Displaying items by tag: Sustainability
Cementos Argos switching to electric trucks in Medellín
05 April 2019Colombia: Cementos Argos is switching its trucks in Medellín to electric-powered vehicles. The new trucks will be powered by 600v batteries and be capable of carrying 4t of cement, according to the La Republic newspaper. The cement producer is planning to expand the electric-powered trucks to other cities subsequently.
Aggregate Industries obtains PAS 2080 verification
05 April 2019UK: Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, has obtained PAS 2080 verification, a new Carbon Management in Infrastructure specification. PAS 2080 is the world’s first specification for managing whole-life carbon in infrastructure. Developed by the Construction Leadership Council’s Green Construction Board with the British Standards Institute (BSI), it provides a framework and guidance for measuring and managing carbon across the whole value chain.
“We can help designers at Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) stage to design lower carbon solutions. Our management systems (ISO 14001 and 50001) ensure consistent and reliable data collection, allowing our Carbon Managers to report embodied CO2 to other members of the value chain. Baseline data made available to the value chain allows carbon targets to be set at design phase and for performance to be monitored against these targets during project delivery. This will result in infrastructure with lower embodied carbon,” said Paul McCaffrey, Sustainable Products Manager at Aggregate Industries.
US: Cemex USA’s Clinchfield Cement Plant in Georgia has been awarded the ISO 14001:2015 certification for its environmental management system (EMS). It is the first Cemex cement operation in the country to earn this certification. The EMS at the plant follows a continuous cycle of environmental policy: planning, support and operation, performance evaluation, then improvement.
The International Organization of Standardisation (ISO) developed ISO 14001:2015 as a standard of processes for organisations to use when setting up, improving or maintaining their environmental management systems to follow established environmental policies and requirements. The guidelines are designed to help organisations improve efficiency, reduce waste, improve overall environmental impact and manage environmental obligations.
The Clinchfield Cement Plant is also one of several Cemex sites to achieve certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council. The plant is also active in the Georgia Black Bear Project. Cemex is currently in the process of achieving ISO 14001:2015 Certification at its eight other active cement plants in the US.
Vassiliko Cement wins environmental awards
01 February 2019Cyprus: Vassiliko Cement has won the Gold Environmental Protection Award in 2018 at the Pancyprian Environmental Awards for Organisations and Businesses. The prize was given for the cement producer’s implementation of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy. Company staff worked with local communities, non-government organisations (NGO) and others. The competition was organised by the Cyprus Center for Environmental Research and Education, in cooperation with the government and other groups.
Cemex concrete plant in Panama receives certification from Concrete Sustainability Council
01 February 2019Panama: Cemex’s Panama Norte concrete plant has been awarded Responsible Sourcing Certification from the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). The building materials company says it is the first facility in the ready-mix concrete sector in Latin America to receive this designation. The plant met the CSC requirements via an audit by SGS, an independent certification body.
“We are proud of our Panama Norte plant for becoming the first concrete facility in Latin America to attain CSC certification, and we are committed to foster our leadership in the industry by delivering a superior customer experience and integrating sustainability into all aspects of our business,” said Andres Jimenez, President of Cemex Panama.
Launched in 2017 by 11 founding members - including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Portland Cement Association and Cemex - the CSC aims to improve the transparency of the concrete sector and highlight the essential role of concrete in creating a sustainable construction sector by getting recognition in green procurement government policies and building rating systems. The CSC acts as a certification system, grading building materials facilities on environmental, social and governance practices throughout supply chains.
Germany: HeidelbergCement has been awarded ‘A-‘ in the climate change category of CDP’s Climate A List. It also received the same score in the water security category. The result marked it as the highest-scoring cement company on the list beating other major international producers such as LafargeHolcim, Cemex and CRH. Notably, these other cement companies each received ‘F’ for water security due to a lack of sufficient information available. CDP analyses data from over 6800 large companies around the world.
“This is a strong confirmation that we are on the right track with our Sustainability Commitments 2030. The excellent result encourages us to further reduce our ecological footprint across all business lines and on a global level,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.
LafargeHolcim España restores land at Jerez plant’s quarry
24 January 2019Spain: LafargeHolcim España has restored land at a quarry near its Jerez de la Frontera cement plant in Cadiz. As part of biodiversity improvement project it has recovered 45 hectares of land and planted around 35,000 trees.
Sweden: LafargeHolcim has been named by Sasja Beslik, the head of sustainable finance at Nordea, as the second worst company for increasing CO2 emissions in the five years between 2011 and 2016. Other cement companies in the list that Beslik published via his Twitter account include CRH, HeidelbergCement and Shree Cement. The list, entitled ‘The CO2 Culprits Top 100’, was assembled using data from financial services company MSCI.
UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has launched its first six sustainability guidelines. The six guidelines include a number of key performance indicators (KPI) against which full member companies must monitor and report on their sustainability performance across a number of key activities. The guidelines include monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions and other emissions from cement manufacturing, co-processing of fuels and materials, safety and water usage.
“Signing up to the guidelines emphasises the cement and concrete sector’s commitment to sustainable development including its critical work to reducing global CO2 emissions,” said GCCA Cement Director Claude Lorea.
To achieve the extended compliance, full GCCA members will have their data and targets verified and reported publicly. GCCA intends to communicate data publicly in a consolidated format. In November 2018 the GCCA published a Sustainability Charter which set out five key pillars, which it says encompasses the sustainability spectrum of the cement and concrete sector.
UK: The British Lime Association (BLA) has published its 2018 Sustainable Development Report. The UK lime sector has responded to improved conditions in the domestic market, and the increased demand from the iron and steel sector in 2017. Exports of lime by BLA Members have increased by 30% since 2006 and made up 26% of sales in 2017. Following the launch of the MPA Charter in 2017, the BLA Sustainable Development Report is now set out to align with the seven MPA strategic priorities.