[CemExec] Howard Klee, WBCSD (Part 1 of 2)

CW:  Please describe the objectives of WBCSD for the cement industry, its history, objectives and how far towards your objectives you have progressed.

HK: The overall focus of the WBCSD is to help our member companies understand and manage the challenging environmental and social aspects that go along with being a successful business today.  The Cement Sustainability Initiative is one of several industry sector-based projects that the WBCSD has managed in the last dozen years.  They have covered forest products (still very active), electric utilities (also active), mobility, mining and minerals, etc.  The cement program is probably the longest running of these.  These programs are initiated by the companies and the work agenda is set by them.  In the early years of the cement program we focused on identifying key sustainability issues the industry would be facing in the next twenty years, tried to assess the then current performance on these issues, and identify what might be done to help make the industry more sustainable going forward.  We also developed a set of key performance indicators that could be used to track future performance, and the companies all agreed to report on these indicators.  The program has always had a long-term focus.

In the next phase, the company CEOs reviewed the results of our early work, and made a set of commitments to address key issues, both as individual companies and as a group sharing a common purpose.  These included items such as employee safety, quarry restoration practices, emissions, climate change, alternative fuels, and communications.  We set out a series of objectives in each area, and have been following through to meet them.

I want to emphasize that the bulk of the work done with and by the CSI is done by the member companies who participate in a number of separate task forces.  Over the years we have had the direct involvement of more than 100 company representatives in various aspects of the CSI work program.

We quickly moved our focus from identifying problems during the research phase to building solutions.  For example, we are developing better training materials to improve driver safety (where 50% or more of the industry's accidents take place) and contractor management.  We established guidelines on the responsible use of fuels and materials.  We have devoted a good deal of time to addressing climate change.  Collectively, we have built tools to help manage data and analyze policies such as the CO2 monitoring and reporting protocol, so that all companies measure and report emissions on a consistent basis. Individual companies have set their own greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.