Cemex gets ready to roll out its ‘Water Project’

Cemex announced on 11 December that it has developed a methodology to standardise water measurement and management across all of the company’s operations.

Starting this year, this methodology will be rolled out worldwide to all of the Cemex’s business interests in order to minimise the company’s water footprint and increase its water efficiency.

The ‘Water Project’ is the result of a three-year partnership between Cemex and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the improvement and efficiency of water management in the cement, ready-mix concrete, and aggregates sectors of the building materials industry.

The rollout will begin in 2013 and will initially focus on measuring the company’s water footprint. The second phase of the project will focus on defining actions to increase the company’s water efficiency and reduce its water usage. Initial data collection yielded by the last three years of cooperation between the two bodies has already yielded important findings.

As water-stressed regions are predicted to expand and increase, so does the level of risk faced by businesses reliant on water. Water is an important natural asset for Cemex’s businesses worldwide, and accordingly, sharing available water resources equitably among all stakeholders – including ecosystems – and reducing risk for business operators are key components of the Cemex-IUCN partnership.

The company’s Senior Vice President of Energy and Sustainability, Luis Farias, said, “Under existing climate change scenarios, it is predicted that almost half of the world’s population will live in areas of high water stress by 2030. Therefore, it is our responsibility to ensure that efficient water management plays an important role in our business. Partnering with IUCN helps our company to reduce risk, be good stewards of our environment and ensure that we provide the greatest value for our stakeholders.”

IUCN Water Programme coordinator, Dr James Dalton, also commented on the rollout, saying, “Water is a resource for which there is no substitute. Without adequate supplies of water, not only do businesses face serious risks, but so too, do public water providers and ecosystems.”

At a well-attended one-day conference, the Cemex-IUCN ‘Water Project’ was presented to members of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. Key environmental NGOs, trade associations, environmental think tanks, ambassadors from several nations, and other important stakeholders were all in attendance.

Adapted from press release by Jack Davidson.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/11012013/cemex_iucn_water_project_rollout_827/