"One Home", Unilin Insulation's new strategy for building a sustainable world

“One Home”, the new vision of the Unilin group to which Unilin Insulation contributes, is the perfect reflection of this. It focuses not only on the protection of the planet but more broadly on the quality of living spaces in the habitat and on that of the working environment of its employees.

One Home, 100% ambition for 0% emissions: the vision of sustainability in words and deeds

By deploying its "One Home" sustainability vision, the Unilin group organizes its activities in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to limit global warming. The company is committed to science-based goals. These will be monitored by the Science Based Targets initiative, an independent third party that promotes best practice in the fight against climate change.

Comprising 12 objectives to be achieved by 2050, the "One Home" CSR strategy is based on 3 pillars:

• PLANET HOME to protect the planet,
• YOUR HOME with innovative products ensuring healthy, comfortable and sustainable living spaces,
• OUR HOME aims for a safe, stimulating and positive work environment for its employees.

Planet Home, protect the planet

By reducing greenhouse gas emissions

In Europe, buildings are the source of almost 36% of total CO2 emissions, mainly due to heating and air conditioning. Even if Unilin Insulation's insulation solutions contribute to their energy efficiency, the fact remains that the materials used and the way they are produced still generate greenhouse gas emissions. . To limit them, Unilin Insulation wants to make all of its production sites (including that of Sury-le-Comtal in France and those of Desselgem and Feluy in Belgium) carbon neutral by 2030.

In order to achieve this objective, the company has already taken action to reduce the emissions generated on its production sites as well as the indirect emissions from the electricity it purchases.

5% and turns to renewable energies by equipping, for example:

• Its Feluy unit of two wind turbines of 3,6 MW each (the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 3 households). Since the end of April, the turbines have provided the plant with more than 400% of the electricity needed to produce sustainable insulation, the rest being fed into the city's electricity grid;
• 3 production sites, including that of Desselgem, are equipped with 14 solar panels with a power of 551 MWp, or the annual energy consumption of 5,7 households. At the Sury-le-Comtal site, Unilin Insulation manufactures Made in France products close to its customers.

Various projects are being studied there to limit energy consumption: installation of photovoltaic panels, heat recovery, switching to LED lighting inside the buildings.

Overall, the completed and planned solar and wind power generation will reduce indirect CO2 emissions by 34% by the end of 2024.

By developing a circular economy model

As part of the decarbonization of its activities, Unilin Insulation will act on all other greenhouse gas emissions that are not related to the manufacture of its products but to other stages of their life cycle. (supply, purchases, transport, waste, etc.).

70% of panels will be recycled by 2030: 90% of production and construction waste and 35% of demolition waste.

In order to achieve the recycling of its polyurethane foam insulation panels, Unilin Insulation has been actively involved, since the end of 2021, in the European project CIRCULAR FOAM which aims to make rigid PU foam circular without sacrificing its quality. Thanks to chemical recycling, PU rigid foam waste will be transformed into new raw materials used to manufacture new, equally qualitative insulating panels.

By 2040, this circular ecosystem will make it possible to give new life to 1 million tonnes of rigid PU foam waste per year in Europe (from the insulation of buildings and refrigerators) but also to avoid 2,9, 2 million tons of CO150 emissions and XNUMX million euros in incineration costs.

At the same time, Unilin Insulation is committed to no longer throwing away its waste but to recycling it as much as possible and has three objectives:

• 0 production waste sent to landfill by 2023,
• 0 construction waste sent to landfill by 2025,
• 0 demolition waste landfilled by 2030.

Finally, Unilin Insulation wishes to optimize its CO2 savings by using recycled, biosourced or CO2-based raw materials in its production. This has already been initiated with its suppliers and the share of circular carbon to produce insulation panels should reach 5% by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

New eco-responsible packaging already in place

To reduce its carbon footprint, Unilin Insulation tackles the entire production chain. By integrating at least 50% recycled plastic into a new shrink film to wrap Utherm insulating sheets, this initiative, developed and initiated with its partners, reduces CO42 emissions by nearly 2%, i.e. an annual gain of more than 1 000 tons. Likewise, by making plastic packaging transparent and using 35% less ink, it can be recycled more easily, without compromising on quality. The new film has thus been provided with an anti-UV barrier in order to protect the insulating plates from discoloration when they are stored outside for a long time.

YOUR HOME, innovative products for healthy, comfortable and sustainable living spaces

Around YOUR HOME, the second pillar of its sustainable development strategy, Unilin Insulation is positioning itself as a committed insulation player offering its customers, professionals and individuals, solutions with high added value guaranteeing healthy, comfortable and durable, compliant with regulatory requirements.

Knowing that nearly 75% of the European building stock is energy inefficient, the insulation of buildings is therefore a necessary step to reduce their consumption.

Boasting high insulation performance, Unilin Insulation's PIR sheets and roofing panels enjoy a lifespan as long as the buildings they insulate. These compact and lightweight solutions, particularly suitable for renovation, offer optimized comfort in summer and winter for a limited carbon footprint. In addition, by reducing the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from its PU panels (A+ classification), Unilin Insulation contributes to good indoor air quality. With innovation as a driving force, Unilin Insulation continues its efforts in favor of the climate and sustainable construction not only by reducing the carbon impact of its PU panels, but also by offering mixed solutions with biosourced materials or by facilitating and securing the work of installers. The latest exterior insulation systems launched are proof of this:

USYSTEM Roof OS Comfort Natural and USYSTEM Roof DS Natural Wool

Roofing panels, special for eco-construction, offering all the advantages of two sustainable materials (wood fiber and polyurethane for Usystem Roof OS Comfort Natural and wood fiber for Usystem Roof DS Natural Wool) characterized by extended life cycles and reduced greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.

UTHERM Sarking K Anti-Slide and UTHERM Sarking K Comfort Anti-Slide

Ranges of insulating sheets with a non-slip and anti-reflective coating for safe installation in mountain climates.

They also guarantee thermal and acoustic comfort in all seasons. In the continuity of these innovations, a new special ERP range will be launched in the second half of 2022.

OUR HOME, for a safe, stimulating and positive work environment for its employees

Last part of Unilin Insulation's CSR policy: the well-being, safety and health of its employees, major concerns that are at the heart of its activities.

Aiming for “0 accident”, the company has established a positive and benevolent safety policy in order to develop this culture at all levels of its organization. Since managers have a key role to play, Unilin Insulation has implemented, since 2019, a training program for all managers in order to develop leadership qualities in this area. In 2021, the company introduced "Life Saving Rules", safety rules to save lives, on all its production sites. These ensure clear training and communication, the analysis of risky situations and the elimination of obstacles that stand in the way of safe working.

Finally, Unilin Insulation deploys programs that also promote the well-being of its employees inside and outside the workplace.

In order to report on its concrete progress in terms of sustainability, the Unilin group will publish an annual report from the end of 2022. At the same time, the sustainability performance of its products will be measured through the analysis of their life cycle.