Cancun, Mexico: DNV has verified the carbon footprint of building products in an initiative with CEMEX.
During COP16 in Cancun, Mexico, CEMEX and DNV announced the completion of a carbon footprint certification project. The new footprint tool allows for measurment of greenhouse gas emissions of CEMEX’s cement, ready-mix and aggregates products - from raw material sourcing to product manufacturing. Developers and others in the building industry can now procure environmentally certified building products which will assist them in calcualtin the impact of raw materials in their construction projects – helping them to make greener choices.
Voluntary reductions and efforts which are additional to the existing flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol need an external and independent review to verify the credibility of the calculations. During the last four months, a team of DNV experts verified the carbon footprint in nine CEMEX sites located in its operationsin Europe, Mexico and the United States.
“This independent assessment provides confidence to CEMEXs stakeholders regarding its greenhouse gas accounting systems and contributes to a transparent communication to the market,” says Thomas Vogth-Eriksen, Chief Executive Officer in DNV Business Assurance.
“To ensure a sound methodology all greenhouse gases have been taken into consideration, with a cradle to gate approach, in accordance with the main rules and international standards and protocols issued by ISO, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development & theWorld Research Insitute,” says Juan Andrés Salido, Sustainability Services Manager for DNV Business Assurance in Spain.
Calculation and certification approaches such the cradle to gate within the Life Cycle Assessment methods, are a powerful tools for having a better understanding of internal processes in terms of energy efficiency and climate change impact. The verification approach is totally aligned with the customer’s focus areas and let the customer identify improvement opportunities.
A sustainability journey
This pioneering initiaitve is part of CEMEX’s efforts to promote sustainable construction products and solutions. “With our carbon footprint tool, we provide two important contributions to sustainable construction. First, we increase transparency in the carbon content in our products to empower our customers to make informed choices, and second, we can better identify key opportunities in our production processes to further improve, and report, the environmental performance of our products,” said Ignacio Madridejos, President for Cemex Western Europe , and leader of a CEMEX task force on sustainable construction.
Date: 16 December 2010