Marshalls has published its 2023 Sustainability Report, providing an update on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) milestones, and outlining its strategy for 2024 .

The publication of the report, which covers key areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti- corruption, also coincides with Marshalls being recognised as one of 600 European Climate Leaders by the Financial Times.

Key achievements in the 2023 report include the publication of 16 additional Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to give customers complete transparency on the environmental credentials of those products. 

The document also outlines how the business has recalculated its carbon reduction targets to include Marley, following its acquisition of the business in 2022. These targets will be published in 2024 after validation by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Further achievements include Marshalls becoming the first pre-cast concrete manufacturer in the UK to adopt CarbonCure Technologies. This innovative process injects waste CO2 directly into the concrete mix used to produce the company’s facing bricks, with no negative impact on the performance or durability of the brick. As a result, the CO2 becomes mineralised and permanently locked into the brick for millennia, preventing its release into the atmosphere, even upon demolition. 

It is estimated that the carbon sequestration process at Marshalls’ Grove site in Wales removes approximately 30,000kg of CO2 annually. Until last month, Marshalls had been using the technology on existing ranges only; in April, it launched Glenwall, its first new facing brick range to incorporate waste carbon.

At the manufacturer’s St Ives site in Cambridgeshire, it has recently installed a 740KW solar array on the factory roof, which it estimates will reduce mains grid electricity consumption by approximately 17% per year. St Ives now joins four other sites across the Marshalls Group equipped with solar arrays.

As a testament to some of these ongoing efforts, Marshalls has been recognised as a European Climate Leader in a list released by the Financial Times in partnership with Statista. 

Europe’s Climate Leaders 2024 list highlights companies that have demonstrated the greatest reduction in their Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, together with a combination of other carbon-reduction-related criteria and measures.

The latest Sustainability Report also outlines the manufacturer’s’ wider ESG progression, including how Marshalls has grown its apprenticeship programme with a focus on engineering roles. In 2023, 184 employees were in apprenticeships – a 30% increase compared to 2022. 

The manufacturer also demonstrated leadership in wellbeing and health and safety performance, achieving a reduction in lost time injury frequency, introducing a digital compliance system, and building a cohort of 62 Mental Health First Aiders across its business.

Mike Edwards, Head of Sustainability at Marshalls, said: “In the past 12 months, we’ve made important strides across our pillars of Better Workplace, Better World, Better Product, specifically by improving transparency as we increase our library of EPDs.

“We understand the need for clarity on environmental reporting for our customers, and as a leader in our sector, we have a responsibility to spearhead this visibility, as well as use EPDs to identify ways we can further reduce carbon emissions from cradle to grave.

“The report summarises some significant improvements to date which are reflected in our Climate Leader status, and we are building on those in 2024.”