The UK Government has an ambitious target of reducing national CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050, and reducing our use of energy in many areas of life will have to play a major part in meeting this goal. The role that the energy embedded in materials and products might play in energy demand reduction is not well studied. This studentship is concerned with understanding how various publics and decision-makers will respond to innovative proposals for low-carbon product design, governance and use. Many innovations in everyday products involving uptake of new materials and associated business models will occur first in small business organisations. This project will explore perceptions and discourses around sustainability and changed materials use among business decision-makers and other stakeholders (e.g. those involved with the Circular Economy), and what knowledge of public views might imply for their decision making and their perceptions of the risks and opportunities attached to developing new material products and services.