Though sometimes overlooked on these terms, window coverings are an important consideration for specifiers motivated by sustainability. With their capacity to control not just light and glare but also heat, the best blind and curtain fabrics have a key role to play in improving thermal efficiency. Incorporated thoughtfully, into projects of all types, high quality shading systems help reduce the need for artificial cooling. In this way, they improve operational performance and reduce carbon footprints.

Importantly, the best blinds are also produced with embodied carbon in mind. Aware of their product stewardship responsibilities, their manufacturers endeavour to minimise the emissions associated with production processes, transportation, and so forth. And they aim to limit the damage caused by their by-products.

For specifiers wishing to take this path, it is important to assess whether products and systems that are sold as ‘environmentally friendly’ meet the requirements of this definition. It is important for architects and designers to establish whether such blinds and curtains have earned the right to call themselves sustainable.

Towards net zero: Blinds, best practice sustainability & beyond is focussed on helping them do just this. It is concerned with overcoming the false promises of greenwashing, equivalency and so on, and identifying products that are genuinely sustainable. Beginning by outlining all the potential negative environmental impacts associated with blinds and curtains, it explains how to assess the various alternatives and choose the right products for your specific applications.

This whitepaper is concerned with highlighting blinds and curtains that are genuinely sustainable. It outlines how to identify them, where to find them, and how to best incorporate them in your work.