Corporate Commitment
As the inventor of high pressure laminate, Formica Corporation has long delivered high-quality innovative products. Efficient use of resources remains at our core, and throughout our history we have taken many meaningful steps to improve our environmental footprint — from reusing the water in our presses to incorporating recycled materials into our surfacing products.
As part of its sustainability approach, Formica Corporation has published its environmental impact data annually since 2021, along with targets and initiatives for the coming year. This is the second year we are reporting this information in our updated format, reinforcing our commitment to transparency, consistency, and continuous improvement. We invite you to learn more in this important document.
Formica Group has been advancing more sustainable business practices for decades. This Group Position Paper highlights our broader environmental impact, with a strong focus on reducing carbon emissions. In addition to sharing carbon footprint data from our manufacturing operations, the paper showcases key initiatives and real-world examples that demonstrate our progress and commitment to continuous improvement.
We continue to pursue carbon reduction across our operations through smarter manufacturing, responsible material sourcing, and energy efficiency investments. Recent initiatives include reducing natural gas consumption by installing heat exchangers to recover energy, increasing recycled paper content, and earning USDA Certified Biobased Product labels. Together, these efforts reflect our ongoing commitment to lowering our environmental impact and advancing more sustainable surfacing solutions.
Adopting More Stringent Sustainability Reporting at a Global Level
For the second time, we are presenting our sustainability philosophy, approach and results from a global perspective. By consolidating information from our worldwide operations and brands, we aim to emphasize the collective efforts of our entire organization and showcase how we work together as a unified team toward our shared goals. This holistic view required us to evaluate sustainability reporting regulations that vary by geography and standardize our approach. Changing laws in Europe no longer allow carbon offsets to be considered in percentages of total carbon emissions reduced. Although other areas of the world still permit these offsets to be counted, we have decided to align our reporting with Europe’s stringent new guidelines on a global scale. As part of our commitment to transparency and pursuit of the most stringent sustainability assessment, we will still purchase carbon offsets but will no longer include them in our reported percentages of carbon emissions reduced.
Improving Our Life Cycle Analysis Model
We recognize the importance of assessing the full life cycle of our products. We have adopted a cradle-to-gate approach for quantifying our footprint, taking into consideration the life cycle stages from the extraction of raw materials to the manufacture of our products. This represents the part of the life cycle over which we have full control and remains our primary focus for sustainability improvement efforts. We also recognize, however, the importance of the end-of-life of our products. Beginning in 2025, we expanded our reporting to include cradle-to-grave footprint in addition to cradle-to-gate. We rely on data collected from the market and industry stakeholders to assess this impact and integrate it into our life cycle analysis as accurately as possible. At the same time, we will separately report the biogenic carbon uptake of our products to clearly highlight the biogenic carbon they store.
The Goal of This Paper
This Group Position Paper brings together the environmental progress of the Broadview Materials group of companies, focusing on how our manufacturing operations are evolving to reduce their impact. Working across the organization, we remain aligned around a shared commitment to climate action. We will continue publishing annual updates to track our progress and highlight the initiatives driving ongoing reductions in carbon emissions.
Green Buildings and Infrastructure
Formica Corporation continuously develops new technologies, processes and products to deliver operational efficiencies and to fulfill emerging customer and stakeholder expectations. Formica Corporation recognizes sustainability and climate change as important drivers of new product development.
Formica Corporation memberships include:
- U.S. Green Building Council
- ASID Industry Partner
- Composite Panel Association
- Mindful Materials
More on Sustainability
At Formica Corporation, we continually strive to create innovative products that promote a healthier environment to support sustainable design.