Why should you consider natural stone from a sustainability point of view?
Natural stone’s ecological sustainability is a very timely topic in today's world which is looking for greener solutions in all areas of consumption. Natural stone is an environmentally friendly material in building industry for several reasons. Many consumers or even professional people, such as architects and designers are not aware of the huge difference in the carbon footprint in favour of natural stone, when compared with other materials that can be used for the same purposes in construction. These materials include glass, ceramic, concrete, even wood. In the following article, we will shed light into the matter, by reporting about a webinar “Sustainability in Natural Stone Industry” that took place in Istanbul on 7.3.2021. The webinar was organised by the Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters’ Association (IMMIB) together with World Natural Stone Association.
The two speakers in the webinar were Prof. Gerd Merke, who is the director at the European & International Federation of Natural Stone Industries and Sini Laine, who is the general manager of the Finnish Stone Association (KIVI). Prof. Gerd Merke spoke from Germany and was referencing the European Green Deal, which is a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission. The initiatives aim at making Europe climate neutral by the year 2050. He was especially talking about the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). EPD is an independently verified and registered document that communicates in a transparent and objective way what a product is made of and how it impacts the environment throughout its entire life cycle.
About Turkey in particular, Prof. Merke noted that the country is “tremendous” in terms of natural stone, being a big country for production with a lot of possibilities for the future. Turkey is right at the doorstep of Europe, which means that also from an ecological point of view, products coming from Turkey have a much smaller carbon footprint caused by transportation, than for example products coming from China or India. Natural stone has natural advantages compared to its competitors glass, ceramics and cement. Stone is ready made in the earth and all that is required is to dig it out, process it and fix it. Prof. Merke pointed out that the EU Commission wants all EU countries to implement the EPD. Countries that are in close interaction with the EU, such as Turkey, Switzerland and Norway, also benefit from implementing the environmental product declaration for their export products.
When it comes to the volume of natural stone production in Turkey and worldwide, it is small compared to the glass, concrete and ceramic industries. Prof. Merke believes that natural stone producers can compete with their design, by making natural stone alternatives to products made from other materials. It is crucial to design for people who decide what kind of materials are used in the construction projects. Essentially, the question is: Do you want to buy an original or a substitute? The fact is that no other product in the construction industry has such green footprint. Even wood cannot compare. The cleaning of natural stone is easier than for example that of glass. He mentioned as an example that in New York the city planning authorities have stated: “We cannot continue with glass, as it is not environmentally sustainable”. The research about the ecological advantages of natural stone are very comprehensive.
Prof. Merke stressed that the quarries do not harm the environment long term and the harm to the natural site is only temporary. For example, the old Roman quarries that are plentiful in Turkey are not easily seen anymore. The nature has taken over on these sites. Also the waste that comes as a byproduct of the production is not harmful to the environment. Natural stone is also a material that can be re-used easily.
The second speaker of the webinar, Sini Laine spoke from Finland and explained about an EPD document that was published a year ago, called Comparison of the Carbon Footprint of Natural Stone with other materials. The comparison was made between the natural stone products originating from Finland and the ceramic and concrete products made in other countries and transported to Finland. However, the results can be generalized to other natural stone products when it comes to the production stage emissions of natural stone. She pointed out that natural stone has a really small carbon footprint, compared to other building materials. The more processing needed, the bigger the carbon footprint will be.
In Finland the carbon footprint per person is over 10 000 kg per year, which is quite high also in international comparison. This footprint comprises mostly of emissions caused by the building and heating of homes, transport and diet. Finland has set ambitious climate goals for itself; it is aiming to become a carbon neutral country by 2035 and a carbon negative country in the 2040’s. Laine mentioned that the public sector in Finland is already requiring EPD and the construction sector is one of the biggest parts of it. In the future more and more emphasis will be put on choosing environmentally sustainable building materials.
Wood is a popular material for construction in Finland and it is generally considered as environmentally friendly. Still compared to wood, natural stone is greener. The reason is mainly in the additional materials needed for finishing and protecting the wood. Similarly, when comparing concrete to natural stone, natural stone has a considerably smaller carbon footprint. Spare parts and maintenance doubles the emissions for concrete and kerb stone. On the other hand, when comparing countertops made of natural stone and quartz composite, the major difference in emissions comes from the production stage emissions. Sini Laine concluded that the momentum for natural stone is now and that “everything is about carbon footprint” in Finland and Europe these days.
