March 8th 2024
Building materials giant axes operational emissions by two-thirds
Kingspan has unveiled a 65% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions since 2020 as part of its 10-year sustainability programme.
In its latest report, which was published yesterday, Kingspan – a building materials company based in Ireland – announced that they have achieved a 40% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in 2023, which was accelerated by the introduction of its business-wide carbon price.
Scope 1 emissions are direct greenhouse gas emissions that come from sources that are controlled or owned by a company, whereas Scope 2 emissions are indirect and are linked with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat, or cooling.
News of Kingspan slashing their emissions couldn’t of come at a better time. In December 2023, the government announced plans to introduce a timber roadmap in a bid to boost construction and reduce emissions. According to the latest figures, the construction sector contributes to 40% of the world’s emissions.
In 2023, Kingspan launched its first bio-based hemp insulation product, HemKor, and introduced lower embodied carbon ranges across its flooring, ceiling, and insulated panel product lines.
Likewise, almost half of Kingspan’s wholly owned sites now have solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in enhance on-site renewable energy generation, resulting an increase in generation capacity by 6.8 megawatts (MW) in 2023. This brings the company’s total solar power capacity to 42MW.
Kingspan Group’s global head of sustainability Bianca Wong said: ‘To play our part in keeping global temperature rises within the 1.5C limit, we committed to absolute emissions reductions and focused on making tangible progress in the short- to medium-term through our Planet Passionate programme.
‘We still have a lot of work to do and must continue to refocus and respond as the business grows and evolves, but I am incredibly proud of what our team has achieved in just four years and look forward to further progress toward our targets as Planet Passionate enters its fifth year.’
Overall, Kingspan’s headline targets on emissions are to reduce absolute operational emissions by 90% by 2030, against a 2019 baseline, and then to offset the remainder to achieve net-zero.
Image: Marcin Jozwiak
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