HMTX Industries announced that its HMTX Commercial and HMTX Global divisions have expanded their carbon-neutral product portfolio with the purchase of REDD+ verified carbon offsets. Under the REDD+ conservation strategy, revenues from the sale of verified emissions reductions are used to finance sustainable development opportunities for local communities while protecting areas from deforestation and preserving biodiversity.
In addition to previously purchased verified offsets for the Teknoflor brand’s bio-based Naturescapes HPD and Natures Tile and Plank HPD flooring, the US-based HMTX Commercial has purchased verified carbon offsets for its Aspecta Contours product line. HMTX Global has followed suit for its new Aspecta Excellence and Contours collections, which include residential and commercial dryback (2.5 and 3.2 mm), Loose-Lay (5.0mm), and Isocore Rigid-Core Click flooring (8.0 mm).
Said HMTX CEO Harlan Stone, “This is another step towards our never-ending goal of reducing our carbon footprint across all aspects of our business: not an end, but positive steps along the path to carbon neutrality.”
Community-based, wildlife-centric voluntary REDD+ projects, supported by private sector market finance, have already delivered approximately 400 million tons of emissions reductions over the past decade by directly addressing the drivers of deforestation in highly threatened forest landscapes. Under the REDD+ conservation strategy, revenues from the sale of verified emissions reductions are used to finance sustainable development opportunities for local communities while protecting areas from deforestation. These results have been verified through repeated independent third-party audits, based on science-based standards developed through open multi-stakeholder processes.
HMTX’s purchased verified carbon offsets will support the Mai Ndombe REDD+ Project, which protects 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of critical bonobo and forest elephant habitat within the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest intact rainforest and important wetlands on the planet. This project reduces the principal drivers of forest and biodiversity loss and is charting a new pathway for community prosperity through comprehensive investments into the surrounding local communities, which are among the least economically developed in the world. Such investments include building and renovating schools, providing healthcare services (such as access to immunizations), supporting food security and nutrition (such as through agricultural diversification), and providing capacity building activities that empower local communities.
Improved healthcare is one of the most important activities in the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project given the poor health and nutritional status of community members across the project area. Over a third of children under the age of five are malnourished and at high risk for malaria, together leading to a high mortality rate of 220 per 1000 children. To alleviate this healthcare crisis, new facilities are continuing to be built in the zone with a total of eight facilities currently supported by the project.
“Protecting the climate, reducing human suffering, and increasing biodiversity are indistinguishable causes,” said Rochelle Routman, HMTX Chief Sustainability + Impact Officer. “The positive impact to this delicate and important ecosystem is extremely significant and with this action, HMTX Industries is also addressing its customers’ needs for carbon neutral flooring.”
For more information about the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project, visit https://everland.earth/projects/mai-ndombe/
