The Shelf-based firm's Mission Zero is aimed at achieving a zero environmental footprint.

Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of the company, came up with the idea.

It was in 1994, after reading Paul Hawken's The Ecology of Commerce, he realised his company's "take, make, waste"cycle of manufacturing products was environmentally flawed.

It sparked the start of changing the company's business model to reduce the environmental impact of every creative, manufacturing and building decision made.

Lindsey Parnell, chief executive and president of InterfaceFlor said: "Fifteen years ago Interface was one of the first companies to publicly commit to sustainability and set a real target of where we wanted the company to be in the future.

"Mission Zero continues to underpin every dimension of our company, from process, product and profits to people and place.

"I firmly believe that this holistic approach is what has allowed us to make the progress we have to date.

"We still have some way to go in achieving our 2020 goal, and to get there we will continue to evaluate, adapt and innovate our products, services and processes."

Interface is now over halfway there in completing Mission Zero.

Energy efficiency programmes have resulted in a 67 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 1996.

And there is 100 per cent use of renewable electricity in the company's manufacturing processes throughout Europe.

The company has also pioneered Cool Green, which allows manufacturing and carpet waste to be recycled back into its products.