Opening the door to better choices
TRANSPARENT SUSTAINABILITY
We’re opening the door to what’s really under your feet. No greenwashing, no vague promises. Just facts, figures and full transparency about our sustainability performance. From carbon reduction and recycled content to how we track and share impact, we believe in showing the full picture. Because real progress starts with honesty.
A new era of honesty
Green marketing is getting a reality check. The upcoming EU Green Claims Directive, known by many as the Greenwashing Act, will soon ask every company to prove the environmental claims printed on packages and posted online. That is welcome news at Forbo Flooring Systems.
We have spent two decades turning our factories upside down to measure what really matters, and we have shared that data in full view. We always ask ourselves three core questions: Are the numbers science-based? Are they independently verified? And are they easy to find? These are the guiding principles behind our ongoing efforts to improve. In 2024, more than eighty percent of the square metres we sold came with a third-party-verified Environmental Product Declaration.
Seeing from seed to sunset
To understand a floor, you have to follow its story from the day raw materials are harvested until the moment the product is recycled or sent for energy recovery. Our Life Cycle Assessments do exactly that, covering extraction, transport, production, use, removal and end-of-life. Every LCA is carried out under strict ISO rules, then peer-reviewed by specialists who love red ink. We keep the models alive by updating them whenever we switch to cleaner energy, change a recipe or find a shorter transport route. Instead of hiding the results in a filing cabinet, we publish them so that architects and facility managers can see where impacts happen and where design tweaks can make a real dent.
Turning facts into pocket guides
Technical reports are valuable, but they are not exactly bedtime reading. That is why we started translating our LCAs and EPDs into a two-page summary that turns complex data into clear tables and graphics, like the Marmoleum Environmental Transparency Passport. While this format is currently available for Marmoleum, we are working to extend it to other product ranges as well. It helps bridge the gap between deep technical data and day-to-day decision-making. And for those who want to dive deeper, the full EPDs are always available too.
Keeping score
Publishing methods is good. Publishing results is better. Since 2004 our factories have cut direct and purchased-energy emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by more than eighty percent, thanks to renewable electricity and relentless efficiency projects. And we are not done yet. Our 2030 roadmap includes another forty-five percent cut in factory emissions.
Forty percent of an average Forbo floor now arrives with recycled content, and some collections top seventy percent because we collect installation offcuts and post-consumer floors through our Back to the Floor program. Last year alone that service rescued 637 tonnes of material that would have otherwise been wasted.
And because transparency also means showing what happens next, we disclose the end destinations of the collected material. Whether it is reused in-house, recycled into new Forbo floors, processed by external partners or, when no other option is available, incinerated with energy recovery.
We are proud of the progress, but we also know that upstream raw materials still make up the biggest part of our footprint. That is why our 2030 targets also include a thirty percent absolute reduction in Scope 3 emissions. It is a tougher challenge, but one we are committed to tackling head on.
Helping you stay in the clear
The Green Claims Directive will ask every environmental statement three things: Is it backed by science? Checked by an independent expert? Available to the public?
Many of our key documents, like LCAs, EPDs and HPDs, already meet the directive’s expectations and can be dropped straight into your project files, tenders or certification submissions. For areas that are not yet externally verified, like our emissions targets or recycling processes, we are working to strengthen assurance and improve clarity. We are doing this not because we have to, but because we believe it is the right thing to do. Choosing a product with accessible, fact-based documentation is one of the easiest ways to stay ahead of the new rules.
Explore, learn and ask
Transparency is not a marketing slogan for us. It is how we steer product design, circular take-back schemes and material innovation. If you want to dive deeper, visit our sustainability pages. There you will find the full Sustainability Report and a handy Sustainability FAQ.
For any other sustainability questions, you are always welcome to contact us. We are happy to open the books and continue the conversation.