Sustainable Cabling

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of communications cable, our aim is to continually set – and then raise – the industry benchmark for product sustainability in the telecommunications industry. We achieve this today by providing transparent information about the environmental and health impacts of our products, as well as by supporting intelligent building design through our Power-over-Ethernet technology solutions.

Our goal is to optimize not only the impacts of our products but also the spaces in which our end-users live, work and play. And when it comes to choosing cable, if all other purchasing decisions are the same, then why not choose the sustainable one?

Our cabling products are manufactured sustainably and have been specifically designed to minimize environmental impact. As a result, they contribute to creating sustainable intelligent buildings and to helping projects earn the leading, green building certifications including LEED, WELL and Living Building Challenge – all with what’s behind your walls.

Imagine a world where some products are not just “less bad” than others but are created to support a positive overall impact on human and environmental health. This is the world that Superior Essex is working towards.

Back in 2015, we became the first communications cable manufacturer to provide transparency documentation surrounding our products’ environmental and human health impacts. Through our Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Health Product Declarations (HPDs), we set the industry precedent for sustainable Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing products. Currently, 55 of our cables proudly feature HPDs and EPDs, and our Cat 6 LSHF cable was one of the first products in our market to achieve a third-party verified HPD, thereby proving our commitment to product integrity and sustainability assurance.

However, we also recognized even then that transparency alone is not the end to creating sustainable products solutions, but rather, just the beginning. And we have been working diligently to optimize our products to reduce their overall impacts ever since.

In 2018, after numerous years of working with our suppliers to obtain specific information on the chemical components that go into creating our products, we became the first and only communications cable manufacturer with certified Red List Free products through our Living Product Challenge and Declare certified initiatives. This means our sustainable cables contain none of the 800 chemicals classed as most harmful to people and the environment by the International Living Future Institute. Then, in 2019, we joined the Materials Carbon Action Network to support education and action surrounding lower Embodied Carbon materials.

During this journey, Superior Essex Communications has led industry-wide conversations aiming to expand sustainable product specifications throughout the built environment and to further optimize our industry’s sustainability efforts. In 2021, we signed on to the mindful MATERIALS Manufacturer Materials Commitment, a letter of commitment aligning building material manufacturers to the support of a common material sustainability framework and holistically addressing Climate Health, Human Health, Ecosystem Health, Social Health and Equity, and the Circular Economy, supporting our customers AIA Pledge commitments, and beyond.

Throughout all of these efforts, we continue to act on our belief that a company that connects the world should also respect it. We’re working toward a world where all buildings are built with responsibly and transparently made materials so they have a decreased impact on the planet and its people.