Tuesday 11 August 2020

Concrete Sustainability Council – who’s behind it?

There's no such thing as sustainable concrete. Nevertheless, claims of sustainability are coming out all over the concrete giants these days like a bad rash – no doubt in reaction to pressure from institutional investors, not from any radical change in modus operandi:

The shareholders, which oversee $2tn in assets, have sent letters to the chairmen of CRH, LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement and Saint-Gobain, outlining the measures they expect companies to take in response to the growing risks of climate change.

The industry is struggling with the fact that many primarily institutional investors are turning away from companies that are active in energy-intensive business areas.


Only yesterday:

Funds that invest according to environmental, social and governance principles attracted net inflows of $71.1bn globally between April and June this year, pushing assets under management in the products to a new high of just over $1tn, according to Morningstar.
But growing public awareness of the climate crisis is turbocharging sales of ESG funds. The disruption caused by Covid-19 has accelerated the sector’s growth as investors look for sustainable business models that can withstand market shocks.
In the UK, LafargeHolcim – the largest cement giant of them all – operates through subsidiary Aggregate Industries. The company's latest claim of sustainability reads:


Achieving this certification further highlights our commitment to sustainability and it is great recognition of the work done by the teams at Aggregate Industries. The Gold Standard is only awarded to companies who want to use the planet’s resources with care, which is why this is very important to us as a company, as sustainability is one of our core values.
Which is odd, because there’s no sign of any Gold Standard with Aggregate Industries’ plans to quarry Straitgate Farm. A 2.5 million mile haulage scheme – with 23 miles separating proposed quarry face and processing plant – is not a sign of a company wanting to "use the planet’s resources with care".

Be that as it may, Aggregate Industries' PR machine pumped the Glensanda story far and wide:
But wow. A Gold Certificate. First in the UK 🏆. That must surely be worth something. But who is the Concrete Sustainability Council? Aggregate Industries says:
The CSC was formed in 2016 with the aim of creating a global certification system to show that a company is sourcing cement and concrete in an environmentally, socially and economically responsible way. By creating a certification system for responsibly sourced concrete, the CSC promotes and demonstrates concrete as a sustainable building material to enable informed decisions in construction.
So no clues there. Run by who?

Look them up on Twitter and you find @CSC_Concrete has a modest 386 followers at the time of writing. You also find they have been handing out quite a few Gold Certificates recently:



Visit the Concrete Sustainability Council website, and you'll find this video:



Apparently, operators can apply to the CSC if they want "verifiable proof that you operate sustainably". Verifiable? Hmm. The video says "clearly there are many reasons why you should investigate CSC certification". It would seem churlish not to. The CSC website says:
Concrete industry partners from Europe, USA, Latin America and Asia initiated the development of a global responsible sourcing certification system, designed to help concrete, cement and aggregate companies obtain insight in the level to which a company operates in an environmentally, socially and economically responsible way.
Concrete is the world’s most widely used building material. By creating a certification system for responsibly sourced concrete, the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC) promotes and demonstrates concrete as a sustainable building material to enable informed decision in construction. It is our vision to build a sustainable, safe, durable and comfortable future.
A future that presumably covers the world with concrete. But who is behind CSC? Is it independent? If Aggregate Industries is awarded a Gold Certificate can it be trusted?

A quick glance at its members – LafargeHolcim, CRH, CEMEX, HeidelbergCement et al. – looks like the the Concrete Sustainability Council is being run by the concrete industry for the concrete industry.


The CSC annual report tells us more. Let's look at the section on "Impartiality":
The CSC has a broad range of internal stakeholders comprising concrete, cement and aggregate producers, industry associations, and CBs. Impartiality is ensured by the organization’s Governance, namely
a General Assembly (GA) with equal voting rights for all members;
the setup of the Executive Committee (ExCo) ensures appropriate representation of all internal stakeholders;
the CSC Advisory Committee providing the direct voice of social and environmental stakeholder organizations;
a dedicated grievance management procedure.
If "impartiality is ensured by the organization’s Governance", let's look at governance. The CSC annual report tells us that "the transparent and straightforward decision process is at the responsibility of the CSC’s executive committee." Here is CSC's Executive Committee; Michael Scharpf from LafargeHolcim is Vice-Chair:


But what about the certification process? That's the responsibility of CSC's Technical Committee; Michael Scharpf from LafargeHolcim is Chair.


OK. But surely CSC's Advisory Committee, "providing the direct voice of social and environmental stakeholder", is free from the hand of LafargeHolcim? You would hope so, but no.


Guillaume Habert is Professor of Sustainable Construction at ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. It is a position funded by LafargeHolcim.

In fact, it turns out the parent company of Aggregate Industries "is proud to be one of the founding members of the CSC":
Member companies of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) and global concrete associations have joined forces to form a unique industry alliance. Its purpose is to develop and operate a certification scheme for the concrete and cement sector. As a result, the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC) was recently launched in Geneva. LafargeHolcim is proud to be one of the founding members of the CSC.
So, how much is a Gold Certificate worth, when you award one to yourself?
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