Leading distributor of construction products, Artex, has received £300,000 to support its commitment to reducing carbon emissions across its business.
Artex, part of the Saint-Gobain Group, secured the highest win from Saint-Gobain’s internal INVEST Carbon fund, which will support the decarbonisation of its businesses on a journey to net zero carbon by 2050.
The INVEST Carbon fund is one of two funds which is available to businesses within Saint-Gobain as well as employees to suggest ways in which carbon can be reduced from its activities.
The funding will pay for the installation of a biomass heating system at Artex’s Ruddington site in Nottinghamshire to completely replace and decarbonise the site’s heating system. It is estimated this improvement will reduce CO2 emissions by 150 tonnes a year- the equivalent to nearly 600,000 miles in a diesel car.
In their bid to make an even greater impact on their carbon reduction journey, Artex is part of Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Big Business Carbon Club, which brings local organisations together to find ways to work towards becoming carbon neutral.
Artex was one of three UK Saint-Gobain brands that secured investment from the internal INVEST Carbon fund.
Builders merchant Jewson, also part of Saint-Gobain, received £250,000 to spend on its Wishaw branch in North Lanarkshire. The funds will be used to install high performing insulation, LED lighting, solar photovoltaics and an air source heat pump to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by 19 tonnes a year.
Saint-Gobain brand, Jewson Civils Frazer, a provider of specialist civils and utility products, has also received over £100,000 of funding to replace existing electric heating systems with air source heat pumps in four of its UK sites, with the aim of saving 56 tonnes of CO2 a year.
In addition to these investments, colleagues in the UK and Ireland have been submitting their ideas to reduce non-industrial CO2 emissions; from small actions to larger projects. These proposals were shortlisted by Saint-Gobain’s Net Zero Carbon Colleague Assembly and submitted to the Carbon Fund where a committee chose the most impactful winning projects.
Jason Smith, Managing Director, Artex commented: “We are delighted to secure this much-needed funding which will go a long way to reducing carbon emissions across our business and work towards Saint-Gobain’s mission of Making the World a Better Home.”
Saint-Gobain is finalising its zero-carbon roadmap which will set out a path for each of its businesses to meet medium term Science Based Targets for 2030 and the ultimate goal of net zero carbon by 2050.
