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Benoit Bazin

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A.

Search every verified Benoit Bazin interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Benoit Bazin, Chairman and CEO of Saint-Gobain, discussed the company's approach to global construction challenges in recent interviews. In a July 2026 appearance on Property Play, he addressed housing shortages and affordability, stating that "we have a housing crisis everywhere we need to build" and positioning affordability as both a challenge and a mission for the company. He expressed optimism about existing technical solutions for sustainable construction, noting that "the technical solutions do exist" for energy-efficient buildings, while acknowledging the difficulty of scaling these solutions across "millions of job sites in 8000 countries." Bazin also highlighted the role of AI in developing smarter materials and the benefits of the company's "multi-local" strategy. In a September 2026 interview, Bazin discussed Saint-Gobain's portfolio transformation, noting that the company had bought and sold businesses totaling over 10 billion euros in revenue since 2018. He also commented on French public finances, saying that "we will soon spend more public money paying the interest on the debt than on the education budget or the justice budget" and calling for "political courage" to review public spending structures. He emphasized that construction accounts for approximately 35% of global CO2 emissions and that decarbonizing the sector is "absolutely major," while reiterating that technical solutions for renovation and insulation already exist.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“We have a housing crisis everywhere we need to build. So affordability is a topic and it's our challenge. It's our mission also to make sure that we provide solutions that are faster to install. If at some point we lack workforce in the US, in Europe, we need to be able to train labor faster to make sure the installation is right because it's not only a performance on the product on the packaging, but it's a full sys”

“The construction world is about 35% of CO2 emissions on the planet between material extraction, construction, manufacturing of materials, and then especially the life of the building—what we consume in energy, air conditioning—all that makes 35% of CO2 emissions on the planet. So it's absolutely major to decarbonize construction. And the good news is that the technical solution exists. If I take for example in France”

“We will soon spend more public money paying the interest on the debt than on the education budget or the justice budget. That means it's dysfunctional and something has to be done. It can't last too long. And the solution is not more taxation. The solution is to manage spending better, to revisit things we don't do very well, things we do less well. We need political courage to review the structure of public spending”

“La construction c'est le bâtiment c'est 35 à 40 % CO2 quand on prend l'extraction des matières premières jusqu'au la démolition des bâtiments évidemment toute l'énergie l'air conditionnée qui est perdu dans les bâtiments. Donc c'est essentiel pour décarboner la planète de décarboner la construction.”

“Ce sujet est criant. Ce sujet est extrêmement important d'un point de vue social, politique, démographique. Je pense que si la natalité baisse, c'est parce qu'on a pas assez de logement en France.”

“Il faut faire croître le gâteau pour pouvoir partager le gâteau. La seule façon de faire croître le gâteau, c'est d'inciter à plus produire, d'inciter à plus créer de richesse. Cette politique de l'offre, c'est exactement ça. Et c'est pas en attaquant le gâteau en disant le gâteau il est un peu trop gros, donc on va leur piquer un peu plus de taxe pour financer la politique sociale que notre futur va être assuré. Ça ”

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