Can your floor covering be carbon negative?

Interface, a flooring manufacturer, says that it will be carbon negative by 2040.

Homeowners and businesses that use a flooring company in Chester often ask about the environmental impact of flooring options. Many floor coverings, such as luxury vinyl tiles, are manufactured using recycled materials, and recycled wood can be used for hardwood flooring. This reduces the impact on the environment, but the manufacturing process does not create zero carbon emissions.

Jay Gould of Interface, speaking San Francisco’s Global Climate Action Summit in September, said that his company would have zero effect on the environment by 2020, and move towards a negative effect in 2040. Carbon negative means that the company will remove more carbon than it puts into the environment.

Interface, which manufacture carpet and luxury vinyl tiles, will reduce emissions in its own factory and among its raw material sourcing and supply chain partners. Interface is investing in researching ways in which carbon emissions can be reduced through clean power and the development of carbon-reducing factories. In 2017, the company showed a carbon negative carpet tile prototype, demonstrating that such production is possible.

Interface is encouraging other manufacturers to pursue carbon neutral processes. Lawrence Tubiana, the Chief Executive of the European Climate Foundation, welcomed Interface's policy, saying:

“For years, many companies have been pursuing carbon neutrality as a matter of responsible governance, but now, leading companies are thinking much more ambitiously and pushing the boat out to completely drive emissions out of their operations."