Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Belgium: Etex says that it ‘considerably’ progressed its Road to Sustainability 2030 plan during 2023. That year, safety intensity increased by 7%, and Etex established a global diversity, equity and inclusion ambassador community of 110 volunteers across 26 countries. In Europe, the company achieved 70% Environmental Product Declaration coverage as a percentage of its turnover, up from 58% in 2022. Etex raised its total use of recycled materials to 7.6%, and achieved a 23% reduction in Scopes 1 and 2 CO₂ compared to 2018 levels, in line with its 2030 target of 35%.

CEO Bernard Delvaux said “In the EU, more than 40% of energy consumed is used in buildings and more than 30% of energy-related greenhouse gasses emissions come from buildings. Next to new building activities, and according to current high energy standards, renovating old building stock should hence be a top priority. With our portfolio of building materials such as glass wool and extruded polystyrene insulation, gypsum wallboard, fibre cement boards and fire protection materials, Etex has the solutions to reach the ambitious targets. But in view of the huge challenge, a holistic and effective plan to boost renovation is needed, to finance and simplify the renovation process, in each of the EU countries.”

US: Kingspan Insulated Panels North America is building a new K-Roc mineral wool insulation plant in Mattoon, Illinois. The producer expects the plant to commence operations in early 2025. It will be equipped with a solar power plant and rainwater harvesting system, recycling system and electric vehicle charging stations. When operational, it will employ 50 people. Kingspan’s K-Roc mineral wool insulation offers a three-hour fire rating in wall applications and one-hour fire rating in ceiling applications.

Kingspan Insulated Panels North America president Alswinn Kieboom said "As a result of continued growth and optimism for the future, the addition of this new facility complements our existing footprint in North America, giving us better access to our customer base. We are looking forward to launching this new site and having a presence in the Midwest."

US: Owens Corning has published its 2023 Sustainability Report, highlighting its advances in sustainability in the past year. These included a 59% share of revenues from reduced-CO₂ products, with a 25% share of revenues from 14 products certified as produced with 100% renewable electricity. Scope 1 and 2 emissions fell by 28% from 2018 levels, in line with the group’s 50% 2030 reduction target. It launched a pilot bitumen felt shingle recycling programme, aimed at recycling 2Mt/yr of shingles in the US by 2030. Further, Owens Corning reduced its generation of landfill waste by 14% from 2018 levels, and launched a Circular Economy Recycling Technology Innovation Laboratory in Granville, Ohio. In 2023, the group’s incident rate was 81% below the industry average, and it remains on track to meet its 2030 inclusion and diversity goals.

Senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said “Our 2030 sustainability goals are growing ever closer, and we believe that the targets we have set for ourselves are well within our reach. This confidence is the result of our employees’ unparalleled engagement and enthusiasm for our mission coupled with our investments in the innovation required to execute new solutions.”

Chair and CEO Brian Chambers said “Owens Corning demonstrated outstanding financial and sustainability results in 2023, showcasing the power of our company’s mission to build a sustainable future through material innovation. This report reflects the global scope of our people and our products and the many ways they work to make the world a better place.”

Owens Corning recorded net sales of US$9.68bn in 2023, down by 1% from US$9.76bn in 2022, while its adjusted earnings before interest and taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 2% to US$2.31bn.

Italy: Saint-Gobain has entered into a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Switzerland-based utilities provider Axpo Holding. Under the agreement, Axpo Holding will supply 22GWh/yr of renewable electricity from a newly built wind farm in Puglia. The deal will fulfil 11% of Saint-Gobain's Italian energy needs across 10 sites.

The latest PPA with Axpo Italia is Saint-Gobain's fifth in Italy. Collectively, these will bring the group’s reliance on renewables in its Italian operations to 20%.

Finland: Metso has launched the Outotec Mineral Wool Furnace, an electric furnace for mineral wool production. The new model is based on Metso's established proprietary equipment, used in ferroalloy and slag cleaning applications. As part of Metso's Planet Positive offering, the furnace offers reduced CO₂ emissions, high plant availability, extended life and an easily customisable modular design for specific applications.

Technology director Tom Ronnberg said “Demand for insulation materials is growing due to tightening energy efficiency requirements. At the same time, the insulation material industry is aiming for better efficiency and carbon neutrality in their production processes.”

US: Owens Corning celebrated its inclusion on the Sustainability World Index for its 14th consecutive year on 14 December 2023. Companies’ S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) contributed towards their assessment for the index. Owens Corning has a score of 85.

Chair and chief executive officer Brian Chambers said "Our industry-leading score is a testament to Owens Corning's unwavering commitment to sustainability and our progress toward achieving our 2030 sustainability goals. We remain dedicated to providing sustainable solutions to our customers and making a positive impact on the world."

Belgium: Knauf Insulation has released its ‘Sustainability Journey: 2023 Highlights’ report. It reveals the company’s sustainability strategy achievements focusing on safety, employee engagement, decarbonisation and the circular economy.

The company reduced its absolute full-scope emissions for its mineral wool production by 8.2% year-on-year to 1.34Mt of CO₂e in 2022 from 1.46Mt in 2021, mainly due to a significant fall in Scope 2 emissions. it currently has a target to reduce its specific embodied carbon emissions by 15% from 2021 to 2025. The recycled content of its glass mineral wool products fell to 55% in 2022 from 64%, despite the company having a target of 65% by 2025. It explained that sourcing large volumes of recycled materials of sufficient quality had proved challenging in some markets. However, it did increase the recycled content of its rock mineral wool products to 13% from 11%, with a target of 25% set for 2024. It also reduced its total recordable incident rate by 8% to 5.9 from 6.4 against a target of below 5 for 2025.

Dominique Bossan, the chief executive officer for Europe, Middle East and Asia at Knauf Group, said “The report documents our progress towards achieving our 2025 sustainability targets. It shows the areas where we need to improve, celebrates where we have made positive progress and pays tribute to the hard work of our teams."

US: Owens Corning was named among the Top 10 companies on the Best Corporate Citizen list 2023. The list ranks all companies on the Russell 1000 Index by transparency and performance across 184 environmental, social and governance factors. The result represents Owens Corning’s sixth consecutive year as a Top 10 company.

Senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said “This achievement is particularly meaningful as it reinforces the importance of our work and how we do it. This directly speaks to the commitment of our 19,000 employees in support of our mission to build a sustainable future through material innovation.”

North America: Kingspan Insulated Panels North America has launched its online Sustainability Resource Center. The platform offers educational content pertaining to sustainable construction practices by topic, type or role. It can be accessed via Kingspan's Planet Passionate portal.

Director of Sustainability Brent Trenga said "Kingspan's Sustainability Resource Center is a one-stop shop where industry professionals can expand their knowledge on the environmental impacts from the built environment. This is a resource that can be bookmarked and referenced at any given time. We want to make it easy for architects, contractors and building owners to arm themselves with information that will help them make sustainable choices in building material."

Spain: Knauf Insulation has called on Spain, as the current president of the Council of the European Union, to further decarbonise building stock in the region.

Oscar Del Rio, the general manager of Knauf Insulation Iberia, said “The outcome of domestic politics may still be uncertain at the moment, but on the international stage, Spain holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union until the end of December 2023 and its focus must be crystal clear. Europe needs to seize the opportunity of the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to ensure an approach that will decarbonise its building stock by increasing renovation rates and committing to quality retrofit standards that deliver real performance.”

The insulation producer cited research by the Building Performance Institute (BPIE), which it supported, that found that insulating all Europe’s residential buildings would cut energy demand for space heating by 44%, compared to 2020, making a ‘significant’ contribution to energy security and the EU’s 2050 climate goals. The company has also urged policy makers to introduce ‘one-stop shops’ for renovation to enable building owners to make retrofitting easier and to use digital tools to make it easier for people to view potential performance savings.

The company used Spain as an example of a country that needs a more ambitious renovation strategy. It noted that, according to Spain’s Energy Renovation of the Building Sector strategy, 9.7 million homes or 50% of residential buildings were built before 1980 and an additional one million are described as in a poor or dilapidated condition. In addition, 81% of existing buildings are in the E, F or G emissions categories and 84.5% are in these categories for energy consumption. It quoted research by Renovate Europe that found that the renovation rate of buildings in Spain was eight to 10 times lower than the average for neighbouring countries.