The company, a world leader in the design, production and marketing of products for the bathroom space, has managed to reduce 39% of its carbon emissions since 2018, the year in which its specific decarbonization plan began. The company has acquired the commitment to become carbon neutral by 2045 in terms of its scope 1 and 2 emissions. To certify this commitment, the company has joined the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative, which promotes the climate action in the private sector by setting science-based emission reduction targets.
This transition is being carried out through various actions, such as the energy optimization of the group's 76 factories, with techniques such as heat recovery or the electrification of production processes, thereby reducing the use of carbon-emitting energies. . In this line, Roca Group is betting on sources of renewable origin in order to cover the demand for electricity through photovoltaics on and off site. In addition, it is also studying the application of green hydrogen in its industrial ovens, in a project in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).
In parallel, and to reduce the emissions of reach 3, the company is involving its entire supply chain to boost its decarbonization and achieve a transition towards a low carbon economy, in the soil in the group, bell in the entire value chain .
So far, Roca Group's efforts have resulted in a 39% reduction in its scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions compared to those generated in 2018. This decrease is a consequence, among other factors, of the aforementioned initiatives and the improvement in the energy intensity of the group's production processes, which in the same period has decreased by 47%.
Heat recovery is one of the most important and cross-cutting measures to promote energy efficiency in the group's porcelain factories. The furnaces are responsible for 80% of the natural gas consumption of the entire process, and, for now, there is no viable technology on a commercial scale to replace this gas consumption. For this reason, heat recovery is a great opportunity that is used to preheat the air at the furnace inlet, heating areas that require working temperatures above ambient temperatures, heat input for drying parts and/or molds, and heating of water for changing rooms or preparation of pasta or masses.
Roca Group currently has at least one heat recovery facility in all its European centers, a practice that is being extended to other factories in the world. Electrification is one of the essential actions in all the decarbonisation processes carried out by Roca. This strategy is accompanied by a plan for the production of green electricity in the factories themselves with photovoltaic energy. That is why, during 2022, 9,849 photovoltaic panels have been installed, allowing the generation of 5,000 MWh of renewable electricity per year. With this, the group already has more than 21,800 panels and 7MWp operating in its factories.
In fact, today the Roca Group already has facilities that are supplied with 100% certified electricity from renewable sources in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Austria.
