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Corporate members of a cement industry sustainability action group are to make efforts to recruit Chinese companies to take part in their programme of social and environmental improvements.
The Cement Sustainability Initiative has 17 members, including Cemex (Mexico), Holcim (Switzerland) and Lafarge (France). But it has so far failed to bring on board any cement companies from China, which accounts for 35 per cent of global production and has many energy-inefficient and polluting plants.
'We'd love to get a company from China involved and we'll keep working at it,' said Howard Klee, programme director at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which runs the group. Klee said one reason for the failure to bring in Chinese companies was the fragmentation of the sector in a country where the industry was split among thousands of small companies. 'It's only recently that the government has forced some consolidation,' he said. 'We need companies of a certain size to be able to deal with them, but we're now at the point where there are a couple of large players. We've had no luck recruiting them so far, but we're hopeful that situation will change.'
A three-year progress report published by the group last month features key performance indicators for carbon dioxide emissions and other parameters on which all members have now agreed to report aggregated data.
CSI members account for around half of the world's cement, if production in China is excluded. Two producers in India, another big cement market, are members, but the group feels progress in China is essential.
The Cement Sustainability Initiative has 17 members, including Cemex (Mexico), Holcim (Switzerland) and Lafarge (France). But it has so far failed to bring on board any cement companies from China, which accounts for 35 per cent of global production and has many energy-inefficient and polluting plants.
'We'd love to get a company from China involved and we'll keep working at it,' said Howard Klee, programme director at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which runs the group. Klee said one reason for the failure to bring in Chinese companies was the fragmentation of the sector in a country where the industry was split among thousands of small companies. 'It's only recently that the government has forced some consolidation,' he said. 'We need companies of a certain size to be able to deal with them, but we're now at the point where there are a couple of large players. We've had no luck recruiting them so far, but we're hopeful that situation will change.'
A three-year progress report published by the group last month features key performance indicators for carbon dioxide emissions and other parameters on which all members have now agreed to report aggregated data.
CSI members account for around half of the world's cement, if production in China is excluded. Two producers in India, another big cement market, are members, but the group feels progress in China is essential.
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