Kingspan has joined the Materials Carbon Action Network (materialsCAN), a group of members of the building industry that is ready to act on the smart prioritization of embodied carbon in building materials.

Interface Inc., a global commercial flooring company, launched materialsCAN in 2018 with Skanska, Gensler, USG, Saint-Gobain/CertainTeed and Armstrong Ceilings to change the way the industry looks at carbon. Kingspan will be working with these companies and fellow new member Superior Essex Communications to:

• Improve embodied carbon awareness via client, industry and external partnerships
• Support the creation of a methodology to enable analysis and prioritization of embodied carbon goals in specifications
• Highlight case studies on low carbon, carbon neutral and carbon sequestering interiors

Joining materialsCAN is just the latest step that Kingspan has taken to be a leader in carbon reduction. The company has pledged to become a Net Zero Energy company by 2020, sourcing all of its electricity and natural gas from renewable sources. Kingspan Group has also committed to reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40 percent by 2025, as well as reducing Scope 3 emissions by 10 percent through its purchased goods and services, business travel, transportation, distribution and end-of-life treatment of sold products.

Kingspan’s products have numerous certifications and are designed to help customers meet sustainable building goals by contributing to certifications like LEED and WELL. Kingspan’s product certifications include GREENGUARD Gold, Cradle to Cradle Material Health Silver, EPD and Red List Free.

“We’re excited to join materialsCAN and be among a group of leaders tackling the challenge of reducing carbon,” said Brent Trenga, building technology director at Kingspan. “Climate change is the fundamental design problem of our time, and embodied carbon in buildings plays a huge role. We must reduce the use of embodied carbon in building materials now to reduce future fossil fuel emissions.”

According to Architecture 2030, embodied carbon will be responsible for almost half of total new construction emissions between now and 2050. Annually, embodied carbon is responsible for 11 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 28% of global building sector emissions. The building industry has the opportunity to remake the built environment and reduce its CO2 footprint, and networks such as materialsCAN are paving the path for an industry with less embodied carbon.