UEPG to benchmark sustainable development

Promoting sustainable development is an important issue for the aggregates sector and the UEPG is helping to find methods to benchmark and promote awareness of these capabilities

Growing environmental awareness means that strategies to promote sustainable development are high on the agenda of most businesses in Europe. The quarrying sector is no exception and the 2886 European Aggregates Association (UEPG) has been working with the 1022 European Commission to help benchmark sustainability.

The EC launched its Sustainable Development Indicators Initiative in 2000 following the Commission's Communication "Promoting Sustainable Development in the EU Non-Energy Extractive Industry". According to the UEPG, Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs) are an important step in measuring the progress of the industry and the association contributed to the Commission's project at an early stage.

In addition to measuring progress, the UEPG believes that SDIs are useful tools to raise awareness of sustainable development, identify areas where the sector needs improvement and enhance communication with stakeholders.

Commitment

In order to demonstrate the commitment of the European aggregates industry to sustainable development and acknowledge the importance of SDIs, UEPG has launched its own Sustainable Development Initiative.

First, in order to improve the response of the aggregates sector to the Commission's initiative and provide more accurate sustainable development data, UEPG proposed setting up and developing a system capable of handling data on the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environment.

The main part of the system is a one-page annual SDI questionnaire, drafted by UEPG and adapted to the needs and specifics of the aggregates sector. For instance, the amended questionnaire does not include the indicator on dangerous substances since the industry is not involved with dangerous substances. Also, a point regarding information about onward transport to the customer of bulk material was deleted as it is not readily available to the industry.

UEPG also made some recommendations regarding the reporting frequency and new sources of data. For example, UEPG presented its new project to collect health & safety data which then could be used for the SDI initiative in order to avoid double reporting and producing an unnecessary administrative burden on member associations.

In addition, UEPG is planning to produce a CD-ROM on measuring sustainable development in the European aggregates industry, including data and pictures demonstrating achievements in the field of sustainable development. The CD-ROM will be presented to the Commission's vice-president Günter Verheugen at the European Minerals Forum on 26 November 2008.

As a part of this initiative, UEPG is also planning to extend its successful partnership with the 1778 International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Countdown 2010 initiative. On 23 April, Denis Mertens, president of UEPG and Arnaud Colson, chairman of the UEPG Environment Committee, briefed Sebastian Winkler, head of Countdown 2010 on new UEPG initiatives regarding sustainable development and biodiversity.

They discussed the UEPG's Sustainable Development Report project, as an additional communication tool to demonstrate the achievements of the industry and to promote further improvement. IUCN's Countdown 2010 initiative will work closely with UEPG to develop the CD-ROM on Measuring Sustainable Development of the European Aggregates Industry and assist UEPG in selecting the Sustainable Developments Awards in 2010.

Another initiative taken by UEPG was a keynote speech by Mertens to Members of the 1066 European Parliament on the need to increase raw materials supply from European sources on a sustainable basis. UEPG, together with colleagues from the Non-Energy Extractive Industries Panel, had submitted to the Commission a document of examples of restricted access to resources across Europe. This highlighted the lack of awareness of the importance of raw materials, the restrictive interpretation of the Habitats Directive and fragmented and protracted planning procedures. In the speech, Mertens also drew attention to the impact this could have on European competitiveness.