Knauf Insulation - Environmental Impact Monitoring Platform
EcoIndex is a digital environmental impact platform we built with Knauf Insulation to assess products across their lifecycle and turn complex sustainability data into practical insight. Since launching in 2020, it has supported the assessment of more than 200 products and contributed to Knauf Insulation’s wider sustainability efforts.
Turning complex environmental data into decisions
Knauf Insulation needed a reliable way to track CO₂ emissions and other sustainability metrics across complex product lifecycles.
The challenge was not only calculating environmental impact accurately, but making industry-specific data understandable and useful for technical users. The platform had to balance depth with usability while remaining scalable as products, parameters, and sustainability requirements evolved.
// Easily add insulation products to EcoIndex. Input name, manufacturers, R-value, lifespan, thermalconductivity, etc.. The web app guides you, assessing environmental impact to boost sustainability and reduce your footprint with tailored improvement insights.
Building around the decisions users needed to make
We started by understanding how Knauf Insulation assessed products, which data mattered, and where better visibility could support more sustainable manufacturing decisions.
Through discovery, prototyping, and UX/UI design, we shaped the workflows before moving into engineering. The platform was then developed iteratively, combining environmental calculations, product data, visualisation, and cloud infrastructure into one system.
Environmental impact, made easier to understand
We built EcoIndex as a custom platform for assessing and comparing the environmental impact of insulation products across their lifecycle.
- /Guided product assessment — Users can add products and provide parameters such as manufacturer, R-value, lifespan, and thermal conductivity, with the platform guiding them through the assessment process.
- /Environmental analytics — Complex sustainability data is translated into clear visualisations and indicators, helping users understand where environmental impact is generated.
- /Product comparison — EcoIndex allows products and their environmental characteristics to be compared, making improvement opportunities easier to identify.
- /EPD-driven insight — Environmental Product Declaration data forms part of the wider assessment process, supporting more informed sustainability decisions across the product lifecycle.
Together, these capabilities turned complex environmental information into a practical digital tool that helps Knauf Insulation evaluate products, identify opportunities for improvement, and support more sustainable manufacturing decisions.
Numbers that moved.
“"The ability to be adaptive based on the volatility of the project requirements was impressive."”
— Zan Aleksander Bozic, Marketing Strategy Manager - Knauf Insulation
The hard parts
The technology behind EcoIndex
Vue.js powered the frontend experience, while Chart.js turned environmental data into clear visualisations. Laravel handled the backend logic and data processing, with AWS providing the scalable cloud foundation for the platform.
the full stack we build in
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Common questions
How did higroup begin with the EcoIndex project?+
We started by understanding Knauf Insulation’s need to assess CO₂ emissions and other sustainability metrics across product lifecycles. Discovery and prototyping helped turn those requirements into a scalable product direction.
What made EcoIndex technically challenging?+
The platform had to translate complex environmental and industry-specific data into accurate calculations and clear insights while remaining intuitive for users.
What can users do with EcoIndex?+
Users can assess insulation products, work with environmental product data, analyse sustainability metrics, compare products, and identify opportunities to reduce environmental impact.
What technologies power EcoIndex?+
EcoIndex uses Vue.js for the frontend, Chart.js for visualisation, Laravel for backend processing, and AWS for cloud infrastructure.
Which services did higroup provide?+
We supported the project across Design & Discovery, Product Engineering, and Cloud & DevOps, from early definition and prototyping through development, QA, deployment, and continued evolution.
What results has EcoIndex achieved?+
The published case study reports more than 200 products assessed, more than five years of operational impact, and contribution to Knauf Insulation’s wider annual carbon-reduction efforts.