Creating local jobs and growth

Read how we measure our impact

We built on our commitment to make progress against the United Nations Sustainable Development goals by adding a new metric that will help track our contribution to SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth.

This means that we can now estimate the jobs and economic value ROCKWOOL creates directly or indirectly, as well as the socio-economic value of the energy our products save.

In 2019, ROCKWOOL Group’s activities created:

Around 40,000 jobs locally at our stone wool-producing facilities and with suppliers;
EUR 2,757 million economic value globally – which is EUR 86 million more than in 2018; and,
A net lifetime saving in energy costs of around EUR 77 billion for customers in households and industry from ROCKWOOL’s insulation products sold in 2019.

Measuring our socioeconomic impact

In 2019, we worked with Copenhagen Economics to develop a new SDG impact metric and methodology to estimate ROCKWOOL’s global and local contribution to creating local jobs and economic growth^[3]. Three types of impacts are included in the methodology:

Direct impact counts the impact from the number of people directly employed and the direct GDP contribution (wages, taxes and profits from ROCKWOOL);
Indirect impact pertains to the impact from companies supplying ROCKWOOL with goods and services; and,
Induced impact, which is the impact from purchases by the employees working for ROCKWOOL and their suppliers.

Download the methodology

We collaborated with Copenhagen Economics to develop the SDG impact metric and methodology to estimate ROCKWOOL’s global and local contribution to creating local jobs and economic growth

Download Methodology (PDF)

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Thanks to the technology knowledge needed and training provided, ROCKWOOL has created a pool of qualified employment options in our region. Since ROCKWOOL arrived, the city has even modernised its infrastructure with new roads and improvements to local schools.

Diamantino Pereira

Saint-Éloy-les-Mines, France

ROCKWOOL employee

Employee from Saint-Eloy-Les-Mines, Diamantino Pereira

How ROCKWOOL creates impact

ROCKWOOL helps create economic growth and supports job creation through three main channels:

Our own activities and purchases from suppliers;
The energy savings created by the use of our products; and,
Contribution through employment

One of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals - SDG8 – specifically focuses on sustainable growth and full employment. The aim of SDG8 is to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Nearly half a billion people worldwide lack decent jobs, according to a new ILO report^[1]. Responsible companies can help create sustainable social economies both globally and locally by creating economic growth, employment and decent work for all.

Our business is local, meaning we produce close to our customers and hire from the communities where we operate^[2]. Currently 16 of Rockwool’s 19 stone wool producing factories in Europe are in non-urban areas. These areas are often associated with higher unemployment and lack of opportunities for local jobs. For ROCKWOOL, building and operating a production facility is a long-term investment. We believe that communities and countries can be empowered when corporations become active neighbours and contributors to the economy.

[1] ILO, 2020, ‘World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2020’.

[2] For instance, around 90 percent of our sales do not cross a customs border.

[3] The calculation model is an Input-Output model using EUROSTAT data. The methodology, assumptions and information about the study are available here: www.rockwoolgroup.com/socioeconomic-impact