Functional economy: selling use rather than the product
Published on 30 March 2026, this ADEME analysis explores a business model combining performance and material efficiency.
On 30 March 2026, ADEME published an analysis devoted to the functional and cooperative economy, presented as a business model that makes it possible to combine economic performance with resource efficiency.
The principle is to sell the use of a good rather than the good itself: a lighting service rather than light fittings, a thermal performance rather than a boiler, an availability of industrial refrigeration rather than a chiller unit.
This shift changes economic incentives. Where the supplier remains the owner of the equipment and is paid on an outcome, it has an interest in maximising the equipment's lifetime and minimising its energy consumption — the opposite of a model based on sales volume.
The model does, however, presuppose demanding conditions: reliable, shared measurement of the performance delivered, a long-term contractual relationship and financing capacity on the supplier's side.
In the energy field, this type of contracting is found in energy performance contracts, where the provider commits to a measured and verified level of savings.