APL is proud to announce this carbonreduce milestone, which has followed several years of busy team effort, focused on driving measurement and change on the sustainability front. These efforts have been spearheaded by Profile Group, the parent company of APL and its integrated, in-house, supply partners. Certification confirms that a product’s environmental footprint is accurate and complete against an international standard and that the manufacturer is making reductions to that footprint over a six-year cycle. Impacts have been measured and verified and are being reduced in line with climate science and best practice.

The certified ranges include:

• Residential Series ThermalHEART
• Metro Series ThermalHEART
• APL Commercial Series

“Our certification is cradle-to-gate for our products,” says Bex McQueen, Profile Group's Sustainability Project Manager. “We were required to provide data for measurement for all emissions during that lifecycle, including raw materials, components, production of the product and distribution. For us, this meant collecting data from all our internal company suppliers, data around land use across all sites, facts around packaging, as well as data from our over 75 window manufacturer sites.

“This is a demanding programme, not an exercise in ‘window dressing’. We are now required to put in place strategies to manage, reduce and offset our impacts in order to re-certify in the three yearly cycle. We also have annual surveillance audits to maintain our certification,” Bex said.

Toitū net carbonzero and Toitū carbonreduce certifications are currently available in 17 countries and the certification marks are recognised in over 60 countries. Toitū carbonreduce certifications are accredited by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) and were the world’s first carbon certification programme to be accredited under ISO 14065.

The certified Residential Series ThermalHEART and Metro Series ThermalHEART windows and doors are available nationwide and comply with NZBC clause H1 Energy Efficiency (all climate zones) when used in conjunction with high performing Low-E double glazing. They include thermal breaks for maximum performance — glass fibre-reinforced polyamide inserts.