Thousands of companies make annual disclosures through CDP’s climate change, forests and water security questionnaires at the request of investors and corporate buyers.
LafargeHolcim – parent company of Aggregate Industries – has been scored in relation to water:
In addition, we received a score of A- in the @CDP ranking for water, which places the Group in the CDP’s Leadership band. This score recognizes LafargeHolcim's implementation of current best practices with regards to water performance and transparency.https://t.co/4WRg2sRWmY pic.twitter.com/iGD5FR2tVR
— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) December 8, 2020
Isn’t that brilliant? But what’s the reality?
Because when it comes to Aggregate Industries, LafargeHolcim’s UK subsidiary, and Straitgate Farm, things seem far from transparent in relation to water.
Even after all these years, Aggregate Industries still won’t come clean on the accuracy of the modelled maximum water table – the base of any quarry at Straitgate – despite repeated interventions by the Environment Agency.
And Aggregate Industries put a stop to public scrutiny of groundwater data after members of the public pointed out that the company’s supposedly very-carefully-crafted model of the maximum water table had been exceeded in four areas by up to 1.6 metres.
Was that block to transparency a one-off? Seemingly not. It's apparently company policy:
The change in the sharing of data has come about following a review of our practice in this area and is now in-line with company policy.
So much for water transparency.
