Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
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NEWS SCOPE PRODUCERS Carbon footprint calculator helps Cemex advance sustainability goals Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. of Mexico announced recently significant progress in key indica- tors related to sustainable construction, the company's carbon strategy, environ- mental and biodiversity management, workplace safety and its contribution to provide affordable housing and infrastruc- ture to communities around the world. "We are proud to have reached an alter- native fuels substitution rate of close to 25 percent in our cement operations in 2011, on track to achieve a rate of 35 percent by 2015," said Lorenzo Zambrano, chairman and CEO of Cemex. In addition to gains realized in cement milling, the company cites these factors in North American and oversees businesses as contributing to its sustainability goals: • Cemex expanded the coverage of its car- bon footprint tool—the first of its kind in the building materials industry—that allows measuring greenhouse gas emis- sions of its cement, ready-mixed con- crete and aggregates products. Introduced in 2010, the Cemex CO2 Footprint Tool has now been adopted by 88 percent of its total facilities; SUSTAINABILITY SEAL Products and services in the Cemex building solutions portfolio with out- standing sustainability performance will carry a green- and blue-lettered seal, "ecoperating." Earmarked for 2012-13 roll out in European and Latin American businesses, it was developed through a rigorous internal process that measures the environmental or social impact of a wide range of value propo- sitions—from low (embodied) carbon dioxide cement and concrete products or paperless invoicing services, to con- struction solutions like concrete pave- ments with smart LED lighting or affordable-housing initiatives. • The company increased the percentage of continuous monitoring of major emis- sions (dust, NOx and SOx) of its total ce- ment production from 74 to 80 percent, allowing it to minimize those emissions; • An integral part of Cemex's sustainabil- ity commitment is the continuing, com- pany-wide effort to improve workplace and community safety. In 2011, CEMEX achieved a 12 percent reduction in its employee lost-time incident rate to 2.3 incidents/million hours worked; and, • The company also completed 188 con- crete pavement infrastructure projects for highways, mass transit projects, air- port runways and city streets. Among the most relevant criteria for a product or service to qualify for the ecoperating seal are sustainable at- tributes, like thermal insulation, use of recycled raw material and contribu- tion to carbon footprint reduction. JULY 2012 | 17