Washington, D.C.—At the outset of the inaugural Flooring Sustainability Summit, emcee Bill Griese of the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) said organizers had one stated goal for the event: to have a dialogue.
Simple enough, but by the end of the three-day event it was apparent the Summit had achieved a lot more than talk.
For the 225 attendees of the Sustainability Summit representing myriad fields—including architecture, interior design, building management, flooring manufacturing and advocacy—the Summit was about working collaboratively and cooperatively to advance green building initiatives throughout the flooring supply chain.
The event was co-hosted by TCNA, the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), Natural Stone Institute and North American Laminate Flooring Association (NALFA). There were several major themes discussed—embodied carbon, material health/ingredients and green building standards, ratings and codes. Following each technical panel were group workshops that delved deeper into the topic previously discussed.
“For a first-time event, it was very successful,” Michael Martin, president and CEO, NWFA, told FCNews. “With 225 attendees, it’s clear that sustainability is an important conversation for the flooring industry.”
Among Martin’s key takeaways was the need for what he called “clear benchmarks, comparisons of each surface based on the same criteria and a commitment to integrity.” Wood flooring, he noted, “is such a small part of the commercial market that we have everything to gain from listening and learning from architects, federal agencies, flooring manufacturers and sustainability experts. With our new Life Cycle Analysis and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for both solid and engineered wood flooring, perhaps sustainability will be the growth engine for wood that is needed to keep our industry and our humans healthy.”
Several attendees identified the panel discussions and in-depth workshops as highlights. “This format allowed for energizing and constructive exchanges about large and complex challenges that the flooring industry faces,” said Jenne Ross, director of product, Karndean Designflooring. “It was pleasing to learn that key focus areas of Karndean’s Evolve sustainability model—confronting climate change, individual health and well-being, sustainable resource use, inclusion and diversity, supply chain transparency and education—were all central to key themes of the event and the attendee group agreed on the importance of multi-attribute certification.”
Favorable legislation
As evidence that green building is taking on great influence, participants cited the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), which was passed into law by the Biden administration. The IRA is deemed the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history, offering funding, programs and incentives to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy that will likely drive significant deployment of new clean electricity resources. For example, the act provided the General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the U.S. government, with funding to select materials and products with substantially lower levels of embodied greenhouse gas emissions.
In his closing keynote, GSA commissioner, Elliot Doomes, lauded the flooring industry for its proactive approach to green building initiatives. “I wish more industries would do what you have done the past few days—which is to talk,” he said. “You’ve shown real leadership for this summit, and I applaud you. With climate change impacting every part of our life we can’t sit idly by. If we can reduce the carbon footprint we use in materials we can really make a difference. Individually we may not be able to do much but collectively, industry by industry, we can.”
Among the speakers representing the flooring industry were Bob Peeples, executive director, Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE); John Forbes, director of manufacturing services, NWFA; Malisa Maynard, chief sustainability officer, Mohawk; and Barbara June, president, North American Laminate Flooring Association. “The flooring industry has made incredible progress in sustainability, but we have a long way to go,” Maynard said. To illustrate the progress, Maynard noted that Mohawk became the first flooring manufacturer to achieve Platinum Level LF-02 Sustainability Certification, the highest level issued by NALFA. This certification requires third-party review and validation of compliance.
Save the date
The second annual Flooring Sustainability Summit will take place July 16-17 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. As Griese explained, “We are going to keep this train rolling.”
In addition, it was announced at the Summit that the EPA doled out $160 million in grants for “clean” manufacturing to several entities including the TCNA (just over $2 million). The funding will be used for various project work. TCNA’s project will provide technical assistance to manufacturers to develop product-specific EPDs.
