Tarkett: Availability of the Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility (CSR) report

After ten years of pioneering progress, Tarkett is embarking
on the second chapter in its sustainability strategy

PARIS, FRANCE, March 18, – On Global Recycling Day, Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, releases its 2020 Corporate Social & Environmental Responsibility (CSR) report. Fully audited by KPMG¹, this report showcases the company’s ongoing sustainability performance.

“In the last ten years, we have achieved strong progress in sustainability. In many cases we have exceeded our 2020 objectives, developing circular economy initiatives, reducing our carbon footprint and eco-designing our products with healthy materials”, says CEO Fabrice Barthélemy. “Opening a second chapter in its sustainability strategy, Tarkett is leading the way in its industry. As part of our Change to Win strategy, we invest in circular economy, and tackle our carbon footprint across the value chain. By building cohesive partnerships with customers, suppliers and leading players, we amplify our impact making conscious choices for people and the planet. This approach will allow us to seize new opportunities of sustainable growth, and contribute to a global green recovery for present and future generations.”

Tarkett’s maturity in sustainability has been recently recognized by improved extra-financial ratings, both from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP climate rating: B – management level) and EcoVadis (platinum medal, the highest level of maturity in sustainability a company can reach).

Tarkett ramps up its recycling program, by transforming end-of-use flooring and recycled materials into new floors, ultimately reducing waste and carbon footprint.

• 109,000 tons of flooring were collected between 2010 and 2020 as part of our Restart^® take-back and recycling program in Europe, North America and Brazil.

• Nine recycling centers integrated into our production sites in eight countries are up and running.

• 13% of our raw materials (127,000 tonnes per year) are recycled materials in 2020. Our goal is to reach 30% by 2030, versus 10% in 2018.

Tarkett reduces its carbon footprint.

• Tarkett decreased its greenhouse gas emissions by -27% between 2010 and 2020, going beyond its initial objective of -20%. The goal for 2030 is to reduce our carbon footprint by 30%.²

• Eight production sites in seven countries are sourcing 100% renewable electricity.

• In 2020, we have launched iQ Natural, one of the lowest carbon footprint resilient flooring solutions on the market.³

• We avoided 253,000 tons of C0₂e along the value chain (scope 3) thanks to the use of 127,000 tons of recycled materials, instead of using virgin raw materials and sending waste to incineration.⁴ This represents more than the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions of our production sites in 2020 (198,500 tons of C0₂e – Scope 1&2).

Tarkett selects good materials as part its eco-design approach.

• Since 2010, we are partnering with the scientific institute EPEA⁵ to apply Cradle to Cradle^® (C2C) principles throughout our activities. Now, 98% of our raw materials - representing more than 5,000 materials - are third-party assessed for their impact on people’s health and the environment based on Cradle to Cradle^® criteria (C2C).

• Tarkett has twenty Cradle-to-Cradle certifications, covering a wide range of product categories, including carpet, linoleum, rubber, wood, and artificial turfs (2020). Five product collections have reached the Gold level, the most in the flooring sector.

Major recent examples illustrating our circular economy commitment:

• Tarkett is the only carpet manufacturer in Europe capable to fully recycle its commercial carpet tile. Thanks to its innovative recycling factory in Waalwijk (Netherlands), Tarkett separates the EcoBase^® backing to be recycled in its own production site and the fiber to be regenerated by its supplier Aquafil.

• Tarkett partnered with Gecina, the largest office real estate company in Europe, to recycle used carpet tiles from Gecina offices in Paris. 38 tons, representing 8,600 m² of carpet tiles, were sent to our carpet recycling center in Waalwijk (Netherlands).

• During the renovation of the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco (USA), we recycled close to 70 tons of our cushioned carpet tile after 17 years of use. These materials were sent to the Tarkett Dalton recycling center (Georgia, USA), diverting it from landfill or incineration.

• As part of a collaboration with IKEA, we recaptured 10,000 m² of used vinyl flooring from IKEA Kungens Kurva department store in Stockholm, Sweden, and turned it into new raw material inside our recycling center in Ronneby. New flooring produced from the recycled raw material from Kungens Kurva is already successfully installed at the IKEA store in Jönköping. This project is estimated to have saved close to 100 tons of CO₂ emissions, the amount of carbon sequestered by 5.500 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

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¹ The CSR report is fully audited by KPMG as an independent third party.

² Goal: reduce our GHG intensity in our production plants by 30% by 2030 vs 2020 (Scope 1&2 intensity kgCO2e/m2).

³ iQ Natural, the world’s first floor to use bio-attributed PVC certified through the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), has precisely a 61% lower embodied carbon compared to average homogeneous flooring. Embodied carbon is the carbon footprint of a material—the sum of all the carbon dioxide resulting from the mining, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, transportation and installation of building materials.

⁴ The impact of using secondary raw materials is calculated using best available data on CO2 emissions for virgin raw material production and incineration, based on life-cycle analysis models of Tarkett’s formulations using data from Ecoinvent, specific supplier data and plant environmental reporting.

⁵ Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency

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• PR_Tarkett_CSR_Report_18_03_2021