[South Korea] Expanding Carbon Neutrality and Green Building… Shifting Landscape of Construction Materials

Editor's Note

This editor’s note highlights the key facts and market implications behind “Expanding Carbon Neutrality and Green Building..”, with emphasis on sourcing, product fit, fabrication, logistics, or buyer impact.

The landscape of the construction materials industry is changing as the government emphasizes carbon neutrality in buildings and the expansion of green buildings. According to the Korea Energy Economics Institute, energy used in buildings accounts for about 20% of the country's total energy consumption. This makes reducing energy use in buildings an essential element for the government's push towards 2050 carbon neutrality. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has already announced plans to reduce building energy consumption by 18.1% by 2030. To this end, it is raising the required thermal insulation performance standards for buildings and expanding eco-friendly building certifications such as the Energy Efficiency Rating Certification System and the Green Building Certification. Furthermore, for existing buildings, which account for about 98% of all buildings, support projects such as green remodeling or building energy performance improvement are being carried out. The government's push for improved insulation performance, green buildings, and green remodeling all require high-performance construction materials. The thermal insulation performance of windows and insulation materials must be higher, and eco-friendly certified products are being demanded, from the steel and concrete that form the building's foundation to interior finishing materials like wallpaper and flooring. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, new buildings use 41% less energy compared to old buildings. This ultimately proves that the advancement of construction materials is reducing building energy consumption. Additionally, as the government announced it will gradually expand the mandatory Green Building Certification—currently required for public buildings over 3,000㎡—to all buildings, the eco-friendly and low-carbon construction materials market is gaining vitality.

A representative from a major construction company said, "As the trend towards eco-friendliness and carbon neutrality has recently strengthened, eco-friendly, low-carbon construction materials have become a necessity, not an option."

“Because consumers first check a building’s energy use and whether eco-friendly products are used, their application is expanding from the design stage,” the representative added.

Increasing Energy Efficiency and Reducing Carbon Emissions

As the government's low-carbon trend expands, certified products related to construction materials are also increasing. The most representative certifications for low-carbon products are the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and the Low Carbon Product Certification implemented by the Ministry of Environment. The EPD certification is a system that quantitatively displays the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire lifecycle, from raw material extraction to production, distribution, use, and disposal, to improve the product's environmental impact. The Low Carbon Product Certification is a system that re-certifies products that meet the 'Low Carbon Product Standards' among EPD-certified products. Currently, there are a total of 423 EPD and low-carbon related certified products, of which 258, or about 61%, are construction-related products such as concrete, flooring, and wallpaper. Cement, the foundation of buildings, is also joining the ranks of low-carbon products. Hanil Cement holds Low Carbon Product Certification for four specifications of ready-mix concrete. Furthermore, last month, it became the first in the cement industry to obtain EPD certification for Type I Portland cement. Boilers, which account for a large portion of residential building energy use, have also developed low-carbon eco-friendly products and obtained certifications. Notably, Kyungdong Navien is seeing significant 'eco-friendly' effects, with eco-friendly condensing boilers accounting for 80% of its total boiler sales last year.

Kyungdong Navien has obtained EPD certification meeting standards such as energy efficiency over 92%, nitrogen oxides below 20ppm, and carbon monoxide below 100ppm, and is expanding its eco-friendly product lineup by also obtaining 'Carbon Footprint' certification for six products. Windows, which account for the highest proportion of energy efficiency in zero-energy buildings, are also seeing an increase in low-carbon certified products. They are leading the way in low-carbon buildings by obtaining both low-carbon certification and energy efficiency product certification. KCC is consistently introducing low-carbon, high-efficiency windows, having obtained Low Carbon Product Certification for window profiles and possessing a total of 162 energy efficiency Grade 1 products.

A KCC representative said, "We have been receiving certifications for low-carbon, high-efficiency related products for a long time already," adding, "We have completed development of windows up to zero-energy levels."

Construction Materials Aligning with Eco-Friendly Trends

Along with low-carbon, green building is also expanding. The number of Green Building Certifications has increased from a total of 3 cases in 2002 to 16,225 cases (cumulative) last year. The annual certification count is also steadily increasing: 1,765 cases in 2017, 2,000 in 2018, 2,169 in 2019, and 2,323 in 2020. Green Building Certification is a system that grants eco-friendly building certification to buildings that contribute to energy saving and environmental pollution reduction throughout the entire process, including design, construction, and maintenance. It evaluates factors affecting the environment across the entire lifecycle of a planned building, from site location and material selection to maintenance and disposal. In particular, construction materials are emphasized to the extent that they are included in 3 out of 7 total criteria. Since 2013, to spread the creation of green buildings, detailed information on eco-friendly construction materials that meet green building certification standards has been established and provided to construction companies and architectural offices. Furthermore, as demand for eco-friendly construction materials increases due to problems such as skin diseases caused by harmful substances contained in construction materials and viruses, eco-friendly construction materials often include interior finishing products for buildings that come into direct contact with the body, such as flooring, paint, and wallpaper. LG Hausys has registered a total of 25 products as eco-friendly construction materials, including 13 flooring products and 12 wallpaper products. LG Hausys's eco-friendly flooring and wallpaper are recognized in the market, having been selected as Korea's Green Product of the Year last year. In particular, both wallpaper and flooring have enhanced eco-friendliness by coating the surface layer that comes into direct contact with the skin with plant-derived ingredients and have also obtained environmental label certification.

Lee Jung-hoon, Secretary General of the Korea Eco-Friendly Green Materials Association, said, "As the government has announced it will gradually expand mandatory application, related products will continue to increase steadily in the future."

“If certification was previously centered on large existing companies, now mid-sized and small businesses are also obtaining certifications,” Lee added.

Source: Read the original article | Published: June 03, 2021