2012-6-20  Source: WBCSD

Moving on to the second decade of the 21st century, businesses are not only expected to manage their own response to sustainability challenges but also to help society deal with wider issues. From the publication of the CSI's Agenda for Action in 2002, the cement industry has changed significantly and this Report talks about how the CSI has been successful in adding value and making a contribution to sustainable solutions through the development of transparent and commonly agreed methodologies, and by facilitating the sharing of good practices among members.

The Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI), which operates under the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), is launching today its 2012 Progress Report at the Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD) Day in Rio de Janeiro during the Rio+20 Summit.

The CSI addresses the following sustainable development issues, from historical areas of focus, such as climate protection, to new and emerging issues such as water:

• Safety
• Climate protection
• Fuels and raw materials use
• Air emissions
• Local impacts on land and communities
• Water
• Supply chain management
• Sustainability with concrete
• Working with others

Through continuous efforts in the past 10 years, the CSI has established itself as one of the world’s leading sector focused initiatives in terms of understanding, measuring and reporting performance, while embracing a strong compliance culture.

Moving on to the next decade, the challenge now is to maintain this level of focus and rigor on existing activities, and at the same time, address emerging issues such as water and supply chain management. This Progress Report also maps out how the CSI intends to achieve this across the next decade.