Sustainability at Owens Corning: Our Approach. Our Aspirations.

For millennia, our planet has sustained human life. As our technological capacities have seemed to increase exponentially with each recent decade, and the abundance of natural resources has diminished dramatically, it is now incumbent upon humans to develop strategies to sustain our planet.

As a worldwide leader in engineered materials for insulation, roofing, and composites, Owens Corning also seeks to lead the way in corporate sustainability efforts. Each step forward we have made on our sustainability journey has led us to realize how much more there is to do; at the same time, each accomplishment has encouraged us to keep striving, because no matter how ambitious the goals we set for ourselves seem, even greater progress is possible.

Expanding the Parameters of Sustainability

The need to minimize our overall environmental footprint has been central to our mission from the beginning of our sustainability journey. In the years since, we have also recognized that simply minimizing our footprint is no longer sufficient; we also need to maximize our handprint — developing products, processes, and initiatives that contribute to the well-being of the planet and all people.

Over time, our definition of sustainability has also come to include expanding our social handprint, in which we seek to foster a spirit of inclusion and an appreciation of diversity in our workplaces and our communities. We want to see a society where people feel valued not despite their differences, but because of their differences. Above all, we understand that achieving these ambitions will depend on the actions we take today.

Each time we build on our approach to sustainability, we do so with the expectation that these advances will be measured against a set of quantifiable metrics and specific goals. This provides us with the necessary accountability to ourselves and the stakeholders who place value on these efforts.

Read more in our 2019 Sustainability Report