BCA: Cement industry making clear strides towards its sustainable development goals

British Cement Assoc logo

Wednesday, 27, Jun 2007 12:00

A new report published by the British Cement Association charts the significant progress made by the cement industry towards meeting its sustainable development goals.

Key achievements include:

• Reduction of direct CO2 emissions by 28% since 1990 giving CO2 savings of over 3.7 million tonnes

• Fossil fuel consumption cut by over 22% between 1998 and 2005

• One million tonnes of waste diverted from landfill in 2005, as over 14% of kiln fuels and almost 5% of virgin raw materials are replaced by waste-derived materials

• 27.5% improvement in specific energy consumption against a 1990 baseline

The report, working towards sustainability 2, records the substantial progress made towards the commitments documented in the BCA’s Sustainable Development Task Force report published in November 2005, which set a strategic vision and a series of objectives for the UK cement industry. All UK cement manufacturers (Castle Cement, CEMEX UK Operations, Lafarge Cement UK and Tarmac Buxton Lime and Cement) have continued to work hard to meet their sustainable development goals.

BCA Chief Executive, Mike Gilbert, said, ‘working towards sustainability 2 is a progress report which records just that – real progress, in reporting industry performance and highlighting the value of cement manufacture and use in the UK. While this journey is one that will never be complete – I hope you share with me the satisfaction that we are making progress and helping others to do the same.

Cement, and its use in concrete, makes a huge contribution to our built environment. No house, school, hospital, road or bridge could be built without it. This latest report shows that the cement industry is playing its part in reducing CO2 emissions, saving energy and reducing waste’.

Notes to editors:

The British Cement Association (BCA) is the trade and research organisation that represents the interests of the United Kingdom’s cement industry in its relations with Her Majesty’s Government, the European Union and relevant organisations in the United Kingdom. The members of the BCA (Tarmac Buxton Lime & Cement, Castle Cement, CEMEX UK Operations and Lafarge Cement UK) are the major domestic manufacturers of Portland cement producing over 90% of the cement sold in the UK.

The cement industry has an annual turnover of £775 million and is a major supplier to the construction industry. It employs around 3,400 people directly with a further 15,000 jobs depending upon its operations.

The UK cement industry established a Sustainable Development Task Force in November 2004 for the purpose of developing a framework within which sustainable development could be incorporated into the future activities of the BCA and its members by November 2005. In addition, the task force considered ways to improve the industry's role of delivering sustainable construction in a sustainable society.

The year long task force has achieved its objective of setting an agenda for future activities and shaping industry’s sustainability strategy.

The task force focused on five principal areas: improving communications; the business case for cement; a Carbon Strategy to take the industry to 2050; a Cement Makers’ Code; and annual publication of a corporate responsibility report, Performance.

Copies of the working towards sustainability 1 & 2 reports are available to download from the cement industry website (www.cementindustry.co.uk ).