As a Partner of the British Furniture Association, Planet Mark supports furniture manufacturers to measure their carbon emissions, identify opportunities for reduction, and communicate their progress with confidence. Over the years, this collaboration has brought to light the importance of emissions measurement and reporting across the furniture and joinery sector.
According to the UKGBC’s Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap*, the built environment sector accounts for 25% of UK emissions and is under increasing pressure to decarbonise. Furniture doesn’t currently sit inside that figure, however, as the sector’s attention widens from the building shell to everything inside it, fit-out and furniture are increasingly being pulled into whole life carbon assessments.
In the past, the conversation about a building’s carbon footprint centred on the big, obvious things - heating, lighting, the structure itself. Furniture was less often spoken about. However, this is now changing, and for furniture and joinery manufacturers, it’s quickly becoming an important shift in the industry.
This was the focus of Planet Mark’s recent webinar with the British Furniture Association, featuring a brilliant case study from The Furniture Practice. Together, we explored how carbon data is fast becoming the language of specification, and how manufacturers with a clear understanding of the carbon impact of their products and supply chains are increasingly well-placed to win contracts.
What has changed?
If the built environment is to reach net zero by 2050, it drastically needs to reduce its carbon emissions. Gratefully, operational emissions, those associated with a building’s energy use and operational infrastructure, are falling as buildings become more efficient and the grid decarbonises.
This means the focus is now on embodied carbon, with these emissions expected to rise to over 50% of a building’s footprint by 2035, according to the UKGBC. In the furniture manufacturing sector, this of course means a greater focus on production processes and materials.
Architects, designers, contractors and clients are more mindful when selecting furniture for commercial fitouts. As The Furniture Practice confirmed, alongside design and pricing, clients are now requesting verified carbon data for products.
Carbon data is therefore becoming a commercial advantage for those manufacturers who can provide this information, and a valuable tool for improving products and processes.
The good news: the data tells a useful story
Carbon data can unlock useful insights that help manufacturers design more sustainable, cost-effective products.
When The Furniture Practice analysed which items drove the most emissions across projects, the results were genuinely instructive. In one office fit-out, workstations alone accounted for over half the furniture footprint. In an amenity space, a single lounge chair design accounted for nearly a third.
Once you can see where the carbon sits, you can do something about it.
Some examples include swapping chrome-plated steel for solid timber finished with natural oils, designing products for repair and disassembly rather than landfill, and powering production with renewable energy. These changes can also help reduce Scope 3 emissions – those that impact a client’s footprint.
Carbon data stops being a box-ticking exercise and becomes a design tool, one that often points towards lighter, smarter and more durable products.
Where the demands are heading
The direction of travel is clear. Emissions data from The Furniture Practice has already helped inform the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard’s fit-out benchmark, and an industry whitepaper is in progress to set common benchmarks for furniture carbon reporting. Product-level data, in the form of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), is becoming an expectation, particularly for manufacturers supplying into commercial projects with sustainability targets.
For manufacturers, that translates into a few practical steps: provide compliant LCA or EPD data, offer take-back programmes and extended warranties, and design for disassembly with replaceable components and fewer glues. None of this happens overnight, but every step makes you a more attractive, future-proofed supplier.
Start with measurement
The key is to know your numbers. You can’t reduce, report or prove anything without a credible baseline across your Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Knowing your carbon baseline means you can answer clients’ questions with confidence, evidence your sustainability credentials without the fear of greenwashing accusations and identify the carbon reduction opportunities that will have the greatest impact.
The manufacturers that get ahead on carbon data reporting will not only keep pace with their clients’ sustainability goals but stand out as suppliers with the evidence to support their environmental commitments.
Through Planet Mark’s partnership with the British Furniture Association, BFA members can access a 10% discount on their first year of Planet Mark certification, free 30-minute carbon clinics, and educational webinars throughout the year.
If you’re ready to understand your carbon data or want to know what specifiers may start asking for next, we’d love to help you make a start. Talk to an expert today.
