Sustainability Charter and Guidelines

GCCA Sustainability Charter

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The GCCA Sustainability Charter identifies five key pillars which encompass the sustainability spectrum of the cement and concrete sector and has set out the requirements for full members against each of these.

Full members must implement sustainability initiatives across all five pillars and set targets for performance improvement for each of the pillars to achieve compliance.

  • GCCA Sustainability Charter [PDF]

GCCA Sustainability Guidelines

The GCCA sustainability guidelines include a number of simple, reliable and representative KPIs against which members must monitor and report performance. To achieve the extended compliance level, full members shall have their data verified and reported publicly.

  1. GCCA Sustainability Framework Guidelines [PDF]
  2. GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions from cement manufacturing [PDF]
  3. GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of emissions from cement manufacturing [PDF]
  4. GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of safety in cement and concrete manufacturing [PDF]
  5. GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of water in cement manufacturing [PDF]
  6. GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for co-processing fuels and raw materials in cement manufacturing [PDF]
  7. GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for quarry rehabilitation and biodiversity management [PDF]
  8. GCCA Sustainability Guidance for Reducing and Controlling Emissions of Mercury Compounds in the Cement Industry [PDF]
  9. GCCA Guidance for Sustainable Supply Chain Management [only available to GCCA Members]
  10. GCCA Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) [only available to GCCA Members]
  11. GCCA Sustainability Guidance document for Leading Indicators – Health and Safety [only available to GCCA Members]
  12. GCCA Guidance for Water Positivity Tool to calculate water positivity index at cement plants [only available to GCCA Members]
  13. GCCA Water Positivity Tool to calculate water positivity index at cement plants [only available to GCCA Members]

In addition, GCCA has developed a Health Management Handbook focusing on dust and noise, and a Road Safety Handbook, both of which supersede the CSI “Health Management Handbook Addressing Occupational Exposures in the Cement Industry“, Oct 2015, and the CSI “Recommended good practices for driving safety“, Oct. 2010 . [The handbooks mentioned above are for members only.]

Sustainability Guidelines – Transition from the CSI

The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) announced the formation of a strategic partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to facilitate sustainable development of the cement and concrete sectors and their value chains. The new partnership also created synergies between their work programs to benefit both the GCCA and WBCSD, and their respective member companies. As part of the new agreement, the work carried out by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) transferred from WBCSD to the GCCA on 1 January 2019, with activities managed out of the GCCA’s London office.

Are the CSI Sustainability Guidelines still applicable?

The following CSI Sustainability Guidelines have been superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Guidelines.

  1. “CSI Charter”, superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Charter
  2. “Guidelines for Emissions Monitoring and Reporting in the Cement Industry”, v2.0, Mar 2012 – superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of emissions from cement manufacturing
  3. “Safety in the Cement Industry: Guidelines for Measuring and Reporting”, v4.0, May 2013 (incl. AD#1) – superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of safety in cement manufacturing
  4. “Protocol for Water Reporting”, May 2014  – superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of water in cement manufacturing
  5. “Guidance on good practices for water accounting”, May 2016 – superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for the monitoring and reporting of water in cement manufacturing
  6. “Guidelines for Co-processing Fuels and Raw Materials in Cement Manufacturing”, Sep 2014 – superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Guidelines for co-processing fuels and raw materials in cement manufacturing
  7. “Methodology for the Net Impact Assessment of Biodiversity in the Cement Sector”, Dec 2018, “Biodiversity Management Plan Guidance”, Sep 2014, “Guidelines on quarry rehabilitation”, Dec 2011 – superseded by the GCCA Guidelines for Quarry Rehabilitation and Biodiversity Management
  8. “Sustainable supply chain management guides”, Dec 2016 – superseded by the GCCA Guidance for Sustainable Supply Chain Management (available to Members only)
  9. “Guidelines for Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)”, Aug 2016 – superseded by the GCCA Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) (available to Members only)
  10. “Guidance for reducing and controlling emissions of mercury compounds in the cement industry”, Jun 2016 – superseded by the GCCA Sustainability Guidance for Reducing and Controlling Emissions of Mercury Compounds in the Cement Industry

The following CSI Sustainability Guidelines have not yet been superseded by GCCA Sustainability Guidelines.

Abbreviations List:
* v = version (i.e. v2.0 is version 2.0)
* incl. = including
* AD# = Addendum and the number (i.e. Addendum 1)

Header photo by Rawfilm on Unsplash