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B.I.G. is on course to achieve a zero environmental footprint by 2030. That’s right, zero. To make this journey more tangible, we’d like to offer you a passenger’s seat from which you’ll be able to really get up close and immerse yourself in our various sustainability projects. In this edition: taking a closer look at our key targets to reach zero environmental footprint by 2030.
Zero is probably the most used number in sustainability communications. But what does it actually mean? To make the concept of ‘zero’ more tangible, we’ve translated it into a set of clear ambitions: these are the key targets we have set ourselves so that we can achieve a zero environmental footprint by 2030. Now that we’ve defined these targets, we’re in a good position to ramp up the efforts and actions needed to reach them. To make sure that we keep a clear overview, we’ve bundled our targets into 3 key action areas.
Action area 1: taking full responsibility for our operations
“Reducing the direct impact of our operations is the first step towards achieving a zero environmental footprint”, explains Sustainability Manager Femke Faelens. “To do this, we are concentrating our efforts on three aspects of our operation. Firstly, by 2030, we want to achieve a 20% reduction in our energy consumption compared to 2021 levels. This means setting up and accelerating ongoing projects to identify and eliminate any energy losses in our operational processes, as well as exploring new technologies and processes. Secondly, we’re establishing site-specific roadmaps to reduce our water consumption. And thirdly, we need to ensure that our waste and scrap materials are fully valorized, so that, in the future, absolutely no waste whatsoever goes to landfill or incineration.”
Action area 2: embracing a circular economy
“It has become increasingly clear over the past few years that circularity is here to stay – something we understand and also fully embrace. Indeed, by using at least 50% recycled or renewable raw materials in our production by 2030, we will be able to drastically reduce our consumption of virgin fossil fuel resources. Projects like CISUFLO, which looks into increasing the recycled content in CV and LVT, will definitely help us in this regard. In addition, we are already taking our first steps towards making our products 100% recyclable, but we will still need to ramp up our efforts to be able to reach our target 8 years from now.”
Action area 3: taking action for the climate
“Last but not least, we aim to achieve net zero by 2030.”
“On the one hand, this means reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our own operations’ energy consumption (scope 1 & 2) to as close to zero as possible. The key to achieving this is to switch over to 100% renewable energy sources, such as solar power and wind energy. We are not there yet, of course, but we are well on our way, with the 23,790 solar panels we installed on 6 of our Belgian sites, for example, and the plans we have for other sites.”
“However, whilst our own activities have a definite influence on the climate, the impact of those before and after our gates is even greater, so we have taken a look at our complete value chain from start to finish (scope 3) and are determined to reduce the total emissions by at least 42% compared to 2021. Any residual emissions that cannot be cut will need to be compensated for with credible offsetting schemes. Why 42%, you ask? The answer is simple: this is the minimum percentage reduction that’s needed by 2030 to ensure that the earth does not warm up by more than 1.5 °C. However, our aim is to go beyond and bring our full emissions balance down to zero by 2030.”
Ready. Set. Go.
Now that we’ve set our targets, it’s time to get moving. Sure, there's a whole lot of work to do, but it will all be worth it, and failure is simply not an option. Our goal is clear, ambitious, and above all, it’s achievable. So Zero footprint – here we come!
