Sustainability and social responsibility are pillars of the corporate strategy of HeidelbergCement, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of building materials, with 70,000 employees and more than 2,800 locations on four continents.
Energy and climate protection, occupational health and safety as well as the protection of biodiversity are the key issues of our sustainability objectives.
”Renaturated quarries and gravel pits provide refuge for threatened animal and plant species. The aim of maintaining biological diversity is systematically pursued as an integral part of our environmental management system,” says Dr. Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement, on the occasion of the presentation of the “Business & Biodiversity” initiative by the Federal Environment Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, at a Federal Press Conference in Berlin.
Concrete measures for biodiversity at HeidelbergCement
Extracting raw materials has a direct impact on nature and the landscape.
We are land users, and we rely on a cooperative relationship with environmentalists.
Each year, HeidelbergCement consumes 130 million tonnes of raw materials and excavates more than 350 million tonnes of sand and gravel as aggregates, e.g. for concrete production and road building. After operations have ceased at the excavation sites, the areas are restored to their natural states.
”Our aim is to make use of our unique possibilities to increase diversity among species. To this end, close cooperation with scientists and environmentalists is very important,” says Dr. Bernd Scheifele. “For the implementation of measures at our company, we are going to establish an international team, headed by a biologist. A group guideline for recultivation and biodiversity, which will find use in pilot projects, is currently being developed.”
In signing the Leadership Declaration in advance of the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, HeidelbergCement has documented its commitment to implementing the convention and playing a pioneering role in the process.
Posted February 18th, 2007
