The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) aims to demonstrate how tangible solutions can meet global construction challenges and sustainable development goals, while simultaneously displaying responsible industrial leadership in sourcing, manufacturing and use of cement and concrete.
The GCCA recognises the need to monitor progress and to clearly communicate performance to all stakeholders. The GCCA Sustainability Guidelines provide industry and stakeholders with a means to document and hence improve the sustainability performance of the global cement and concrete sectors against the GCCA Sustainability Charter.
The seven guidelines include a number of simple, reliable and representative KPIs against which Full Member companies must monitor and report on their sustainability performance across a number of key activities. (Associate members are members who share GCCA’s mission but do not fulfil the requirements for full membership.)
The guidelines include monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions and other emissions from cement manufacturing; co-processing of fuels and materials; safety; and water usage. In 2019 further guidelines will be developed building on the CSI legacy. Those include detailed annexes to the first set of guidelines (Good practices on contractor and driver safety) as well as guidelines on quarry rehabilitation and social impact assessment, and finally, initial work for the development of a first set of new concrete guidelines.
To achieve the extended compliance, full GCCA members shall have their data and targets verified and reported publicly. GCCA intends to communicate data publicly in a consolidated format.
The Framework Guidelines sets out a number of general obligations placed on full GCCA members in order to comply with the GCCA Sustainability Charter and which apply across each of the GCCA Guidelines. This includes the basic reporting principles and rules to be applied when reporting the sustainability KPIs defined in the GCCA guidelines.
Five topic guidelines have already been issued:
- Health and Safety is a key priority for the Global Cement and Concrete Association and we are committed to promoting that and supporting all our members and the sector in monitoring and reporting on performance at all workplaces through a set of aligned KPI’s. The GCCA members have committed to apply the good safety practices guidelines and promote the sharing of good health practices. The purpose of the safety guidelines is to ensure the accurate register of the defined work-related fatalities and injuries of GCCA members company. Members are also encouraged to use the same reporting requirements for their other associated product sectors as well. The guidelines deal with the safety of GCCA company members own workers but also contractors and third parties. The monitoring of key lagging indicators aims at helping to improve the safety culture. The GCCA and its members strive to achieve zero harm for employees, contractors and everyone that comes in contact with its businesses.
Health and Safety is a key priority for the Global Cement and Concrete Association
- The guidelines for CO2 monitoring and reporting aims at supporting our members and the sector in reducing the CO2 emissions and improving their carbon footprint. This guideline also covers energy consumption as one of the key drivers for CO2 emissions in the sector. These guidelines give an introduction to the monitoring and reporting process, specifies applicable protocols, and delivers the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are considered most relevant for the cement industry. The KPIs can also be used by companies for benchmarking their performance
- The use of alternative fuels and raw materials (called co=processing) offers many opportunities and advantages to cement manufacturers but they must be used in a responsible way. The guidelines for co-processing provides practical guidance for the successful and safe use of alternative fuels and raw materials in cement operations. The objective is to support our members and the sector to optimise the use of alternative fuels and raw materials where technically, environmentally and economically viable. The key obligations for their responsible use include health & safety, stakeholder engagement, environment, selection acceptance and traceability, transport and storage, KPIs include AFR and biomass rate specific heat consumption ARM rate and clinker to cement rati
- The guidelines for emissions measurement and reporting aims at promoting a uniform monitoring and reporting of emissions data; promoting internal management of emissions; and providing credible, practical and relevant information on emissions. It introduces the monitoring and reporting process, specifies the emissions, and defines the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) considered most relevant for the cement industry i.e. emissions of dust, NOx, SO2, VOC, heavy metals and dioxins/ furans.
Water management is a major challenge in global sustainability practices.
- Water management is a major challenge in global sustainability practices. Water scarcity can translate into business risks for a wide range of companies and sectors, including the cement industry. These risks can be addressed through the implementation of a comprehensive water management strategy, which can both mitigate water scarcity risks and provide benefits for local stakeholder relations. GCCA members companies must first understand site water flow in order to efficiently manage the quantities of water withdrawn as well as the quality of water discharged with particular focus on water stressed areas. These water guidelines define obligations and provide technical guidance on measurements, calculations and estimates to reliably quantify water withdrawal, discharge and consumption, to improve the accuracy of water accounting by companies.
What about concrete guidelines?
Many national and regional concrete associations already have their own reporting in place. GCCA will work with these bodies to develop GCCA Guidelines for concrete production to establish measurement and data collection to enable industry wide reporting.
Header photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash