Heidelberg Cement: Sustainability report with shareholder participation
“Sustainable business practices are a fundamental condition as well as an integral component of our business activities, and therefore central to the activities and decisions of our management teams on the ground: The important thing is to minimize the impact of our operations on the local environment, and to utilize our core competencies in a way that contributes to the society at large and generates economic opportunities,” says Dr. Bernd Scheifele, CEO of Heidelberg Cement AG.
According to him the recently published sustainability report presents the sustainability achievements and targets of the Heidelberg Cement and thereby makes the performance understandable to the stakeholders.
Success in occupational safety and climate protection
Health and safety of the employees is another focus of the Heidelberg Cement sustainability programme. The figures prove the effectiveness of the expanded prevention measures and information campaigns. The accident frequency rate as well as the accident severity indicator could be reduced on Group level.
Further progress could also be reported on climate protection. For instance, specific net carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 21.2 % (compared to 1990 levels) to 609.1 kg per t of cement. Moreover, the clinker factor decreased to 75.3 %. “The figures show how much Heidelberg Cement has accomplished over the past two years,” says Scheifele. “We will continue to focus on climate protection and leverage our R&D capabilities to further reduce emissions.”
For the first time, a materiality analysis was conducted prior to the development of the report in order to evaluate how relevant various sustainability issues are from the viewpoints of different stakeholder groups as well as from the corporate perspective of Heidelberg Cement. Therefore, 57 of the most important stakeholders from different countries have been asked for their opinion. 26 of them participated in the survey, these included suppliers, investors, scientists and representatives of authorities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). For the internal evaluation around 50 representatives of relevant business lines from all Group areas were interviewed in the same way. The results were discussed internally and are reflected in the materiality matrix of the Sustainability Report.
CONTACT
HeidelbergCement AG
Berliner Strasse 6
69120 Heidelberg/Germany
