Interior materials join green race as Hansol HomeDeco accelerates ESG shift

As the government expands support for green remodeling of private buildings, competition over eco-friendly materials in the construction and interior market is intensifying. Energy efficiency, carbon emissions from production, recycled-material content and indoor air quality are all emerging as key criteria in product selection.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport relaunched its "2026 Green Remodeling Interest Support Project for Private Buildings" in March, after a three-year hiatus. The program subsidizes a portion of loan interest on renovation costs aimed at improving the energy performance of existing private buildings. Then in May, the ministry introduced a new consulting support program targeting single-family homes and non-residential buildings more than 10 years old, offering pre-construction analysis of expected energy savings and estimated costs.

With green remodeling policy back on an expansionary track, attention is turning not only to buildings' energy performance but also to the environmental credentials of the materials used in construction. The Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design (G-SEED) certification system evaluates "materials and resources" and "indoor environment" as separate specialist categories when assessing a building's environmental performance. Criteria include the use of eco-certified products and the application of low-emission materials for indoor air quality.

Across the construction and interior industry, product competitiveness — long defined by design and durability — is broadening to encompass ESG factors such as recycled-material content, carbon emissions and hazardous-substance release levels. The ability to substantiate a product's eco-friendliness through certifications and objective data is increasingly seen as a decisive competitive edge.

Hansol HomeDeco is expanding its eco-friendly lineup across key product categories including medium-density fiberboard (MDF), flooring and wall panels. The company has secured environmental labeling, Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), low-carbon product certification and HB mark accreditation, and is broadening its certified range beyond flooring products — such as reinforced flooring, SB flooring and Ultra-Gang — to include MDF and wall panels.

Sales results are following. The furniture substrate "Hansol Storyboard," which incorporates eco-friendly surface materials and a recycled MDF core made from reclaimed wood chips, was named a "2025 Korea Green Product of the Year" for the second consecutive year.

Storyboard's monthly sales surpassed 200,000 sheets in March, the highest monthly volume since the product launched in 2017. That figure is roughly 67 times the approximately 3,000 sheets sold per month at launch, and represents enough material to produce about 20,000 kitchen cabinet sets.

At the raw-material stage, the company is scaling up a resource-circulation system that feeds waste wood back into MDF production. Hansol HomeDeco processes recycled timber and other reclaimed materials as MDF inputs, and has also commercialized "Hansol Recycle MDF," made entirely from recycled raw materials.

The resource-circulation loop has extended to content production sets. In January, Hansol HomeDeco signed an MOU with Studio Dragon to establish a system for recovering and recycling waste wood from drama series sets.

Under the agreement, waste wood generated on drama production sets is collected and recycled as MDF raw material. A single drama series production generates roughly 100 tons of waste wood, and the two companies expect the partnership to recycle more than 2,000 tons of waste wood annually.

The push into eco-friendly products is reshaping Hansol HomeDeco's revenue mix. Sales of eco-friendly products rose from 89.1 billion won ($64 million) in 2023 to 124.8 billion won in 2024 and 135.8 billion won last year. Eco-friendly products' share of total product sales climbed from 30.2 percent in 2023 to 48.7 percent last year.