Each of the 15,000 delegates at the forthcoming United Nations global conference on climate change, being held at the Bella Center, will stand, walk and rest their feet on an ultra low carbon footprint Eco2punch carpet made with Ingeo fibres.

The 20,000 square meters (215,000 square feet) of carpet is enough to cover nearly five soccer fields. French carpet producer Sommer Needlepunch, part of the Belgian DS Textile Platform group and Ingeo licensee, estimates that by using the fibre made with Ingeo supplied from NatureWorks LLC, it reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent compared to the fibres made from fossil-based polypropylene and reduced energy consumption by 50 percent.

Sommer says that this reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in creating a carpet this size is equivalent to eliminating 68,869 driving miles (110,834 km) in an average automobile. In June, the new Eco2punch carpet received an innovation trophy from the French Federation of Professionals of Exhibitions and Events.

 “The Eco2punch family of carpets is not only a response to the increasing demand from customers for less greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage in the products they buy, but also represents a long-term, significant commitment on our part to perform research and development into more sustainable products and processes,” said Kris De Saedeleir, President of Sommer Needlepunch. “We are committed to developing products that not only perform, but also have less impact on the environment. It is a whole new way of doing business.”

“The collaboration between Sommer Needlepunch and NatureWorks,is a model of how to bring low carbon footprint performance products successfully to market,” said Marc Verbruggen, president and CEO of NatureWorks. “Facility managers at the Bella Center have had the vision and commitment to embrace this new materials technology, greening the conference literally from the ground up”.

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration around a new low carbon paradigm for materials recycle, Belgian based company Galactic has organized to collect the Eco2punch Ingeo carpet following the close of the COP-15. Galactic, one of the largest lactic acid producers in the world, will use its unique LOOPLA process to convert the carpet back to virgin lactic acid, a value added industrial feedstock, and the building block for Ingeo biopolymer.