To meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of keeping the temperature rise well below 2°C, we need to act now
Watch the videoReducing greenhouse gas emissions is a team effort, with governments, companies and citizens all doing their part. A lot has been achieved up until now, but there is a long way to go and we need to speed up the process. Even companies who are in the energy saving business must do more.
Read the full press release and learn the full story of our decarbonisation.
ROCKWOOL is a net carbon negative company with our stone wool insulation saving 100 times the energy consumed and CO2 emitted in its production. Our other stone wool products support sustainable modern living within water management, sound insulation and growing solutions for vegetables. Stone wool is circular by nature and can be fully recycled indefinitely with no loss of performance. Still, it takes energy to save energy, and we are committed to do more.
ROCKWOOL has signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and committed to a verified and approved plan for an ambitious one-third reduction of our lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions within 15 years using 2019 as the baseline. This includes a reduction of our factories’ absolute emissions by 38 percent and our non-factory, absolute lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent. The SBTi is a partnership between CDP, United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and has been created to drive ambitious climate action in the private sector by mobilising companies to set science-based reduction targets.
According to the Paris Climate Agreement, 42 percent of the carbon emission reductions should come from energy efficiency. For decades, ROCKWOOL has been championing energy efficiency in our factories, and this continues to be our main focus. After all, we believe the best kind of energy reduction is saved energy.
Reduction of our factories’ direct emissions is a key focus of our technological innovation. That is why we’re pioneering large scale electric melting technology, well suited for countries where the electricity grid is already low carbon. In Norway, we’ve chosen our factory in Moss to be the pilot project for what is the industry’s largest electric melter. This will reduce the Moss factory’s carbon emissions by approximately 80 percent.
For years, ROCKWOOL has also made substantial investments in developing fuel-flexible melting technology. Now we’re reaping the benefits, as the technology allows us to transition to less carbon-intensive fuels. Our two Danish factories are shining examples of this. The shift to natural gas in 2020 and to biogas in 2021 means that we’re able to reduce our absolute carbon emissions in Denmark by 70 percent as soon as 2021.
2021 will also see the conversion of one of our factories in Poland to natural gas, and operations at our newest facility under construction in the United States will start up using natural gas instead of coal. But this is just the exciting beginning. As we learn and further develop these new technologies, we plan to convert additional factories over the coming years.
The natural circularity of stone wool means we’re able to fully recycle it an indefinite number of times without any loss of performance. We’ll increase efforts to collect and recycle used stone wool, with a goal to recycle 100 percent and do it again and again. Because with stone wool, the end is just the beginning.
Want to learn even more about our decarbonisation targets? Why not check out the press release and get all the details!
