The importance of sustainability continues to grow. Considering the entire life cycle of a product is of great importance in evaluating and optimizing sustainability criteria. The greatest impact on sustainability is in the early phase of product development, but the information about the developed system is low. However, resolving the trade-offs between economic, environmental, and technical criteria requires information about the product over its entire life cycle. Many options need to be evaluated, especially in the early stages of product development. It is time-consuming to create detailed simulation models for each option and each stage of the life cycle. Therefore, the knowledge about the product in the phases of the product development process was analyzed, and measurable sustainability indicators for the phases were identified. Furthermore, the necessary models for the evaluation of the sustainability indicators are selected. Based on these findings, the paper presents a framework for the development of sustainable handling systems, which are part of nearly every automated production system, across all life phases. Starting from the requirements of the handling system, this framework helps to identify suitable solutions, evaluate them, and optimize them with respect to their sustainability score.