Verona, Italy—At Marmomac 2024, held here, the Natural Stone Strategic Alliance (NSSA) convened natural stone trade associations from around the world to advance sustainability initiatives. Key figures in this effort include Flavio Marabelli (Confindustria Marmomacchine), Fabio Cruz (Centrorochas), Nelson Cristo (Assimagra) and Jim Hieb (Natural Stone Institute).
The top agenda item at Marmomac was the Global EPD Collaboration initiative. A phased approach to publishing region-specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), was presented and discussed. The EPDs, which will ultimately be combined into a global industry average, will be used to promote natural stone as a low-carbon building material. This effort has potential for strengthening the industry’s position within the building sector, particularly as global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change intensify.
Facilitating the discussion at Marmomac was Sarah Gregg, the sustainability leader for the Natural Stone Institute, who has been instrumental in organizing and driving these strategic discussions. “The design community is increasingly focused on combatting climate change, and the natural stone industry has a significant opportunity to position itself as a sustainable choice,” Gregg said. “The Global EPD Collaboration initiative is a critical step toward showcasing the industry’s commitment to sustainability on a global scale. By pooling our resources and expertise we can establish the quantified data sets and messaging needed for stone to be recognized as a solution for reducing the embodied carbon of building projects worldwide.”
Initial research into the life cycle impacts of natural stone production has demonstrated its low global warming potential. With growing pressure to reduce emissions, natural stone stands out as a sustainable option compared to alternative materials, which often involve more complex manufacturing processes, multiple ingredients and potential health hazards.
Given that several of the attending organizations have experience with environmental reporting, the NSSA is well-positioned to establish best practices on data collection, member company engagement and effective marketing strategies.
At the Marmomac meeting, representatives from 10 countries committed to participating in the Global EPD Collaboration initiative. The next steps involve reaching out to additional countries and encouraging their involvement. Each participating association will appoint a local program operator to contribute to this effort, beginning with submitting feedback on a draft PCR Guidance document. The goal is for the global natural stone EPD report to be ready for distribution in early 2026.
The following associations have already committed to participating in the Global EPD Collaboration:
- Brazil: Centrorochas
- Portugal: Assimagra
- United Kingdom: Stone Federation of Great Britain
- Finland: Kivi
- Italy: Confindustria Marmomacchine
- Turkey: Aegean Mineral Exporters Association (EMIB)
- Greece: Greek Marble Association
- Germany: Deutscher Naturwerkstein-Verband
- Spain: Cluster del Granito, Marmol de Alicante, and Centro Tecnológico del Mármol
- United States: Natural Stone Institute
“Confindustria Marmomacchine is extremely pleased for the outcomes of the meeting and for the very good attendance by the main national sector associations around the world,” Marabelli said. “They are committed to bringing to term, in the agreed-upon timing, their national EPD and afterward work together to verify the opportunity and feasibility of creating a global EPD for stone materials. A further reason for satisfaction with the meeting was the decision to broaden the number of national associations participating in the Natural Stone Strategic Alliance (NSSA) and above all to have decided on the formal constitution of an entity of global representation, a permanent organization that brings on board all the sector associations worldwide to deal together with any issue of obvious strategic importance for the world’s stone industry, starting from the global EPD.”
This landmark collaboration marks a significant step toward positioning natural stone as a leader in sustainable building materials on the global stage.