Excellent Products and Environmental Excellence
- St Marys actively participates in the development and creation of responsible environmental laws, regulations and policies.
- The company addresses environmental concerns and promotes environmental awareness through focused employee training, procedures and programs. Employees are encouraged to commit to continuous improvement in environmental performance.
- Environmental professionals are employed to guide and support the company in its activities and environmental performance.
Seeking environmental equilibrium and eco-efficiency through responsible resource use, education and awareness raising, and the dissemination of knowledge and best practices, St Marys Cement is prioritizing the following fronts:
- Energy – optimization and encouragement of renewable usage
- Water – reduced consumption, rational usage, recycling, source and disposal tracking
- Emissions – monitoring of current conditions and technological evolution to reduce emissions
- Materials – technological evolution to reduce the use of materials and generation of waste, assuring the feasibility of recycling
- Biodiversity – conservation of biodiversity in areas where we operate
- Processes – sustainable solutions, products and services at the lowest cost, with the highest possible economic and environmental efficiency, and with innovation as a basis for inspiration and differentiation
- Operations – world-class standards and best practices in sustainability as goals to adjust existing operations and guidelines for new investments
In 1999, ten of the world’s largest cement companies, including Votorantim Cimentos, came together to form the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI), a group created to promote the sustainable development of the cement industry. The CSI was developed in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), an organization that promotes sustainability in business in 30 countries. Of all the industrial sectors affiliated with the WBCSD, the cement industry was the first to adopt of its own accord a series of initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions through joint and individual activities. Three years after its creation, the group launched the Agenda for Action, which outlined the industry’s targets and commitments to compensate for and mitigate its impact on the environment.
The action plan established a 20-year timeframe for the fulfillment of the objectives established in 2002, with 5-yearly progress reports on the agreed initiatives, though some activities, such as the monitoring and reduction of CO2 emissions, will be reported annually. One of the commitments assumed by CSI member companies was to report their individual results in 2006.
One of CSI’s core proposals is to disseminate the best practices of each of its signatories. Besides the 10 founders, 15 new members entered the movement in recent years. Collectively, these companies represent about 30% of the world's cement production and range in size from multinational corporations to small local producers.
