LafargeHolcim joins World Ocean Council to scale up action for sustainable marine ecosystems

Magali Anderson, Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer: “I am extremely proud to formalise our commitment to sustainable ocean stewardship by joining the World Ocean Council. Working with the Council’s members, we expect to scale up our actions to preserve our oceans.”

Paul Holtus, CEO of the WOC: “We are very pleased and honoured to welcome LafargeHolcim as a member of the World Ocean Council along with other visionary organisations concerned with the health of the global ocean. LafargeHolcim’s focus on driving sustainability with innovation will make a great contribution to the work of the WOC.”

LafargeHolcim has innovated to promote sustainable oceans for decades. A recent example is the global deployment of its bioactive patented bilayer concrete that helps rehabilitate coastal ecosystems. This bioactive concrete has been in place for over three years in the Parc des Calanques near Marseilles (FR), where it contributed to a four-fold increase in marine species. Building on this success, bioactive solutions are being installed in other coastal environments in the Pacific, Caribbean and the Persian Gulf in partnership with EGIS/Seaboost. This work was recently recognised by the Solar Impulse Foundation, which awarded LafargeHolcim’s bioactive concrete its ‘Efficient Solution’ label.

LafargeHolcim plays a key role in developing coastal protection solutions. For example, the company is contributing to the renovation of the Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands, a 32-kilometer long dyke that is key to the country's sea defense infrastructure. Specially developed precast blocks will cover around 700 000 m² of the dyke, protecting it from strong waves and rising water levels. In addition, LafargeHolcim is part of over 30 international sustainable port infrastructure projects in over 25 countries including Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Madagascar, France and the UK.

LafargeHolcim is also actively engaged in preventing marine litter from reaching the oceans, notably through its waste management company, Geocycle. Geocycle India has recently installed the Bubble Barrier in the Yamuna River in the city of Agra. This non-invasive technology removes plastic waste from rivers, which are the source of most of the plastic that reaches the oceans.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/08062021/lafargeholcim-joins-world-ocean-council-to-scale-up-action-for-sustainable-marine-ecosystems/