Wacker Chemie: EPD readiness for sealants and binders

Who Wacker is, at a glance

Wacker Chemie AG is a multinational specialty chemicals company with four divisions that matter to building products: Silicones, Polymers, Polysilicon, and Biosolutions. The group reported €5.7B in sales and 16,637 employees in 2024, with Silicones and Polymers accounting for the largest revenue share (Wacker Annual Report, 2025). (Wacker Annual Report, 2025)

What they sell into construction

Think of Wacker as two toolkits that often meet on the jobsite. One is silicone chemistry for finished sealants and building protection. The other is vinyl acetate‑ethylene technology that powers polymer binders inside mortars, tile adhesives, ETICS, self‑levelers, and paints. Typical brand families include ELASTOSIL and WACKER‑branded silicone sealants for perimeter, glazing, and sanitary joints, SILRES BS for facade protection, and VINNAPAS dispersions and redispersible polymer powders used by countless drymix producers.

Across regions this spans several product families and very roughly hundreds of SKUs, from dozens of finished sealants to a wide array of binder grades tailored to mortar rheology and paint performance. Exact counts vary by country catalog and regulatory approvals.

Their sustainability posture

Wacker targets a 50 percent absolute reduction of Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 relative to 2020, and net‑zero by 2045, alongside supply‑chain and resource‑use goals that affect product footprints upstream and in use (Wacker Annual Report, 2025). (Wacker sustainability targets, 2025)

If you need corporate context, their latest reporting hub keeps the details in one place. See the annual and sustainability sections here. (Wacker Reports)

EPD footprint today

We could not find Wacker‑branded, product‑specific EPDs for construction sealants or binder SKUs in the public libraries of IBU or the International EPD System as of December 19, 2025. That does not rule out project‑specific declarations, unpublished customer tools, or downstream appearances where Wacker ingredients sit inside another brand’s EPD. It does signal low public coverage for Wacker‑labeled construction products right now.

Why that matters in specs

On projects that target low‑carbon procurement or LEED v5 credits, a product without its own EPD often carries a modeling penalty in carbon accounting. Teams then prefer like‑for‑like options that do have a verified declaration, so the choice does not drag their totals. Lead time is the other trap. Verification queues at major program operators have stretched, so planning six months just for verification is realistic before publication, plus the time to collect and model data upfront (IBU FAQ, 2025). Its easy to miss a bid window if you start too late.

Competitive reality on sealants

Silicone and hybrid sealants from peers are increasingly covered by EPDs. Recent examples include Mapei’s Mapesil AC Zero and Mapesil LM Zero, which are published under EN 15804+A2 in the International EPD System (EPD International, 2024). (Mapesil AC Zero, 2024, Mapesil LM Zero, 2024) Other frequent opponents across project types include Tremco, Sika, Dow’s DOWSIL line, GE Silicones, and Bostik. In drymix binders, spec alternatives for the same applications often come via Celanese or regional suppliers. When a spec calls for an EPD, those SKUs arrive pre‑cleared for documentation.

Where EPD coverage would move the needle fastest

Start with the products that show up most in RFQs and substitution requests:

• Elastic, neutral‑curing silicone sealants used for glazing, curtain wall perimeters, and sanitary areas, for example within the ELASTOSIL family. These have clear comparables with EPDs in market, so an EPD removes a recurring hurdle at bidding.
• Redispersible polymer powders and VAE dispersions that are core to tile adhesives, ETICS base coats, and self‑levelers. Even though they are inputs, a product‑specific EPD can help downstream customers document better mix footprints and prefer your grade.
• Facade protection chemistries such as SILRES BS water repellents for masonry or concrete.

For sealants, the likely PCR home is EN 15804 with the technical‑chemical products c‑PCR used widely in Europe. For binders, teams often apply EN 15804 to the construction product function in its common use case. A good LCA partner will validate fit, review which operator to publish with, then right‑size the study to your data reality.

A pragmatic 90‑day playbook

• Pick a reference year, gather plant‑level utilities, volumes, packaging, and waste for two to four priority SKUs per family. Keep it lean, avoid boiling the ocean.
• Decide the publication route by market. In the US many manufacturers publish with Smart EPD, in Europe IBU is common, but any credible operator works if the declaration is third‑party verified and EN 15804 or ISO 14025 aligned.
• Lock timeline against real verification lead times so sales can forecast availability with confidence, not hope. Build a refresh cadence that keeps renewals out of your peak selling season.

Competitors you will meet most often

• Sealants on commercial envelopes and healthcare interiors: Tremco, Sika, Dow, GE Silicones, Mapei, Bostik.
• Drymix binders for tile adhesives, ETICS, and leveling compounds: Celanese and regional VAE producers.
• Facade protection and water repellents: Sika, Evonik, Prosoco depending on region and substrate.

Expect substitutions across offices, healthcare, education, and industrial renovations. If a spec prefers or mandates an EPD, coverage closes the door on last‑minute swaps that otherwise lean toward whoever has a PDF on file.

Final take

Wacker’s construction portfolio is deep, and demand for their chemistry is steady. The public EPD gap on Wacker‑branded sealants and binders is the commercial loose thread to tie off. Prioritize the handful of SKUs that drive the most revenue, publish quickly with an operator that matches your sales footprint, and make renewals boring. That turns a broad catalog into a spec‑ready one, not just a good one.