Sustainability Ambitions

Sustainable development is not a new priority for the Lafarge Group. It is an integral part of its vision and day-to-day activities. The Sustainability Ambitions 2012 roadmap reaffirms the Group's three main commitments and highlights new challenges with regard to:

• climate change
• health and safety
• protection of the environment and biodiversity

The ambitions were introduced for all divisions to ensure that there are tangible objectives and targets in place. Lafarge North America is focused on making its own contributions to ensure that the Group can achieve its sustainable development goals.

Sustainable development

The World Commission on Environment and Development defines sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

Sustainable development aims to reconcile 3 major stakes:

• economic performance,
• the social consequences of a company's actions (with regard to employees, suppliers, customers and the local community),
• environmental aspects (achieving a balance between a company's activities and the preservation of ecosystems).

To learn more about Lafarge and some of our sustainability actions and commitments, please view the Sustainability Report 2009.

Lafarge North America is committed to being a leader in sustainability. Our goals include preserving natural resources, limiting the amount of waste we produce in our plants, protecting and improving the quality of life for plant and animal species around our plants and rehabilitating our quarries. For Lafarge, sustainability influences the products we produce and the way that we produce those products. The Palatka, Florida Drywall Plant is using synthetic gypsum to make drywall in order to help preserve a natural resource. Several of our facilities, including the Bath, Ontario Cement Plant are experimenting with alternative fuels in order to lower the amount of coal used at our plants.

Over the past several years, Lafarge North America has been recognized in North America by the Wildlife Habitat Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Stone & Gravel Association, in additional to many other organizations for our work in protecting the environment.

Lafarge makes a large contribution to the communities local to many of its North American operations. The products it manufactures are made close to where they will be used, ensuring they are adapted to the requirements of local customers and markets and reducing long-haul transportation of heavy goods. Its operations provide skilled jobs and contributions to the local economy through taxes, use of local sub-contractors and community partnerships.

Within the United States, our business involves transportation and construction projects across the country, rebuilding infrastructure and working closely with state and federal transportation agencies to meet their needs, and the needs of the communities they serve. Lafarge is committed to remaining engaged on key transportation policy initiatives, ensuring that federal resources are allocated effectively, and working to partner with the public sector to complete critical construction and rehabilitation projects. We encourage our employees and executives to be active in their communities, and express their opinion on policy issues of key importance to our company. Lafarge publicly discloses its lobbying activities under the Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act, and in any states where we are required to register and disclose our activities. We routinely review and update our internal policies.  

If you have specific inquiries or questions, please feel free to contact us.

Lafarge is convinced that sustained economic growth cannot occur without social progress and environmental protection. Only by taking account economic, social and environmental challenges can the long-term success of Lafarge's operations be guaranteed.

Every year since 2005, Lafarge has ranked among the 100 best-performing multinationals in terms of sustainable development according to the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" study organized by Corporate Knights Inc.