Saint-Gobain Partners with Hydro to Push Building Decarbonization

Saint-Gobain and Hydro Building Systems have partnered to help developers and specifiers create more sustainable, lower embodied carbon buildings. Saint-Gobain officials say the two companies aim to drive decarbonization by “helping the building industry design sustainable façades that have circularity built in.”

The companies produce several recycled materials that reduce emissions, including Saint-Gobain’s ORAÉ glass substrate and Hydro’s aluminum façade product that boasts a minimum of 75% recycled post-consumer scrap aluminum.

“Together, thanks to the combination of our low carbon materials, ORAÉ and Hydro’s CIRCAL 75R, we are now able to promote a low carbon façade which contains around 50% less embodied CO2 compared to a standard façade, bringing developers and architects along with us into our commitment toward carbon neutrality,” says Bruno Mauvernay, Saint-Gobain’s managing director business unit glass facades.

Saint-Gobain and Hydro are also separately investing in developing urban mining partnerships throughout Europe, in line with their circularity approach. Each company has implemented initiatives to collect and recycle end-of-life aluminum and glass.

“We share with Hydro the same ambition to accelerate decarbonization in the construction sector,” says Marion Portenseigne, Saint-Gobain’s glass façade specification director. “This partnership will enable us to increase the awareness of low-carbon solutions for façades. This means common specification training for our specifiers to learn the counterpart offer.”