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Corporate Responsibility (ESG)

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Environmental Commitment

Interface has set a goal to be a carbon negative enterprise by 2040.

In 1994, Interface committed to becoming the world’s first environmentally sustainable and restorative company. This ambition set us on the road to becoming the purpose-driven company we are today.

In the early ‘90s one of our customers asked, "What's your company doing for the environment?" When our founder, Ray Anderson, realized he didn’t have an answer to this question, he created a company task force to solve it. As he prepared a speech to the task force kick-off meeting, he read Paul Hawken’s “The Ecology of Commerce” and was deeply moved. He described the experience as an epiphany, his “spear in the chest” moment that changed his perspective on business and sustainability.

Ray Anderson was awakened to the urgent need to set a new course for Interface. He shook the foundations of the petroleum-intensive carpet manufacturing industry by declaring that Interface was committed to becoming the world’s first environmentally sustainable—and, ultimately, restorative—company.

Ray later described the Interface sustainability journey as a climb up “a mountain higher than Everest.” Mount Sustainability, as we call it, became a symbol of both the size and scope of our mission.

Learn more about Ray Anderson and our sustainability story here.

In more than twenty-five years since starting our sustainability journey, we have transformed our company and achieved aggressive goals. We have deeply reduced the environmental impacts of our business and operations, transformed our supply chain and our products, and implemented new business models.

We remain committed to achieving the aspirational goals we set when we started our sustainability journey and we continue to challenge ourselves to embrace transformational new goals. In 2016, we committed to a new mission – to reverse global warming and create a climate fit for life. Utilizing guidance under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and other science-based methodologies, Climate Take Back™ calls us to find ways to not only operate a net-zero business, but also to create a positive impact on the environment through our operations.

Our Climate Take Back plan includes our goals to be carbon negative by 2040 and to operate our manufacturing sites with 100% renewable energy. The flooring products we sell — including carpet tile, LVT and rubber — are carbon neutral across their full product life cycle through our third-party verified Carbon Neutral Floors™ program.

Erin Meezan“Our commitment to delivering value to multiple stakeholder groups is a foundational hallmark of our organization. We have seen the value of this commitment in our inspired and engaged culture, in our product innovation and differentiation and in our operations. As we pursue our mission focused on creating positive impacts in the world, we will continue to pioneer approaches to sustainable business and share our lessons learned with our customers, industry and the world.”

– Erin Meezan, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer

Learn more about:

Climate Take Back

Operations

All Interface carpet manufacturing facilities worldwide are certified to ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems and ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems. We have made significant strides in reducing the environmental impacts of our manufacturing operations and we remain committed to maximizing efficiency using renewable energy and producing products with the lowest possible impact.

  Legacy Carpet Tile Operations and LVT Current Operations:
Carpet Tile.
LVT and Rubber
  2017 2018 2019 2020 2019 2020
Energy Use (mmBTU) - Total 441,908 502,586 418,434 348,997 619,024 531,227
Energy Use (mmBTU) in Manufacturing Operations 376,512 381,646 349,674 292,117 530,515 457,278
Energy Intensity of Manufacturing Operations (BTU / sqm of production) 9,425 8,927 8,917 10,361 11,673 13,461
Renewable Energy % in Manufacturing Operations 88 % 89 % 90 % 90 % 75 % 75 %
GHG Emissions. Scope 1 (MT CO2e) 6,622 7,423 5,384 4,197 6,782 5,383
GHG Emissions. Scope 2 Location-Based (MT CO2e) 26,318 31,619 23,623 20,183 39,820 35,310
GHG Emissions. Scope 2 Market-Based (MT CO2e) 1,895 7,707 2,444 2,435 8,332 7,673
Net GHG Emissions. Scope 1+ Scope 2 Market-Based (MT CO2e) 8,517 15,130 7,828 6,632 15,114 13,056
Net GHG Emissions Intensity per $ Revenue (kg CO2e / Net Sales USD) 0.009 0.014 0.007 0.008 0.011 0.012
Net GHG Emissions Intensity per Employee (kg CO2e / Employee) 2,674 4,945 2,581 * 3,677 3,489
Net GHG Emissions – Scope 1+2 in Manufacturing Operations (kg CO2e) 2,647 2,594 2,176 1,778 7,961 7,075
Net GHG Emissions Intensity in Manufacturing Operations per unit of product produced (kg CO2e / sqm of production) 0.066 0.061 0.055 0.063 0.175 0.208
Cradle-to-Gate Carbon Footprint of Carpet (Avg kg CO2e per sqm from Raw Material and Manufacturing Stages) 6.7 6.1 5.2 4.8 5.2 4.8
Cradle-to-Gate Carbon Footprint of LVT (Avg kg CO2e per sqm from Raw Material and Manufacturing Stages)** 12.0 12.0 12.5 8.7 12.5 8.7
Cradle-to-Gate Carbon Footprint of Rubber (Avg kg CO2e per sqm from Raw Material and Manufacturing Stages)*** -- -- -- -- 10.8 9.3
Recycled Materials % in Flooring Products 58 % 54 % 53 % 58 % 46 % 48 %
Water Withdrawal in Manufactuing Operations (megaliters) 42 43 40 30 56 43
Water Withdrawal in Manufacturing Operations per unit of product (liters / sqm of production) 1.05 1.01 1.01 1.05 1.22 1.27
Waste from Carpet Manufacturing Operations (MT) 5,319 6,198 5,202 4,772 5,202 4,772
Waste from Rubber Manufacturing Operations (MT)*** -- -- -- -- 2,561 2,362
Waste Intensity from Manufacturing Operations per unit of production (kg / sqm of production) 0.133 0.145 0.133 0.169 0.171 0.210
Waste Intensity from Manufacturing Operations per $ Revenue (kg / Net Sales USD) 0.005 0.006 0.005 0.006 0.006 0.006

Note: Greenhouse gas emissions verified by Apex according to The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
*Decoupled employee data is no longer available 3 years after the acquisition of nora
**Interface introduced LVT flooring to its product portfolio in 2017
***Interface acquired nora Rubber flooring in August 2018

SASB Logo

Interface supports the mission of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) disclosing material sustainability data according to SASB's industry specific standards.

Download SASB Disclosure

Learn more about our climate strategy, emissions, energy use and carbon footprint in our latest climate disclosure.

Download Climate Disclosure


Materials

Our approach to the materials we use to make our products is founded on the health of people and our planet.

A working goal for Interface and its supply chain is to have zero chemicals of concern in our products. To accomplish this Interface has several processes to assess and manage the risks and hazards associated with chemicals in our products. We evaluate materials by measuring and managing trade-offs across three lenses, including green chemistry, embodied carbon and circular economy.

We determine chemicals of concern based on a rigorous review of medical and scientific literature, regulations and market trends and adopt global goals for their substitution and phase out for all product inputs. Using this approach, Interface has phased out the use of numerous categories of chemicals.

Making products that are safe to use is only a starting point for creating sustainable and healthy products. In addition to being screened for chemicals of concern, every material used in Interface products must meet stringent requirements for contribution to product performance, carbon footprint reduction, elimination of virgin raw materials, and recyclability at the product’s end of life. Impacts on human health can occur at every stage of the product life cycle and Interface is committed to eliminating all of these.

In addition to addressing the materials within our products, we are committed to low-impact, sustainable packaging. Our flooring products are packaged in materials that are made from recycled content or can be reused and recycled after use, including recycled cardboard, wooden pallets and recyclable polyethylene foil.

At Interface, we are committed to product transparency. We voluntarily disclose product ingredients through Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Health Product Declarations (HPDs) and Declare product labels. In addition, all Interface flooring and adhesives are certified to meet stringent low VOC emissions standards. You can learn about our Product Transparency and certifications here .