Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Belgium: Etex has raised Euro800m through a sustainability-linked medium - long-term unsecured loan. The producer says that the private placement, called a Schuldschein in German finance law, comprises three Euro-denominated tranches with maturities of three, five and seven years, at fixed and floating rates.

CEO Bernard Delvaux said “We are very pleased with this new Schuldschein issuance which we successfully completed in a challenging context. It testifies to a significant appreciation of Etex’s credit quality, of its performance of the last years and it demonstrates the investors’ confidence in the company’s strategy. Moreover, this operation broadens our investors’ base at attractive market conditions, increases the number of maturities and considerably extends the duration of our debt profile.”

Belgium: The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) has certified Recticel Insulation’s Recticel Eurothane GP, Eurothane Eurodeck and Eurowall Cavity polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) as meeting good forest management standards. This ensures customers that the products’ multilayer paper facings are sustainably sourced.

Head of technical management Dirk Vermeulen said “With the PEFC label on our insulation products, we provide proof of our commitment to sustainability to architects, turnkey companies, project developers and contractors, as well as end-users.”

US: Saint-Gobain plans to spend US$32m towards to upgrade to CertainTeed’s Chowchilla glasswool plant in California. The investment is part of a US$400m expansion package planned for four US plants previously announced in November 2021. The upgrade work at Chowchilla will include the addition of a new furnace and other equipment that will use less natural gas and electricity. It is the largest investment in the site since its creation in 1978. Saint-Gobain Group estimates that these improvements will reduce CO₂ emissions by 4000t/yr at the site.

US: Owens Corning’s 16th Sustainability Report has detailed the producer’s progress towards achieving its 2030 sustainability goals. The report covers indicators under 16 topics to demonstrate its environnmental footprint reduction. These included lowering greenhouse gas emissions, increasing recycled content and circularity, improving energy and process efficiency, increasing renewable energy use and fuel switching from on-site fossil fuel use to lower or zero-carbon alternatives. Between 2007 and 2021, Owens Corning reduced its CO₂ emissions by 60%. In 2021, it recycled 635,000t of glass in its glass wool insulation production.

CEO Brian Chambers and senior vice president and chief sustainability officer (CSO) Frank O'Brien-Bernini said "We have established roadmaps to help our teams understand what’s needed to meet our environmental footprint reduction goals. These roadmaps guide our short, mid and long-term strategies, and help ensure that sustainability remains our priority as we innovate to serve our customers, while addressing both the challenges and the opportunities within the relevant secular trends." They continued "Beyond environmental footprint reduction 'within' our plants, we are working to refine our understanding and set measurable goals for our impact on biodiversity and the circular economy, as well as continually seeking better ways to measure our progress on social impact priorities like inclusion and diversity.”

US: Ethisphere has named Owens Corning on its World’s Most Ethical Companies list for the fifth consecutive year. Dow Jones Institutional Newswires has reported that, among 136 winners, Owens Corning was one of only three construction and building materials companies named. In the past year, it scored perfectly on the 2022 Corporate Equality Index, debuted at number 27 on the Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies list and scored Gold in S&P Global’s 2022 Sustainability Yearbook.

Executive Vice President and General Counsel Gina Beredo said "This is an achievement earned and shared by our 20,000 employees across the world who live our purpose each day with an unwavering commitment to ethical business practices."

US: CertainTeed and parent company Saint-Gobain North America have joined the US Department of Energy’s Better Climate Challenge initiative. The platform is intended to encourage companies and organisations to reduce their portfolio-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 25% or more over the next decade. Saint-Gobain’s new global Grow and Impact strategy includes a goal of reducing the company’s global carbon emissions by 33% by 2030.

Slovenia: Knauf Insulation Slovenija has commissioned its new 1MW solar power plant. The installation is situated atop the roof of the company’s Škofja Loka glass wool insulation plant in Upper Carniola.

Digital and brand manager and green solutions advocacy lead Jure Šumi said that the latest milestone demonstrates the company’s commitment to reduing carbon emissions, creating better built environments, driving the circular economy and developing its people, all for a better world.

US: CertainTeed plans to invest US$32m in a capacity-expanding upgrade to its Chowchilla, California, glass wool insulation plant. The producer will install a new furnace, kiln and oxygen generation unit at the facility. It says that the upgrade will increase the plant’s capacity by 13% and reduce its carbon footprint by 4000t/yr.

Germany: Knauf Insulation has compiled its sustainability targets, progress and related information on its products online. The so-called ‘sustainability chapter’ is intended to highlight how Knauf Insulation products can make buildings more sustainable and also charts the company’s progress to reduce its own environmental impact as part of its ‘For A Better World’ initiative.

Jure Šumi, Knauf Insulation’s Group Digital and Brand Manager, said “The new chapter on sustainability is a showcase of valuable information for anyone who wants to create better buildings while taking care of the environment and society.” He added, “It offers valuable insight into how our solutions can lower the environmental impact of buildings with news and case histories in every section highlighting what Knauf Insulation is doing For A Better World.”

The newly organised section on Knauf Insulation’s website lets interested parties download Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for its products. In addition, the site offers downloadable documents showing how Knauf Insulation products can contribute points to the world’s green building rating systems such as BREEAM, LEED, DGNB and WELL.

The company’s also explains online how it is reducing the environmental impact of its operations in line with its ‘For A Better World’ sustainability strategy. It has set targets for 2025 including sending zero waste to landfill, cutting its accident rate by 55% and reducing the embodied carbon of products by 15%. Knauf Insulation promises regular updates on its progress and initiatives to achieve these targets.

Belgium: Etex has donated five sustainable modular housing units to families dispossessed by flooding in the summer of 2021. The company built the houses at Rochefort and Pepinster in two weeks and their assembly took 48 hours. Etex said that it plans to develop the construction method in future in order to meet needs and new trends in the housing sector.

Bernard Delvaux, chief executive officer of Etex said “It was important for us to donate our expertise through these five houses built in a circular way with a very low carbon footprint. Our modular construction technologies meet multiple housing needs around the world with the fast construction of affordable, well-insulated, high-quality and attractive living spaces.”