Covia's Innovation Provides ESG Benefits
Covia’s diverse product range supports a wide variety of everyday applications. We pride ourselves on providing high-performing, innovative products to our customers in the foundry, building products, ceramics, coatings and polymers, water filtration, glass, and sports and recreation markets. We grow our business in these markets by extending the applications for our existing products as well as developing new products and new markets to spur Covia’s growth.
The sustainability-related aspects of developing, producing, delivering, and using our products are an increasingly important part of our product innovation process. A key component of our research and development process is to partner with our customers. This enables us to understand their needs for products and solutions that offer sustainability benefits to their business and end-use applications. Through small batch testing and trials, we work together to fine-tune overall product performance and sustainability attributes. To complement this process and anticipate future needs, we conduct extensive market and trends research to guide our ongoing investments in R&D.
We are currently establishing a state-of-the-art Innovation Center in Concord, North Carolina. The Concord facility will become an integral part of our network of laboratories. The new center will include significant laboratory space, along with office space for our technology team. Adding this lab will allow us to further our development of products serving the following key areas: polymers, engineered stones, coatings, and building products.
ESG considerations are integrated into Covia’s product portfolio decision-making. Our product scorecard evaluates a variety of factors, including technical feasibility, economic interest, and ESG factors. ESG considerations played a pivotal role in our product development success in 2023, notably the development of Cristobalex™.
Cristobalex™, with its refined quality and low iron content, allows specific end-products to be more durable, reflective, and UV-resistant, all while being significantly lighter in weight, resulting in a variety of ESG-related benefits. Various applications include cool roofing, reflective road markings, architectural coatings, sealants, and adhesives.
For example, the addition of this ingredient to cool roofing coatings makes them bright and reflective, resulting in reduced energy consumption compared to other buildings. Additionally, the reflectivity and UV-resistant properties in painted road markings create a safer environment, as proper markers and indicators become more visible and durable.
For more information about how Covia is expanding the number and reach of our products that have environmental and social benefits, visit page 49 of Covia’s ESG Report.
