The sustainability of the Italian ceramic industry includes actions to protect workers, the local area and the community, with a particular focus on the 2030 Agenda.

Product EPD, LCA, environmental certifications and above all the intrinsic nature of ceramic tiles are the key environmental factors.

Substantial investments in technological innovation and new factories and warehouses have enabled the Italian ceramic industry to establish a world leadership position.

The recent industry-average EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) for Italian ceramic tiles presented in a meeting entitled “Health, Safety, Environment, Design: Specifying Tile in Today's Sustainability Landscape” held during Coverings, the pre-eminent North American tile and stone exhibition.

Within a climate of renewed attention to beauty and design in building construction, and under the spur of new fiscal incentives, one of the most interesting challenges contemporary architects are facing today is the issue of well-designed sustainable and energy saving building envelopes, be it simple coating solutions or more performing ones such as ventilated façades.

Glazed with products that inhibit the formation of mould and bacteria, new WCs all fall into 6 litre Water Ecolabel class. Used in place of standard WCs in a 50-apartment building, they allow for savings of 547,000 litres of water.

All WCs fall into the 6 litre Water Ecolabel class and are the result of a production process that reuses heat from kilns for drying, recycles all defective pieces and old plaster moulds and recovers all ceramic sludge.

Designing our living spaces with an awareness of the consequences of our choices is one of the most important things we can do to protect the environment.

The choice of materials is one of the most critical factors in the sustainability and performance of a project. The functions performed by materials go well beyond aspects of construction and aesthetics and include the energy comfort of buildings.

Confindustria Ceramica has been promoting the EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) amongst its member companies in order to communicate the green performance characteristics of ceramic surfaces that serve to earn credits in building sector rating schemes.