Product-related Energy, Emissions, Effluents & Waste

We aim to reduce our customers’ environmental burdens by designing materially- and energy-efficient products.

dormakaba is dedicated to producing high-quality reliable products and solutions, also integrating our customers’ health and safety and desire for environmentally friendly options. That is why our products are a core focus area in the sustainability strategy, with emphasis on energy in-use, materials use and compliance, customer health and safety, waste and emissions reduction.

The trend towards sustainable design and ecodesign are here to stay. With an average lifespan of forty to fifty years, buildings should clearly be constructed in a way that allows required materials and natural resources to be used efficiently.

Green Building certification schemes such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or the German Sustainable Building Council (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen, DGNB) rate the sustainability of an entire building. The Green Building market is to experience a 13% growth rate through the year 2020. By developing sustainable products and ensuring transparency on sustainability information, dormakaba secures our market position and offers added value to customers seeking Green Building Certifications.

Environmental Product Declarations

At dormakaba, quantified disclosures of a product’s environmental impact through its entire lifecycle are described in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) based on the international standards ISO 14025, 14040, 14044 and the European standard EN 15804.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the core element of the EPD and provides a reliable calculation of the environmental performance of a product. This means, in concrete terms, that a systematic assessment of the environmental aspects and effects arising during the extraction of raw material through the production, distribution, and use phases takes place. To calculate an eco-balance, statements must be made on materials, energy consumption, transport routes, emissions, and the lifespan of the products.

The EPDs for the Variflex 88/100 and Varitrans movable walls (Segment Key & Wall Solutions) have been published in the 2017/18 financial year. In addition, baseline data collection and calculations to create EPDs for compact readers, door closers and automatic door systems have begun. We expect to publish 2 new EPDs in the 2018/19 financial year. In addition, 2 further EPDs for the products TS 93 and BTS 80 will be renewed. To further round off our EPD offer, dormakaba has individualized 9 association EPDs published by the European Federation of Associations of Locks & Builders Hardware Manufacturers (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verbände der Europäischen Schloss und Beschlagindustrie, ARGE).

This contributes to achieving the dormakaba sustainability target of having EPDs and/or HPDs for products representing 30% of total turnover by 2021. Currently 12% of our products based on sales volumes are covered by EPDs and/or HPDs.

Product design with a life-cycle approach

In the 2017/18 financial year, the company’s sustainability commitment and life-cycle approach was integrated in the Product Design Manual, binding for all new dormakaba branded products in the Access Solution segments:

Beyond Environmental Product Declarations

In addition to our commitment to expanding our portfolio of Environmental Product Declarations, dormakaba also develops products that are environmentally friendly. The folding door FFT FLEX Green is a sustainable, reliable and energy-efficient door system, which forms the connection of thermal insulation with silent and dynamic driving performance. The FFT FLEX Green has low thermal transmittance values (UD Values) from 1.7 to max. 2.4 (also known as heat transfer coefficient) and, in combination with high-quality insulating glass, is particularly well suited for energy-efficient buildings.

In addition, the ST FLEX Green door system meets the requirements of Germany's energy-efficiency regulation (EnEV 2016), which stipulates a certain UD value for complete door systems. The ST FLEX Green boasts low UD-values from 1.4 to max. 1.8

Finally, dormakaba aims to reduce waste by integrating rechargeable battery packs wherever feasible, as in the ES 200-2D Sliding door operator for emergency exits. 

Sustainability platforms for greater transparency

Product information from EPDs and/or HPDs can contribute, for example, within the framework of Building Information Modelling (BIM) models and specifications or help to attain the highest levels of green building certification systems such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

dormakaba publishes the product information from EPDs and HPDs on internationally recognized sustainability platforms such as the DGNB Navigator, ÖKOBAUDAT, mindful MATERIALS and PORTICO. These databases provide transparent environmental and health information for users and ensure easy access to specific product data. By providing product information on such databases, dormakaba lowers market entry barriers in the green building industry, making the company’s inclusion in related bidding processes possible. In the 2017/18 financial year, processes were developed to ensure regular updates and to maintain a high-quality standard of information.

Evaluation of the management approach

There is no current formal evaluation of the above management approach.