance by subtracting carbon and costEarly movers show what it takes to succeed on both sides of manufacturers’ dual mission: reduce their cost base and carbon footprint while optimizing their financial performance.This article is a collaborative effort by Eric Hannon, Johan Bengtsson, Markus Forsgren, and Patrick Lahaie, with Anna-Christina Fredershausen, Marina Buna, and Yvonne Huemer, representing views from McKinsey’s Operations and Sustainability Practices.May 2025In today’s business landscape, more and more companies are focused on reducing both carbon emissions and costs simultaneously. This dual mission is not just a strategic choice but a necessity driven by rising costs and increasing regulatory pressure, such as from Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and European Trading Scheme (ETS, now extended under ETS2), and new disclosure standards taking effect in Australia and Japan.Yet to date, only a minority of companies have even attempted to achieve both missions in a systematic way (see sidebar, “The dual-mission methodology”). Fewer still have succeeded. The companies that have managed to fulfill their dual mission, in sectors ranging from automotive and energy to chemicals and life sciences, have used a range of approaches to do so.Some started with a focus on cost, viewing carbon abatement as a complementary goal. This approach can often be especially helpful when early cost savings are needed for reinvestment into sustainability initiatives. Others—particularly in sectors facing the most stringent regulatory changes—emphasized carbon abatement. In these cases, cost neutrality (or even reduction) became an added benefit of their sustainability-focused transformations.The dual-mission methodologyAs described in more detail in “Mastering the dual mission: Carbon and cost savings,” a dual-mission design-to-value program follows a structured, end-to-end decarbonization transformation.The first step is to create transparency on the company’s cost and CO2 baseline by thoroughly analyzing emissions for each product’s entire value chain, including the production not only of primary materials but also of sourced components—and their respective inputs. Next, the company can evaluate potential CO2 abatement levers, such as improving energy efficiency, substituting renewable-energy sources, and redesigning business models to promote circularity. In the third step, the company prioritizes the identified levers based on their cost and CO2 emission impact (exhibit), along with pragmatic factors such as quality and supply availability. The final step can include alternative technical designs, new sourcing options, and deeper relationships with suppliers that can create innovative solutions.By focusing on improvements to the operating model beyond product cost, the program can achieve substantial reductions in cost and Scope 3 emissions, which are often the most challenging to address.—Cost re