About
Mission Zero
In 1994, Interface Chairman Ray Anderson recognised that the way industry works is fundamentally unsustainable. Industry uses up and throws away the Earth’s valuable natural resources with little regard for the future. Waste from industrial processes pollutes the environment and emissions from energy use contribute to global warming. This culture cannot continue without serious environmental and social repercussions. Ray’s epiphany revolutionised Interface’s business strategy from that day forward, and has characterised the company’s development ever since. Our vision is to become, by 2020, the first company to be fully sustainable. In other words, our mission is to have zero negative impact. We want to work in equilibrium, with no negative effects from our people, process, product, place or profits.
Just the Facts
The marketing world has woken up to sustainability and the result is a blizzard of claims for products from cars to carpets: ‘carbon neutral’, ‘recyclable’, ‘natural’, ‘fair-trade’, ‘organic’, ‘environment friendly’, etc.
But sustainability is too complex to be explained by a single product benefit or green label.
This guide explains how to assess the sustainability of different products and the companies that make them.