Carbon receipt increases transparency of environmental impact
Kiilto has developed a carbon receipt for its floor levelling service customers in Finland with information on the carbon dioxide emissions of the components, the delivery, and the installation. The carbon receipt increases awareness of the environmental impact of construction, and encourages more ecological choices.
Carbon dioxide emission calculations are year by year becoming more important in the sustainable development and responsible business operations in the construction industry. International and national environmental standards and regulations place ever tighter emission limits to the construction industry and thereby on carbon footprint calculations, too. An increasing number of clients, such as companies, cities and private individuals, are also already paying a lot more attention on the carbon footprint of their construction projects. In the construction of public buildings, in particular, it is a regular selection criterion when choosing contractors.
“Environmental awareness is a growing trend, and construction companies must be able to show their commitment to sustainable development and environmental responsibility. This is why we developed the carbon receipt for our customers,” says Eero Katajamäki, Kiilto sales manager of pumped floor levelling compounds.
Carbon receipt delivered automatically in floor levelling service
Kiilto provides its floor levelling service customers in Finland a carbon receipt by default. The carbon receipt presents in a simple way the emissions of the components pumped to make the floor, the delivery and installation, converted into kilograms of carbon dioxide. The customer can use the carbon receipt directly in their own calculations, such as the overall emission calculations of the completed building.
“Building projects use a variety of materials and methods, and getting the information together from a number of parties in slow and challenging. We know that our customers are struggling with emission calculations, so we wanted to make life a little easier for them,” says Katajamäki.
The calculations of Kiilto’s carbon receipt are based on the EN15804+A2 and ISO 14025 standards by using either the information provided by the supplier or the Ecoinvent emissions database. The calculation involves the product’s carbon footprint from component manufacture to transport of the product, with the distance being 100 km. The result of the carbon receipt is verified internally by two experts.
Considerable groundwork enabled carbon footprint calculation
Thanks to extensive groundwork, it was relatively easy to calculate the carbon dioxide emissions included in the components for the floor levelling, the delivery and installation, as all the information was already stored in the system. All the needed to be done was to combine the information.
“The carbon receipt combines in a simple way the systematic work done by multiple organisations. Kiilto aims to be the leader in environmental matters, and this has led us to collect plenty of environmental data about our operations.”
Kiilto’s aim is to use such collected information as widely as possible in order to help customers, and with the carbon receipt this was indeed possible:
“The construction industry is struggling to meet tightening emission budgets, and this way we can both help our customers and do our part in increasing the transparency of environmental impact.”
The carbon footprint of floor levelling may be a reasonably small part in the overall emissions of a building, but the carbon receipt is nevertheless an important first in the industry. If all players supplied their customers with a carbon receipt, it would improve awareness of the environmental effects of construction and encourage more environmentally friendly choices.
Construction company Bonava uses carbon receipt for calculation of overall emissions
Kiilto’s customer, building developer Bonava is currently in the middle of an extensive apartment block project in Vuosaari, Helsinki (Finland), and the environmental impacts are important. Bonava needs information from its subcontractors and component suppliers about carbon dioxide emissions in order to calculate the carbon footprint of the completed building.
“We are committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 50 per cent in the entire value chain in each new Bonava home by 2030. We are steadily investigating the impact of our operations on the climate, making plenty of calculations for carbon footprint,” says Bonava site engineer Sami Lammi.
Lammi says that the carbon receipt provided by Kiilto was warmly welcomed at Bonava, because the information is easy to use for the overall emission calculation of the building.
“Calculating the carbon footprint of a building is laborious and complicated, but thanks to the carbon receipt at least one part of the building’s emissions is determined, requiring no further action from us,” says Lammi.
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