When ROCKWOOL significantly reduced its CO₂ emissions, the market’s response was limited. This highlights a challenge for manufacturers: documenting environmental improvements is not enough. The data also has to be accessible and usable. Prodikt is one of the platforms ROCKWOOL and VELUX use to meet this challenge.
By switching to biogas at its Danish factories and hydropower at its factory in Norway, ROCKWOOL gradually achieved an 80% reduction in CO₂ emissions. Only when updated Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) made the improvements visible did the market begin to respond.
Window manufacturer VELUX is also seeing growing demand for environmental data from distributors. “We also see that distributors are actively asking their suppliers for environmental data,” says Artur Slupinski, architect and PhD at VELUX.
From documents to data that can be used in digital systems
Both ROCKWOOL and VELUX share environmental data about their products via Prodikt, which connects manufacturers and distributors through structured, machine-readable data instead of repeatedly exchanging documents. Through Prodikt, Danish building materials distributors have requested product-specific climate data for more than 1.28 million products. The platform currently holds over 70,000 digitised EPDs.
“Environmental data about products only becomes truly relevant when it creates value for customers. It’s not enough to make improvements. Customers need access to reliable data that they can actually use in their own projects and decisions,” says Christian J. Kofod, Sustainability Manager at ROCKWOOL.
“A shared process makes it much easier to find data, and platforms like Prodikt add real value when it comes to making our products visible,” explains Ugne Krikstanaite, Advanced Market Sustainability Specialist at VELUX.
