45,000 tonnes less: how Genuit is cutting carbon with data-driven decisions

About Genuit Group

Founded in 1980, Genuit Group is an FTSE 250-listed MEP supplier and manufacturer of sustainable construction solutions. With 26 production sites and 3,300 employees, the group provides a range of solutions — from low-carbon heating and cooling, clean healthy air, and resilient surface water management to drainage and plumbing. Sustainability sits at the core of Genuit’s business strategy, alongside growth, business systems, and people and culture.

Over the past decade, the group — which covers multiple business units with tens of thousands of products and product families — has been decreasing both its carbon intensity and absolute carbon emissions, from a peak of just over 60,000 tonnes in 2016 to 15,000 tonnes in 2023. That’s a reduction of 45,000 tonnes of CO₂e.

The challenge: Proving lowest-carbon status at product level

While reducing overall carbon emissions was clearly important, Genuit’s Sustainability Director Lee Adcock identified two critical questions the company needed to answer: How do we demonstrate verifiable evidence that we are the “lowest-carbon choice” to customers? And how do we identify and act on opportunities to reduce the embodied carbon of individual products?

That’s where life-cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) come in. EPDs provide third-party-verified data on the environmental impact of products — giving customers the evidence they need while also revealing opportunities for operational improvement and business planning.

The solution: One Click LCA’s EPD software

With the goal of being the lowest carbon supplier of choice, Genuit uses One Click LCA tools to measure, analyse, and reduce embodied carbon across its product range. The software provided Genuit’s team with LCA values and EPD data that informed material selection, manufacturing efficiency, and product lifecycle design.

Key findings from product-level LCAs

Using One Click LCA’s EPD software, Genuit was able to assess the global warming potential (GWP) of its products and pinpoint areas for improvement. Key insights included:

Pipes

• For the GRS.DUO radiator pipe guide and seal, virgin raw materials at the A1 stage were the most significant contributor (69.6%) to embodied carbon — pointing toward a shift to recycled materials.

• For Polyplumb barrier/flexible polybutylene pipe, A2 transport was the largest contributor due to significant shipping distances. Since British standards require virgin material, the improvement focus shifted to sourcing more locally available raw materials, supported by One Click LCA’s Materials Compass database.

• For Ridgidrain 450–660mm drainage — made from 100% recycled raw materials — raw materials still accounted for 82.4% of embodied carbon. One Click LCA data also highlighted installation-related emissions as the second biggest contributor, prompting efforts to reduce the carbon footprint associated with installation.

• For Ridgidrain 750–900mm, data showed that the larger diameter resulted in a proportional increase in manufacturing GWP per metre of pipe.

• For Terrain PVC solvent-weld soil and waste pipe, a large portion of carbon came from raw materials alongside a significant amount from waste disposal — prompting design improvements for better recycling and re-use to minimise end-of-life emissions.

• Polypipe Terrain Underground — made from a 65% recycled PVC foam core — achieves a GWP of 1.01 kg CO₂e, compared to 1.52 kg CO₂e for generic virgin PVC and 7.46 kg CO₂e for cast iron pipe.

• Polypipe Ridgidrain 300mm pipe — made from 100% recycled HDPE and manufactured using 100% renewable electricity — achieves 3.6 kg CO₂e compared to 27 kg CO₂e for concrete pipes.

Drains

HDPE pipes

Results: lower-carbon products across the range

In response to insights from One Click LCA’s EPD data, Genuit implemented a range of carbon reduction strategies, including increasing recycled PVC content, rainwater harvesting, biofuels, electric vehicles, alternative materials, and lightweighting. Several products have shown measurable improvement in environmental performance:

Genuit’s data-driven approach, supported by One Click LCA’s EPD generator, not only benefits the company but also provides customers with verified, low-carbon solutions — contributing to a more sustainable built environment. By continually optimising material choices, refining manufacturing processes, and leveraging EPD data for product innovation, Genuit is paving the way for a lower-carbon construction industry.