The French-Swiss sector giant, the world's biggest building materials supply company, recently became the first firm of its kind to join the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) – a scheme that determines how much and how quickly firms must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Under SBTi’s ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’, an urgent target set by UN agencies, business and industry leaders, LafargeHolcim has committed to speeding up the reduction in CO2 intensity per tonne of cementitious materials by 2030.
Setting an ambitious standard for green construction, LafargeHolcim, which operates in over 90 countries, is working with SBTi to develop a roadmap for helping the global cement sector hit the 1.5°C target – the temperature at which we can avoid irreversible damage due to climate change.
This includes spearheading a number of initiatives that will be rolled out across its UK business Aggregate Industries such as recycling 100 million tonnes of waste and byproducts for energy and raw materials and accelerate the use of low-carbon and carbon-neutral products.
The announcement comes as last year the UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to become net-zero by 2050. Committed to supporting this ambition and that of its parent company, Aggregate Industries said it would continue to reduce its CO2 emissions and lead the way on sustainability.
Recent years have seen the firm achieve notable milestones in this area such as becoming the first company to be certified to BES 6001, The Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products, developed by the BRE. It was also the first construction materials supplier to achieve the BSI PAS 2080 verification for its commitment to supply low carbon solutions to infrastructure projects. Aggregate Industries currently purchases the entirety of its electrical grid demand from 100 renewable sources.
Guy Edwards, chief executive officer at Aggregate Industries UK, said: “We’re proud to be part of the LafargeHolcim Group as it makes the bold and ambitious pledge to go net-zero by 2050. By being the first building materials supplier in the world to sign up to the SBTi’s ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ demonstrates our genuine desire to achieve real and lasting change in protecting the environment.
“In our capacity as one of the UK’s leading construction materials suppliers, we fully support LafargeHolcim’s pledge and accelerating the use of low-carbon and carbon-neutral products is just one of the initiatives we’re currently working on to help create a greener construction industry.”
Jan Jenisch, CEO of LafargeHolcim, said: “I believe in building a world that works for people and the planet. That’s why we are reinventing how the world builds today to make it greener with low-carbon and circular solutions. I am very excited to be working with SBTi, taking a rigorous science-based approach to shape our net-zero roadmap and accelerating our efforts to substantially lower our CO2 footprint. I will not stop pushing the boundaries to lead the way in green construction.”
Helping customers to reduce CO2 emissions released from buildings and infrastructure over the whole-life cycle of a project, Aggregate Industries offers a wide choice of sustainable products, like SustainaCem cement, which has reduced embodied CO2 and is a pre-blended material with robust quality testing or ECOPact, the company's low carbon concrete which is due to be launched shortly on the UK market.
