COOL CARPET TM

The Solution

Addressing the global warming impact of carpet goes far beyond planting trees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. A more enduring solution involves a pragmatic and scientific approach to calculating the total emissions from the life cycle of the carpet, securing and ultimately retiring certified Emission Reduction Credits, and having the entire process certified by a credible third party.

For any carpet to be truly climate neutral there must be a balance between the total emissions from the life cycle of the carpet, and the emission reduction credits used to offset them. To ensure that products meet this balance Interface partners with reputable outside organizations to review and certify both the life cycle emissions of the products and the projects implemented to offset those emissions.

Our offsets tend to fall into three categories:

  • Projects which produce renewable energy without adding CO2 to the atmosphere;
  • Projects which increase energy efficiency by reducing the amount of fossil fuels used and consequently, the amount of CO2 produced;
  • Projects which actually remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
Interface uses the internationally recognized GaBi 4 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software to calculate the total CO2 emissions from carpet, including the extraction and processing of the raw materials, internal manufacturing and transportation, sales and administration functions, product installation and maintenance, and ultimate return and reuse.

The Emission Reduction Credits (ERCs) used for the Cool Carpet program are secured from a variety of sources to maintain a diversified portfolio.

  • Our diversified portfolio also includes ERCs Blue Source LLCfrom Blue Source LLC in the form of geologic sequestration of waste CO2 gas from oil and natural gas treatment plants. This waste CO2 gas, which would have been normally vented into the atmosphere, is recovered and injected into partially depleted crude oil reserves. Oil which would have been trapped becomes recoverable, and the CO2 is ultimately sequestered in the underground reservoirs. This method of sequestration is validated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the ERCs are independently validated by a third party.

  • Because our program is global, a portion of our portfolio Click to Enlargeis also comprised of credits from Meridian Energy resulting from the Te Apiti Wind Farm, located in New Zealand. This unique opportunity was identified by our carbon trading broker CO2e.com, when Interface requested help with identifying offsets in specific geographical areas where Interface conducts business, (e.g. Asia-Pacific). The power generated from the wind farm will replace power previously generated by coal, and has achieved the Gold Standard developed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in consultation with a range of environmental, business and governmental organizations.
Cool Carpet Scale  For any carpet to be truly climate neutral there must be a balance between the total emissions from the life cycle of the carpet, and the emission reduction credits used to offset them.


In Europe, we’re working with Climate Care to fund energy reduction projects in South Africa and a major project to re-establish 10,000 hectares of rainforest in Kibale National Park, western Uganda. Climate care offers individuals and companies a way to address their impact on global warming and play their part in building solutions for a sustainable climate Climate Care calculates the carbon dioxide individuals or companies emit (measured in tonnes of CO2) and sell offsets to those individuals and companies for all or part of their CO2 emissions. They use the money from selling offsets to help protect the climate from further damage by investing in high quality, carefully scrutinized renewable energy projects, energy efficiency projects and projects which remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Climate Care’s projects are scrutinized by its Environmental Steering Committee which includes members from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Forum for the Future.



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