Mr. Bruno
Lafont, Chairman and CEO of Lafarge, and James P. Leape, Director-General of WWF
International, have announced the renewal of the partnership between Lafarge
and WWF International for another four years. This new phase of the partnership
will see a continuation of the work carried out by Lafarge and the non-governmental
organization since 2000.
A
will to do better, together
In
2000, Lafarge was the first industrial player to become a WWF ‘Conservation
Partner' by signing a five-year global partnership, first renewed in 2005. Through
this ongoing partnership, WWF International and Lafarge formalized their will to
work together on the reduction of the environmental footprint in the
construction materials sector.
At the
renewal of the partnership, Bruno Lafont stated:
"Building on the progress we
have made via this partnership with WWF International, we have decided to renew
our engagement. Since 2000, we have made considerable progress on our environmental
approach, however much work still needs to be done. We expect an effective support
from WWF International, in areas of climate change, biodiversity or water
consumption. Such a partnership is a fantastic opportunity to challenge our
vision with the one of an environmental NGO. In the current economic context,
we reaffirm our commitment towards sustainable development at a strategic level
to differentiate us today and in the future."
James
P. Leape. General Director of WWF International welcomed the renewal of the
partnership and said:
"The recent
performances in terms of CO2 emissions achieved by
Lafarge are encouraging. The commitment of Lafarge by our side has also pulled
the largest international cement groups to commit to objectives to reduce CO2 emissions. The challenge for Lafarge is to extend its
efforts to its entire Group notably in emerging economies (Brazil, China,
and India)
where demand for construction materials is growing rapidly. Through this
partnership, we are looking to Lafarge to take a leadership role in moving the
entire cement sector, and other industries, towards a sustainable economy."
Working
areas for an effective partnership
Lafarge and
WWF International have jointly identified key areas where they intend to get
firm commitments from the Group:
- Climate
change: to pursue the program of CO2 emission reductions
based on the targets defined in 2001 with WWF International;
- Persistent
pollutants: to improve monitoring and reporting practices within
the Group and to take action to reduce persistent pollutants emissions;
- Water
consumption: to improve Lafarge's understanding of its
water consumption and define concrete action plans to reduce it;
- Biodiversity:
to apply on a number of sites the biodiversity indicator and the management
system for rehabilitation of quarries that were developed in the previous
phases;
- Sustainable
construction: to promote sustainable construction products
and systems all along the building construction chain.
Major advances have been made as part of previous
partnerships:
- 2008 results demonstrate that Lafarge
has made a significant step toward achieving its two targets in term of
reduction of CO2 emissions. At the end of 2008; absolute emissions in
industrialised countries have gone down 12.5 percent over the 1990-2008
period, and a 18.4 percent reduction of net CO2 emissions per metric
ton of cement for the group during the same period. The monitoring and
expertise of WWF International was decisive in the pursuit of these objectives.
- In terms of biodiversity, Lafarge has
implemented, with the support of WWF International, performance measurement
tools for its quarry rehabilitation process.
- As a producer of construction
materials, Lafarge is involved in issues of sustainable construction, this in a
long-term collaboration with different actors of the industry and benefits from
the support of WWF International.
The
partnership has already found resonance in local commitments and actions, notably
with fauna and flora initiatives in Canada,
surveillance of the Panda habitat in China,
biodiversity awareness campaigns in Romania
and Austria, development of
biofuel projects in Kenya.
Co-operation
based on constructive dialogue
Since 2000,
Lafarge and WWF International have conducted their partnership in a spirit of openness,
leading to quantitative targets and indicators, which, combined with a schedule
of deliverables, has made it possible to measure precisely the performances of
Lafarge. The majority of these performances are audited by independent
professionals.
Transparency
and dialogue are key elements in this partnership, allowing for open
discussions between two seemingly opposing visions with a view to pursuing a
common goal: finding solutions to reduce Lafarge's ecological footprint, while taking
into account the reality of Lafarge's business environment.
About WWF International
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent
conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global
network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation
of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live
in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring
that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting
the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. Visit www.panda.org/media for the latest news and media resources
About Lafarge
Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with
top-ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement, Aggregates &
Concrete and Gypsum. With more than 84,000 employees in 79 countries, Lafarge
posted sales of Euros 19 billion in 2008.
In 2009 and for the fifth year in a row, Lafarge was listed in the
‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World'. With the world's
leading building materials research facility, Lafarge places innovation at the
heart of its priorities, working for sustainable construction and architectural
creativity.
