Three more large companies have joined the Cement Sustainability Initiative, an international project to improve the cement industry’s social and environmental performance.
Titan Cement (Greece), CRH (Ireland), and Uniland Cementera (Spain), have joined the ten companies that founded the CSI in Paris a year ago.
The CSI has an action plan of corporate responsibility measures up to 2006 as its main thrust and is discussing potential membership with several other cement companies.
One key target is for member companies to monitor and report carbon dioxide emissions. It says more than 400 facilities now use its carbon dioxide protocol but this practice involves less than half the member companies.
The first year’s progress has been ‘considerable’ but CSI concedes that there is still a lot to do.
The conservation organization WWF supports the initiative, but would like member companies to establish ‘clear carbon dioxide reduction targets and rehabilitation programmes’ by the end of next year.
The cement industry generates five per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. CSI members produce more than a third of the world’s cement.
The CSI has set up six task forces to fulfil various elements of its five-year plan. They cover climate protection, chaired by Holcim, Switzerland; fuels and raw materials (Italcementi, Italy); health and safety (Cemex, Mexico); emissions reduction (Heidelberg Cement, Germany); local impacts (Lafarge/Heracles, Greece); and reporting and communication (RMC Group, UK).