Building materials for today and tomorrow

The construction sector is responsible for the majority of all CO2 emissions and a third of the waste generated in Europe. A paradigm shift is needed: away from the linear economy to the circular economy.

Products that are prepared for single-variety recycling because they are either purely mineral, single-variety degradable and/or biodegradable are positively assessed against this background in our Sustainability Guide.

Products that contribute to the avoidance of packaging material. This is possible either through the use of unmixed packaging or reusable packaging in general.

Currently, this primarily refers to our silo goods. This also explains why loose goods always have a more positive rating in direct comparison to their sack counterparts.

Indoor health is a topic that is becoming increasingly important. It refers to the quality of air, materials and the general indoor climate in living spaces. These have a direct influence on the health and well-being of the occupants.

We therefore have a large number of our products tested and certified by independent institutes. 

You can find more information on the topic here.

Almost all of our products contain cement as a binding agent, which means that we have a high CO2 input into our products. But why is cement production so CO2-intensive?

Two processes are primarily responsible for this: on the one hand, the heating of the rotary kiln in which the cement clinker is produced, and on the other hand, the chemical process in the deacidification of limestone, which is responsible for around 60% of the emission.

We therefore positively assess products that contain CO2-reduced binders (e.g. cement-reduced or cement-free binders), so that lower amounts of CO2 are emitted during production.

These include, for example, products with SECON® binder technology.​

This criterion covers products in which secondary raw materials are used as a substitute or partial substitute for primary raw materials, e.g. by using recycled concrete as an aggregate instead of sand and gravel from primary excavation in quarries.

Did you know, for example, that our akurit SK light consists of 9 % recycled raw materials?

This category includes products that contain raw materials that are not irretrievably lost through their use, i.e. that grow again, such as wood, straw, hemp and clay.

In the case of the Sievert Green Line, building chemical products in particular have been rated well in this category, where the poliols contained are made from vegetable oils and not conventionally from mineral oil.

In very simplified terms, it can be said that it is always more sustainable to maintain a building, e.g. by renovating it, rather than demolishing it and constructing a new one.

The reason for this is the so-called grey energy, i.e. the primary energy that is necessary to construct a building. This includes energy for extracting materials, for manufacturing and processing building components, for transporting people, machines, building components and materials to the construction site, for installing building components in the building and for disposal.

We therefore positively assess products that protect buildings from demolition, whether through refurbishment or protection during new construction, from a sustainability point of view.

Products that contribute to lower CO2 emissions through lower material consumption per m2 (i.e. high yield), as the products can be used more efficiently. In addition, fewer freight journeys or lighter loads are required for these products.

By the term "eco-enabler" we mean products that have a sustainable effect when installed, for example by helping to reduce the energy consumption of buildings.

This applies primarily to insulation materials, but thermal insulation plasters can also be positively evaluated from this point of view.

The abbreviation EPD is derived from the English term Environmental Product Declaration and is usually translated into German as Umwelt-Produktdeklaration.

An EPD is a document in which the environmentally relevant properties of a specific product are presented in the form of neutral and objective data. This data covers as far as possible all the effects that the product can have on its environment. Ideally, the entire life cycle of the product is taken into account.

In the building industry, EPDs form an essential basis for professionals such as architects and planners to be able to plan and evaluate buildings holistically. (Source:  Institut für Bauen und Umwelt e. V.)

Sievert has been a member of the DGNB since 12/2022, Europe's largest network for sustainable construction with around 2,000 member organisations covering the entire value chain of the construction and real estate industry.

The content of the DGNB is based on a holistic understanding of sustainability that includes ecological, economic and socio-cultural issues. It is therefore equally concerned with the environment, economic efficiency and people.

The DGNB promotes sustainable building in many ways, e.g. through certification, the DGNB Academy, the DGNB Navigator and activities in the field of research & development.

The DGNB Navigator helps architects and planners to find products online that meet their sustainability requirements. We now have 55 of our products listed on this online platform with all relevant information on their sustainability qualities.

The certifications issued by the DGNB for buildings and neighbourhoods are decisive in determining whether a building project is eligible for funding.

(Source: DNGB)