IPCOM: Turning Sustainability
Into Measurable Value
How a pan-European energy efficiency specialist built one sustainability standard across dozens of acquired companies — and turned it into commercial advantage.
Sustainability only creates value when it can be measured. At IPCOM, it is measured — for customers, and for the business
IPCOM is a pan-European provider of energy efficiency solutions, built around technical insulation — the insulation of pipes, ducts, tanks and industrial equipment, rather than the walls and roofs of houses. Insulate a steam pipe properly and the energy saved shows up on the next bill. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Melle, Belgium, the group employs over 2,500 people in 24 countries, with sales of more than €1 billion, and operates through six business units serving installers, contractors and manufacturers.
Astorg became IPCOM's majority shareholder in July 2022, acquiring the business from Alpha Private Equity, when the group employed around 1,100 people across 15 countries. The investment case was clear: a leader in a fragmented market, a proven consolidator, and a product whose promise — energy saved, quickly — sits directly in the path of tightening efficiency rules. As a signatory of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment since 2011, Astorg has long held that responsible business and strong performance reinforce one another. Here they are unusually close: the product itself exists to reduce energy demand.
cut in its own carbon emissions by 2030 — a target independently checked against climate science by the Science Based Targets initiative.
From insulation to energy efficiency
The years since have borne it out. Solina has roughly doubled in scale — from around 2,250 employees and 27 sites at acquisition to more than 4,000 people today — while extending well beyond Europe. A series of acquisitions, particularly across North America (among them Asenzya, Saratoga Food Specialties and, most recently, Sokol), has turned a European champion into a truly global partner to the food industry, all while deepening the R&D and culinary expertise that sets Solina apart. Throughout, Astorg has played the part of a patient, hands-on partner — helping to structure and accelerate an agenda that was already in the company’s DNA.
That logic has reshaped how IPCOM defines itself. In 2025 the group replaced its long-standing “Insulation Solutions” positioning with “Energy Efficiency Solutions” — a change of language that followed a change of substance. Moving into HVAC-R — heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration — added a sixth business unit, letting IPCOM address both sides of the equation: the energy a building loses, and the efficiency of the equipment that heats and cools it. Alongside sits a discipline of measurement: using TIPCHECK, a standardised energy audit method from the European Industrial Insulation Foundation, certified engineers put a figure on the energy and money a customer would save — turning an environmental argument into a business case.
Sustainability is not only what we sell
— it is also how we operate
Countries
employees
Sales
Founded
Many companies, one standard
The harder problem is not conviction but scale: IPCOM is deliberately decentralised, assembled through more than 30 acquisitions since 2022 — small and mid-sized companies that keep their own names and cultures. Three perspectives, one discipline: sustainability at IPCOM is measured — in customer savings, in emissions, and in cost.
Luc De Busscher - SENIOR BUSINESS ADVISOR, ESG BOARD SPONSOR
Savings you can quantify give customers a clear return on investment. That is what turns sustainability from a statement of intent into a concrete business case — and a reason to choose IPCOM.
Roselien De Clercq - HR & ESG DIRECTOR
Every acquired company is brought into carbon reporting, group climate targets and group governance — with ESG champions in each business unit working alongside the corporate team.
Eva Rossie - GROUP ESG LEAD
Own emissions are down 8.5% against the 2024 baseline, renewable energy is up from 9% to 14.5%, and 46% of our personal vehicles are now electric, from 23% in 2024 — lower emissions and lower costs together.
Externally validated, and scaling
In 2025 that groundwork was independently confirmed. The Science Based Targets initiative validated IPCOM's near-term climate targets: a 42% cut in its own emissions by 2030 from a 2024 base year, plus a target covering emissions from products once customers use them. EcoVadis awarded a Silver Medal — the top 15% of its sector — and the group joined the UN Global Compact. The next phase reaches further out: key suppliers are asked to sign IPCOM's Supplier Code of Conduct and complete an annual selfassessment, with most of its purchased-goods emissions to be covered by suppliers holding sciencebased targets by 2030.
IN PLAIN TERMS
- Scope 1 and 2 emissions — the greenhouse gases a company releases itself, plus those created making the energy it buys.
- Scope 3 emissions — everything else across the value chain, including emissions from products once customers use them.
- Science Based Targets initiative — an independent body that checks whether a company's climate targets are steep enough to match the Paris Agreement.
- EcoVadis — an independent rating agency scoring companies on environment, labour and human rights, ethics and responsible purchasing.
Sustainability. Performance. Value creation.
Watch the case study film, Turning Sustainability into Measurable Value
*Company and operational figures are as confirmed by IPCOM in September 2026 and reflect internal group data that is not third-party verified. Climate targets, the EcoVadis rating and UN Global Compact participation are as published by IPCOM. Astorg has been a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment since 2011.
