Chemists and engineers play a vital role in finding solutions to global challenges through their work on product and process,development projects. To understand the role of chemical technology development projects in addressing global challenges, it is important for project teams to know whether commercialization of their project will lead to sustainability benefits, and to have a quantified understanding where possible of how significant each project may be toward addressing society's sustainability challenges. In this perspective, we suggest that a life cycle-based estimate of the market-level benefits and trade-offs associated with a project can be a regular part of its assessment. We provide a simple method for technology developers to obtain a first-order estimate of the potential environmental impacts of their projects, as a quantity that can be included in routine project analysis without much additional work. We suggest that regularly incorporating this market-level estimate of project benefits and trade-offs can help chemists and engineers to focus their efforts on those projects that most rapidly advance the transitions to a sustainable planet and society.