by Brianna Crandall — November 13, 2019 — Global flooring company Interface just announced Mission Zero success ahead of its original 2020 target, demonstrating how manufacturers and other companies can reduce their environmental footprint through focused efforts. Interface released a report tracking its successes as a way to inform and inspire other companies on their journey.
Interface’s carbon-neutral flooring is kinder to the environment and can also help your facilities meet sustainability goals such as better indoor air quality (IAQ) and LEED certification.
Interface’s Lessons for the Future: The Interface guide to changing your business to change the world report advises companies and facilities managers (FMs) to “shoot for the moon” with their energy and environmental goals, saying “The more ambitious and aspirational your mission, the greater its power.”
The report tracks how Interface reduced energy and water usage, increased renewable energy usage, lowered greenhouse gas emissions, reduced waste to landfill, and reduced its carpet carbon footprint.
Over the past 25 years, the company drove significant improvements across all key sustainability metrics internally and throughout its supply chain to help meet its objectives. And Interface says it galvanized others along the way to implement more sustainable business practices. This created a positive ripple effect that helped the company not only achieve but also extend Mission Zero far beyond its original intentions.
Interface focused on reducing impact in three key areas of its carpet tile business: its factories, products and suppliers. The company has greatly reducing its footprint in nearly every capacity, including:
- 69% reduction in carbon footprint of Interface carpet tile products
- 96% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally
- 89% renewable energy use across its factories globally, with 100% renewable electricity
- 99% renewable energy use in US and European manufacturing sites
- 46% reduction in energy use per unit of production to make products globally
- 89% water use reduction per unit of production in factories globally
- 92% reduction of waste to landfill across global business
As of January 2019, the company achieved an important milestone. Every flooring product that Interface sells — carpet tile, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and rubber sheets and tiles — is now carbon neutral across its full life cycle. After significantly reducing the carbon impact of its manufacturing operations and supply chain, Interface compensates for the remaining emissions through the purchase of carbon offsets.
Interface set its sights even higher with Climate Take Back in 2016, which aims to create a movement to reverse global warming. The company says it is working ardently to develop processes and products that create a positive impact on the world, and in 2018, set out to become a carbon negative company by 2040.
Lessons for the Future: The Interface guide to changing your business to change the world is available for free on the Interface website.
