PARIS, FRANCE, March 25, 2019 – Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, has released today its Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility (CSR) report, showcasing the company’s sustainability commitment and progress. This non-financial performance statement has been audited by an independent third-party organization, KPMG. In 2018, Tarkett has not only reduced its environmental footprint but also contributed positively to global societal challenges, inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and by the 10 principles of UN Global Compact. Download the 2018 CSR Report.
“At Tarkett, we are committed to serving our customers through our eco-design capabilities and longstanding dedication to sustainability. We are deeply convinced that there is an urgency to shift models to preserve the world's finite natural resources and capital. Our goal is to establish a circular economy in the flooring industry” explains Fabrice Barthélemy, CEO of Tarkett.
2018 sustainability performance highlights include:
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- Material assessment and transparency: 98% of our raw materials - representing more than 3,000 materials - are third-party assessed for their impact on people’s health and the environment based on Cradle to Cradle® criteria.
- Flooring contributing to indoor air quality: 97% of our flooring has low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions, i.e. 10 to 100 times lower than the strictest standards.
- Healthy indoor spaces: by end 2018, 100% of our vinyl production sites in Europe, North America, Serbia and China use non-phthalate plasticizer technology1 in flooring.
- Preservation of resources: 70% of our raw materials do not contribute to resource scarcity, being abundant in nature, rapidly renewable or recycled.
- Recycled resources: 134,000 tons of recycled materials are used as raw materials, representing 10% of the volume of purchased raw materials.
- Flooring take back: 102,000 tons of flooring were collected from 2010 to 2018 through ReStart®, Tarkett’s flooring collection program in Europe and North-America.
- Climate change: Greenhouse gas emissions (per square meter of manufactured product kgCO2e/m²) were reduced by 8.5% in 2018 versus 2010. 27% of the energy consumption comes from renewable sources, such as biomass, geothermal, solar or purchased ‘green’ electricity.
- Supporting communities: Through Tarkett Cares, the company encourages all employees to spend up to two days per year of their work time on charity initiatives. In 2018, 1,300 employees were involved in 170 initiatives and over €800,000 contributions were made to community initiatives.
- Developing talents: Through Tarkett Academy, over 23,000 professionals or students were trained in flooring installation techniques from 2012 to 2018.
2018 sustainability examples across the globe include:
Supporting NESTO, a collaborative social housing project built using circular economy principles through two environmental friendly products
Tarkett has participated in an innovative social housing project in Luxembourg, helping to create a modular apartment block that can be disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere, when it reaches end of life. The three-storey NESTO building in Wiltz comprises six affordable apartments for underprivileged families and is the first of its kind to be built fully using circular economy principles. The building benefits from two healthy, environmentally-friendly Tarkett modular flooring solutions: iD Revolution (330 m²) and Cementi Click (230 m² ). iD Revolution is the first Cradle to Cradle Gold certified™ modular resilient flooring, made with recycled materials and natural fillers. To create iD Revolution, Tarkett uses recycled PVB from windshields and safety glasses for incorporation into the product formula. Cementi Click is a new mineral-based tile, made from 95% clay, cement’s main composite. Both iD Revolution and Cementi Click are entirely recyclable, supporting the NESTO project’s efforts to close the loop.
Recycling wood flooring: the Lignum Aeternam project
Tarkett conducted a pilot project for wood recycling in collaboration with Bouygues at the occasion of the former 3 Suisses warehouse decommissioning in Northern France. We took back 1,000 m² of old solid oak parquet, reprocessed it and reengineered it to make a new wood flooring product, thus testing and demonstrating the feasibility of recycling wood flooring in our manufacturing process. Nordic customers from both project and distribution sides are particularly interested in this newly created recycled-based wood flooring, which we called Twirl.
Combating climate change and improving livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon
Tarkett is one of seven companies who are supporting a sustainable agro-forestry project in the Peruvian Amazon as part of the REDD+ Business Initiative. The Tambopata-Bahuaja Biodiversity Reserve project aims to protect local biodiversity (including over 30 high conservation value species), conserve endangered forests in a 591,000-ha area and restore 4,000 ha of damaged land, while supporting the livelihoods of 288 farmers by cultivating high quality cacao in a sustainable way – offering them a better income and avoiding further deforestation. Stopping deforestation is one of the most effective measures in the fight against climate change. Tarkett and the other companies in REDD+ Business Initiative are buying carbon credits through this project which is expected to avoid over 4 million tons of carbon emissions by 2021.
Partnering with Habitat for Humanity with flooring product donations worth US$ 400,000
Tarkett North America has donated flooring products worth approximately US$ 400,000 to the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity: one part to help with habitat’s disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts in Texas and Florida (United States), and another part for the Home Builders Blitz. Tarkett teams participated in the Home Builders Blitz initiative that enlists help from thousands of professional home builders who help families to repair and renovate their homes.
About Tarkett
With a history stretching back 135 years, Tarkett is a worldwide leader in innovative flooring and sports surface solutions, with net sales of more than €2.8 billion in 2018. Offering a wide range of products including vinyl, linoleum, rubber, carpet, wood, laminate, artificial turf and athletics tracks, the Group serves customers in over 100 countries across the globe. Tarkett has 13,000 employees and 36 industrial sites, and sells 1.3 million square meters of flooring every day, for hospitals, schools, housing, hotels, offices, stores and sports fields. Committed to “Doing Good. Together.”, the Group has implemented an eco-innovation strategy based on Cradle to Cradle® principles and promotes circular economy, with the ultimate goal of contributing to people’s health and wellbeing, and preserving natural capital. Tarkett is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A, ISIN: FR0004188670, ticker: TKTT) and is included in the following indices: SBF 120 and CAC Mid 60. www.tarkett.com.
Investor Relations Contacts
Tarkett - Catherine David (assistant to Investor Relations) catherine.david@tarkett.com
Media Contacts
Tarkett Group - Véronique Bouchard Bienaymé - communication@tarkett.com
Brunswick - tarkett@brunswickgroup.com - Tel. : +33 (0) 1 53 96 83 83
1 Except recycled content for certain products.
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