Biodiversity action for net positive impact

It is increasingly recognised that climate change and society’s impact on the natural world are so intertwined that solving one without addressing the other would be next to impossible. Biodiversity within the natural word is critical to the health of our planet. Ensuring a positive relationship with nature underpins the way that GCCA member companies operate throughout the world. Our members operate in almost every country of the world and are custodians of the land in which they operate. To this end we have incorporated good practices on land stewardship and biodiversity into our key document, ‘the GCCA Sustainability Charter’, as well as the principles of the UN Sustainable Development Goals into our actions.

01 / See GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for Quarry Rehabilitation and Biodiversity Management gccassociation.org/sustainability-innovation/sustainability-charter-and-guidelines/

Production

GCCA member companies aim towards the achievement of Net Positive Impact in their cement, concrete and aggregates operations through 4 specific actions: 

• formulate and execute effective and progressive Quarry Rehabilitation Plans (QRP) and Biodiversity Management Plans see GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for Quarry Rehabilitation and Biodiversity Management

• track, monitor, report, and establish assurance of information through Key Performance Indicators that provide valuable, reliable, easy-to-understand and verifiable information. This allows comparison and measurement of progress01

• highlight concrete’s strong sustainability characteristics

• work in partnership to scale up efforts.

Use of Concrete 

Concrete has an important role to play, as many parts of Green Infrastructure will also require a hard infrastructure element. The concrete industry is therefore committed to developing sustainable products that enable and contribute to Nature Based Solutions to mitigate the loss of biodiversity caused by the built environment. The inherent properties of concrete mean that it does not release toxic substances into the environment, nor does it require treatments and coatings that release substances. This makes it suitable for integration directly into green space including parks, playgrounds and gardens, with limited impact on biodiversity.

Designers are able to mitigate the impact of urban development by utilising the properties of concrete. For example, porous paving prevents surface run-off, and durable concrete enables underground transport structures and high density development, both of which limit the overall impact of development.

How can Net Positive Impact be achieved?

Rehabilitation of quarries, progressively during extraction and on completion of operations, offers significant opportunities for enhancement of biodiversity through creating more enhanced, thriving and connected habitats than were present before operations began. This can and does result in net positive impacts for biodiversity, as well as other components of Natural Capital (e.g., water storage, and landscape enhancement), and the industry has a long track-record of delivery on this. Net positive can be delivered, and measured, through ensuring that the biodiversity value of a site is assessed prior to development proceeding, calculating the relative losses (through soil removal and mineral extraction) and gains (through on or off-site management, and progressive and final rehabilitation) and taking action to ensure a net positive outcome. 

Designers are able to mitigate the impact of urban development by utilising the properties of concrete. For example, porous paving prevents surface run-off, and durable concrete enables underground transport structures and high density development, both of which limit the overall impact of development.

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