Aggregate Industries’ parent: the cement company that paid millions to ISIS

As far back as 2016, we have been writing about how Aggregate Industries' parent company Holcim – previously known as LafargeHolcim, a conglomerate formed by the merger of Swiss-based Holcim and French-based Lafarge – was accused of financing terrorism in Syria. 

The case is now tied up in the French courts, as we posted earlier this year. 

This week, The Guardian published this story:

 

For the @gdnlongread, I wrote about the French cement giant Lafarge, which decided, back in 2013-14, that it was a good idea to pay ISIS millions of dollars so that it could keep making and selling cement in Syria.

You read that right.

A short 🧵:https://t.co/HEOiyLmBQu

— Samanth Subramanian (@samanth_s) September 17, 2024

If an ongoing criminal case in France convicts Lafarge of crimes against humanity, it would be huge: the first time a firm anywhere has been found guilty on this front.

The factory is no more; it was bombed by Turkey earlier this year. [6] pic.twitter.com/PInBiOWvP9

— Samanth Subramanian (@samanth_s) September 17, 2024

AI’s parent can be charged with ‘complicity in crimes against humanity’

Aggregate Industries' parent company Holcim – previously known as LafargeHolcim, a conglomerate formed by the merger of Swiss-based Holcim and French-based Lafarge – is accused of financing terrorism in Syria, as we have previously posted. 

The company had argued that French authorities had no formal jurisdiction for prosecuting charges of war crime involvement abroad, an argument that was this week rejected:

PARIS, Jan 16 (Reuters) - France's highest court on Tuesday rejected a request from French cement maker Lafarge that it dismiss charges of complicity in crimes against humanity as part of an enquiry into how the group kept its factory running in Syria after war broke out in 2011. The procedural ruling, which upheld an earlier decision by a lower court, is not a verdict on guilt. But it means a multi-year investigation into the company's criminal liability on the grounds of alleged, highly symbolic crimes against humanity charges can continue.

Big decision today in France regarding the #Lafarge (@Holcim) case: "Lafarge remains charged with complicity in crimes against humanity, financing a terrorist organization and violating an embargo with Syria." https://t.co/xBlbTkWXO0

— León Castellanos Jankiewicz (@leoncastjan) January 16, 2024

US families sue Aggregate Industries’ parent company over payments to IS

Last year, Aggregate Industries’ parent company, Holcim, agreed to pay $778 million after its Lafarge subsidiary pleaded guilty to US charges of supporting Islamic State, becoming the first company in American history to be convicted of bribing a foreign terrorist organisation. 

Previous posts covering the company’s involvement in Syria can be found here.  

As we posted earlier this year: 

Holcim – previously LafargeHolcim, the parent company of Aggregate Industries, which was formed after a "merger of equals" in 2015 between Swiss-based Holcim and French-based Lafarge – will be the ultimate beneficiary of the quarry at Straitgate Farm.   

The company changed its name in 2021, no doubt because of a number of controversies. One controversy – Lafarge’s previous support for terrorists in Syria – refuses to go away. 

This week, Reuters announced: 

Relations of a U.S. aid worker and American soldiers - all killed or injured by Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front - have lodged a legal claim against cement maker Lafarge over payments the French company made to extremist groups.

Court documents state: 

Defendants' payments aided the terrorist attacks that targeted plaintiffs and their family members...

Lafarge's support for ISIS and ANF ran deep. It operated a lucrative cement plant in northern Syria, and it decided that bribing Syrian terrorists offered the best way to protect its profits from the plant.

American families of IS victims sue cement maker Lafarge over Syria payments https://t.co/lQoukJQpX8 pic.twitter.com/omTmMFxaDw

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2023

‘The Kalashnikov that killed my son was bought with Lafarge's money’

Holcim – previously LafargeHolcim, the parent company of Aggregate Industries, which was formed after a "merger of equals" in 2015 between Swiss-based Holcim and French-based Lafarge – will be the ultimate beneficiary of the quarry at Straitgate Farm.

 

The company changed its name in 2021, no doubt because of a number of controversies. One controversy – Lafarge’s previous support for terrorists in Syria – refuses to go away.

 

"🇫🇷 intelligence was paying DAESH via LaFarge. This money may have been used in the Paris attacks. The Kalashnikov that killed the French was bought with LaFarge's money."

We are no strangers to the French collaborating with terrorist organizations. Now the PKK?
#LaCorseLibre pic.twitter.com/mCUSP87PDj

— hermes (@hermes_z) January 5, 2023

This sits separate from the French prosecution for complicity in crimes against humanity & any claim to remedies from victims.

What the (otherwise great) article by @rebeccadobrien & @GlennThrush doesn't explain is that these fines will not go to the victims but to @USTreasury

— Tara Van Ho: mastodon: @taravanho@bhre.social (@TaraVanHo) October 18, 2022

Lafarge pleads guilty to US charges of supporting Islamic State

Accusations that Aggregate Industries’ parent company financed terrorism in Syria date back to 2016 – as we have previously posted.

Today, Reuters reports: 

NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - French cement maker Lafarge pleaded guilty on Tuesday to U.S. charges of supporting the Islamic State by keeping a factory running in Syria after conflict broke out in 2011, according to a court hearing. 

The admission in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, is also facing charges of complicity in crimes against humanity in Paris. 

Lafarge agreed to forfeit $687 million and pay a fine of $90 million in its guilty plea.

Breaking News: Lafarge, a French cement company that paid off ISIS to continue operating in Syria, reached a $780 million criminal plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department. https://t.co/CGqwLCwHdl

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 18, 2022

Lafarge Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Foreign Terrorist Organizations @NewYorkFBI https://t.co/JuBdtP4xou pic.twitter.com/dAAVJYgajk

— FBI (@FBI) October 18, 2022

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said: 

In the midst of a civil war, Lafarge made the unthinkable choice to put money into the hands of ISIS, one of the world’s most barbaric terrorist organizations, so that it could continue selling cement. Lafarge did this not merely in exchange for permission to operate its cement plant – which would have been bad enough – but also to leverage its relationship with ISIS for economic advantage, seeking ISIS’s assistance to hurt Lafarge’s competition in exchange for a cut of Lafarge’s sales. Today, Lafarge has admitted and taken responsibility for its staggering crime. Never before has a corporation been charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations. This unprecedented charge and resolution reflect the extraordinary crimes committed and demonstrates that corporations that take actions in contravention of our national security interests in violation of the law will be held to account.

Holcim faces fresh criminal charges for financing terrorism

Aggregate Industries’ parent company Holcim is in the news again for all the wrong reasons.

It’s over the company’s involvement in Syria – a subject we have posted about before. 

France’s top court has rejected the cement giant’s bid to dismiss charges of "complicity in crimes against humanity" for financing terrorism in Syria, overturning a previous ruling. 

The company has been accused of paying millions of euros to Daesh/ISIS to keep its Lafarge operation in Syria running. It is also accused of supplying cement to the terrorist group which "is known to have constructed fortified shelters and tunnel networks against the Coalition powers led by the US." 

In its ruling, the Court of Cassation said: 

In this case, the knowing payment of several million dollars to an organization whose purpose is exclusively criminal is sufficient to characterize the complicity, regardless of whether the concerned party is acting in pursuit of a commercial activity. 

 

BREAKING & SIGNIFICANT: Highest French court just decided cement manufacturer Lafarge CAN be prosecuted for "complicity in crimes against humanity" and "endangering the lives of others" during its activities in Syria. Bravo, @ECCHRBerlin & @Asso_Sherpa https://t.co/uZhhQdLNjV

— Fritz Streiff (@fritz_streiff) September 7, 2021

France – In a ground-breaking judgment rendered today, the French Supreme Court approved the indictments of the French multinational cement company Lafarge for complicity in crimes against humanity & financing of terrorism committed by the ISIS. Read More https://t.co/7cucEkwgDY

— Yazda (@YazdaOrg) September 7, 2021

Today's decision is first and foremost a victory for those affected by illegitimate business practices that put profits before human rights. It is important that big corporate actors are held to account for their wrongdoings so that those affected can finally achieve justice! pic.twitter.com/7npHaakZzg

— ECCHR (@ECCHRBerlin) September 7, 2021

8/ The case continues: the investigating chamber will have to rule again on Lafarge’s #ComplicityInCrimesAgainstHumanity taking into consideration today’s groundbreaking ruling. Stay tuned and contact us for further information.
presse@asso-sherpa.org pic.twitter.com/VEJEuupWP3

— Sherpa (@Asso_Sherpa) September 7, 2021

Earlier this year, the company changed its name from LafargeHolcim to Holcim in an effort no doubt to distance itself from controversy over Syria – as well as over Myanmar, human rights and pollution.

LafargeHolcim’s sustainability rating – the small print

LafargeHolcim – the world’s largest cement producer with CO2 emissions to match – wants to help:

.@POTUS has pledged to cut US emissions by at least 50% by 2030.

We want to help him.#LeadersSummit https://t.co/fFWNKSEDSQ

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) April 23, 2021

Not only that. Now is the time to act.

"Now is the time to act" We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to accelerate sustainable construction by putting climate action at the heart of the world’s recovery. A green recovery means focussing on renovation and modernising infrastructure to build a sustainable future.

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) June 3, 2021

So why on earth do we have the scheme put forward at Straitgate Farm? Is all the talk of wanting to help, of sustainability, of cutting emissions, just that? Talk?

  

"If you don’t put sustainability in the C-suite or at the heart of the decision making, you take the risk that it becomes just a communication exercise, which is not what you want" - our Chief Sustainability & Innovation Officer @AndersonMagali_ is featured in the @WSJ 👇 https://t.co/SVfZmdnjEe

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) June 2, 2021

LafargeHolcim recently solicited an "Opinion on sustainability". Press releases were released. In the world of cement it’s a matter of greenwash, spin, repeat.

We're always proud of good grades, so we're delighted to share that @VigeoEiris has given us its highest ESG rating of A1+! ⭐🍃

👉https://t.co/ZJYmVJjwhi#LafargeHolcimSustainability#BuiltGreen pic.twitter.com/tGamWIhz1D

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) April 26, 2021

LafargeHolcim has obtained an "A1+ Sustainability Rating" from V.E – part of Moody’s ESG Solutions – with "an overall Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) score of 65 out of 100." 

What does it say about ratings – from an organisation that played a part in the subprime mortgage crisis – if companies like LafargeHolcim – with CO2 emissions the size of Venezuela – are awarded "A1+" whilst at the same time plotting such polluting and unsustainable schemes as the one being advanced for Straitgate? V.E says: 

LafargeHolcim appears to pro-actively integrate ESG factors into its strategy and operations. Its approach is supported by many quantified targets and comprehensive commitments. Convincing means and processes address the most material challenges. KPIs mostly follow positive trends. However, the Company's performance is affected by persistent controversies, to which, on average, the Company communicates but does not report sufficient remediation measures.

"Controversies"? This is where we come to the small print. Because for all the back slapping there’s this: 

As of April 20, 2021, Lafarge-Holcim was involved in 24 controversies, seven of which are considered of high (6) or critical (1) severity. - As already mentioned previously in this document, the most severe controversy (considered of critical severity) relates to operations of Lafarge in Syria between 2012 and 2014, where the Company was accused of financing terrorism. This accusation has drawn huge media attention since 2016 and has led the CEO to resign in 2017. In addition, the former CEO and seven former Lafarge executives are still under judicial investigation. In between, LafargeHolcim has taken remediation measures to make sure that similar events will not happen again. - Out of the six high severity controversies, two relate to environmental issues. The first one, which affects biodiversity occurred in 2018 in Indonesia, after a barge delivering coal to the Company's cement plant at Aceh coast spilled around 7000 tonne coals on the beach, damaging marine life and devastating the livelihoods of the community. Even if the Company ensured that all actions were conducted in a timely manner to minimize further environmental impacts, LafargeHolcim merely stated that the responsibility for this incident lied with the company owning the barge. The other controversy relates to dust and VOCs emissions in Nigeria in 2020, which reportedly would deteriorate air quality and expose residents and employees to health problems. On this allegation, the response from the Company was considered proactive since it corrected the local problem with technical adaptations and also developed a new system to better detect further dust emissions. - The other four high severity controversies mainly affect the Company's management of human resources, with also some effects on human rights and community issues. LafargeHolcim has been accused of violating labour rights in Jordan in 2021, and of abrupt termination of work contracts in Philippines in 2019. Also, in October 2020, press sources reported that a court in Florida has accepted a request for damages worth USD 270 million from LafargeHolcim to over 20 parties from Cuba whose land was nationalised to build a cement plant in 2001 by a company that was taken over later by Holcim. Finally, very recently (in March 2021), IndustriALL Global Union reported that the world union council of LafargeHolcim called the company to respect workers' rights, protect jobs, ensure workers' health and safety at work and drastically reduce precarious work. The demand came out of an online meeting where more than 100 participants from 42 countries discussed union strategies to demand an end to LafargeHolcim's "bad labour practices. On average, on these controversies, the Companyeither does not communicate significantly or reports on its position but does not really disclose specific initiatives taken to tackle those local events. - The 17 controversies of significant or minor severity to which the Company is confronted mainly relate to environmental issues (affecting water, energy and climate change, waste management, and local pollution), and human resources (mainly employees' health & safety). A more limited number of such controversies affects the way the Company handles issues related to communities, anti-competition, social standards in the supply chain, audit and internal controls, and fundamental labour rights. Here again, the Company appears to report its position on these cases although it does, in most cases, not sufficiently report on corrective actions addressing these events. Based on the high frequency of controversies observed, as well as on their severity and on the company responsiveness to these events, our assurance on LafargeHolcim's ability to ensure balanced relationships with stakeholders is low.

AI’s conceptual groundwater model is based on a BIG mistake

Aggregate Industries and consultants Wood, previously Amec Foster Wheeler, tell us that Straitgate: 

...is underlain by Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds (BSPB) deposits which form part of the Sherwood Sandstone Principal Aquifer. 

On that we can all agree. It’s the rest that’s a problem. The above consultants have previously argued: 

...recharge reaches the water table in the BSPB through unsaturated thicknesses of between approximately 3 and 10 m within between 1 and 3 days. This is consistent with the conceptual model for relatively rapid recharge occurring in the BSPB (i.e. days rather than weeks or months). 

The problem? It's not days. It’s years. The British Geological Survey Permeability Index says: 

Even in the Sherwood Sandstone... recharge can take several years to reach the water table

Professor Brassington says the same: 

According to Wang et al (2012) the unsaturated zone velocity for the Sherwood Sandstone Group falls in the range 0.6 – 2.3 m/year with a mean of 1.06 m/year (these values were summarized by Chilton and Foster (1991)). The values for unsaturated zone flow rates are several orders of magnitude (three to five) lower than flow velocities in the saturated zone. 

Scientific papers echo this – that for Sherwood Sandstone the flow rate of water percolating through the unsaturated layer is measured in metres per year (m/a), not metres per day:

Isn't this embarrassing? This is something hydrogeologists are supposed to learn about at university as undergraduates, that the water flow in the unsaturated layer above the water table can be many times slower than in the saturated layer below the water table, that percolating water moves more easily through the underlying strata when all of the pores are filled with water (saturated) than when some of the pores are filled with air (unsaturated). In other words, according to BGS again: 

vertical flow under unsaturated conditions will be slower than under similar saturated conditions (often considerably so) 

The ‘unsaturated hydraulic conductivity’ is not a constant but rather a function of the volumetric water content. Hence at low volumetric water contents (e.g. late summer and early autumn) the hydraulic characteristics and behaviour of contrasting lithologies in the unsaturated zone may be quite different to their behaviour in the saturated zone. 

Click on the drawing below for a lesson in water flow in unsaturated soils from the University of California, Davis, or this course from a university in Syria.

 

What difference does all this make? It means that Aggregate Industries' conceptual model of how the groundwater behaves at Straitgate Farm is fundamentally flawed. Removing the unsaturated layer – which is what the company wants to do – would in time permanently change the chemistry of the groundwater, making it forever more acidic for those that have long been dependent on it – be they people, a Grade I listed house with mediaeval fishponds, livestock farms, or wetland habitats in ancient woodland. In relation to the Cadhay spring for example, Prof Brassington says: 

The water takes almost 15 years to make this journey and if all but 1 m of the unsaturated zone is removed this reduces some 50% of the total travel time. 

This reduced period will mean less time for rock/water interaction and will result in a less chemically mature groundwater that is more acidic.

The impact on the travel time also means that the deterioration of the groundwater chemistry will be a permanent change and it will not be possible to reverse it. 

The concern for the 100 people or so who obtain their water supply from these springs is that the water make up will substantially change and a reduction in the pH will mean that the water is too acidic for drinking without treatment and it will dissolve metal pipework and storage tanks. 

So, why have Aggregate Industries’ consultants got something so fundamental so very wrong? Did they make a simple blunder one day and found it difficult to backtrack and say sorry? Was it to stack the argument in favour of their paymaster? Or was it because they need to go back to the classroom?

 

LafargeHolcim to get name change

LafargeHolcim – the parent company of Aggregate Industries – is to get a name change:  

Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim is proposing to simplify its name to Holcim Ltd, the world’s largest cement maker said on Friday, reverting to the name of the dominant partner in the 2015 merger that formed the company. 

The reason given: for "efficiency and impact, while building on the group’s legacy."

Others might think it's to escape from controversy over Syria, Myanmar, human rights and pollution.

LafargeHolcim “is a systematic polluter” says Greenpeace Switzerland

Since 2013, we have posted how the company that would ultimately profit from any quarrying at Straitgate Farm would be the same company accused of pollution and human rights violations, devastating livelihoods of local communities; just click on pollution or human rights labels or posts like:

The terrible human cost of LafargeHolcim’s operations  

LafargeHolcim: “a long history of questionable business practices”  

LafargeHolcim is in trouble again, this time in Indonesia  

UN links LafargeHolcim with atrocities against Rohingya in Myanmar 

LafargeHolcim’s “internal controls have failed again after the Syrian IS scandal” 

‘LafargeHolcim pollutes with impunity’  

Lafarge CEO explains why company polluted river Seine

Last year, research by Greenpeace Switzerland found that LafargeHolcim – the parent company of Aggregate Industries – "is responsible or is expected to take responsibility for at least 122 cases of environmental pollution and human rights violations in 34 different countries."

 

According to the latest report of Greenpeace Schweiz, LafargeHolcim is responsible for 122 cases of environmental pollution and human rights violations in 34 countries. We urgently need a regulation: #climatestrike #pollution #kvi #inimulti https://t.co/cRShqhLYvY

— Yvan Maillard Ardenti (@YvanMaillard) November 4, 2020

Greenpeace’s report is in German, but here’s a Google Translation of one page: 

Number of cases (122) countries (34) Scandals / subject areas
2 Egypt Regulatory Violations
1 Algeria Violation of labor and trade union rights
2 Argentina air pollution
1 Bangladesh Regulatory Violations
1 Benin air pollution
2 Brazil Air pollution, hazardous waste incineration, exceeding emission limits, health hazards, tax evasion, price fixing
43 China air pollution, water pollution, hazardous waste incineration,Noise nuisance, others 1 Costa Rica air pollution
1 Germany Exceeding the emission limit values
3 Ecuador air and water pollution
4 Guinea air pollution, health hazard
14 India air and water pollution, environmental degradation, noise pollution, Hazardous waste incineration, health impairments, regulatory violations, cartel agreements, tax evasion
2 Indonesia environmental degradation, tax evasion
1 Jordan water pollution, health hazard
2 Cameroon air and water pollution, health hazard
2 Kenya air pollution
1 Colombia Incineration of hazardous waste, cartel agreements
3 Lebanon Illegal limestone mining, air and water pollution, Exceeding the emission limit values, bribery
1 Morocco air pollution, health hazard
3 Mexico environmental degradation, hazardous waste incineration, air and water pollution, Health hazard, human rights violation
1 Myanmar human rights violation
7 Nigeria environmental degradation, air, soil and water pollution, exceedance the emission limit values, noise pollution, health hazard
1 Peru air pollution
4 Philippines Illegal hazardous waste incineration, water pollution, violation of labor and trade union rights, regulatory violations, health hazards
2 Romania Illegal hazardous waste incineration, emission limit values exceeded, price fixing
1 Zambia pollution
2 Zimbabwe air pollution
1 Slovenia Exceeding the emission limit values, health hazard
3 Spain Illegal mining, exceeding emission limits, air, soil and Water pollution, cartel agreements
2 South Africa cartel agreements, violation of labor and trade union rights
4 Syria Support for Terrorist Groups, Unfair Business Practices
1 Tanzania environmental degradation, air and soil pollution
2 Uganda air pollution, child labor
1 USA cartel agreements

Matthias Wüthrich, Head of the Corporate Responsibility Campaign for Greenpeace Swiss, said:

The sheer number of proven and probable cases is a scandal in itself. That alone shows that LafargeHolcim is a systematic polluter.  

 

Recherche von @greenpeace_ch: 122 Fälle von #Umweltverschmutzung und #Menschenrechtsverletzungen in 34 Ländern, für die der Schweizer Konzern @LafargeHolcim verantwortlich ist oder Verantwortung übernehmen müsste. Ja zu @konzern_vi ist mehr als notwendig. https://t.co/Qyfr6nXIZ6 pic.twitter.com/XyNXwDMzFJ

— Greenpeace.ch (@greenpeace_ch) November 4, 2020

LafargeHolcim’s ‘internal controls have failed again after the Syrian IS scandal’

Last year, we posted UN links LafargeHolcim with atrocities against Rohingya in Myanmar.

We posted how a UN report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar listed LafargeHolcim – parent company of Aggregate Industries – as having ties to construction companies controlled by the Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw, who now face charges of genocide against the Rohingya people:

Company leadership links between Lafarge, now LafargeHolcim, with Sinminn Cement, a MEHL subsidiary company... The Mission finds that any foreign business activity involving the Tatmadaw and its conglomerates MEHL and MEC poses a high risk of contributing to, or being linked to, violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Our post has recently been attracting high traffic levels, appearing on the first page of this Google search:

Clearly something was going on, and indeed it was.

Last weekend, SonntagsZeitung, a Swiss Sunday newspaper, published Wie LafargeHolcim in Burma am nächsten Skandal vorbeischrammte. Myanmar Now followed, with Swiss cement company backtracks on plans to sell to military cronies. This article pointed to the report by SonntagsZeitung’s journalist Konrad Staehelinhad:

The world’s largest cement producer is liquidating its Myanmar assets and reversing its previously stated intention to sell to its military-linked partners, after reporting in the Swiss press shed light on the possible impact on human rights of the sale.

The reversal comes after a German-language reporter's investigation into LafargeHolcim's liquidation plan #LafargeHolcimhttps://t.co/pAoIFFNwg4

— Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) July 27, 2020

More details can be found in the Myanmar Now article, but here are a few excerpts:

In June, LafargeHolcim said it was selling its shares [in a cement project] to companies owned by two of the project’s investors, Hla Myo and Ye Myint, according to reporting by journalist Konrad Staehelin in the German-language SonntagZeitung newspaper.

Both men are close allies and business partners of the military.

Staehelin, who has previously reported for Frontier Myanmar, wrote that the company likely knew about the potential problems with their partners but only pulled an “emergency brake” on the sale once the issue became public.

“Compared to the company’s intentions expressed in June for the sale, this is a 180-degree turn,” he wrote. “There is no other plausible explanation for this but that LafargeHolcim, confronted with SonntagZeitung’s reporting, switched course.”

“For LafargeHolcim, the liquidation of the Burma business means a write-down of a few million. More serious is the fact that internal controls have failed again after the Syrian IS scandal.”

Eva Mairinger, head of media relations at LafargeHolcim, said the company ceased operations in Myanmar in 2018, and claimed LafargeHolcim – which had previously been involved in funding terrorists in Syria – "takes all necessary measures to ensure we operate according to the highest standards of governance and human rights around the world":

We are now in the process of liquidating the dormant company and do not intend to sell anything.

Justice For Myanmar welcomed LafargeHolcim’s volte-face:

We see that by halting a planned sale to their business partners, who are members of the military cartel, LafargeHolcim is denying a future revenue stream to the Myanmar military, who are war criminals. Justice For Myanmar calls on LafargeHolcim to undertake the liquidation with full transparency and ensure it has no impact on human rights, in accordance with their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights.

The #Myanmar military cartel is hiding links to #Genocide, #WarCrimes & corruption. M.Y. Holding, @LafargeHolcim partner and part of military’s cement mafia, removed reference to an MEHL joint venture from their website. #JusticeForMyanmar kept the evidence. pic.twitter.com/D9fqXZcqbs

— Justice For Myanmar (@JusticeMyanmar) July 27, 2020

.@LafargeHolcim, world's #1 cement corp, made a joint venture in 2014 w/ M.Y. Holding & Aung Myin Thu (AMT). Both were owned by directors of military cement biz. M.Y. also runs a military cement plant & AMT links to Sr Gen Min Aung Hlaing's family. More👉🏼https://t.co/HqwrR6SZG7 pic.twitter.com/OI3JqYJLju

— Justice For Myanmar (@JusticeMyanmar) July 27, 2020

LafargeHolcim ‘performs top in construction materials sector for ESG risk rating’

LafargeHolcim – the world's largest cement producer, and parent company to Aggregate Industries – wants to keep "raising the bar":

“We will keep on raising the bar to further accelerate the transition to sustainable construction," says Chief Sustainability Officer Magali Anderson on our top performance in @Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating.

Building a healthier world together 👇https://t.co/30RtHpkezz pic.twitter.com/aoVpT3uBq9

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) June 1, 2020

The bar to sustainable construction is obviously still quite high for LafargeHolcim, given that the company's carbon emissions amounted to some 148,000,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2019 alone – more than many countries, and, as opposed to further accelerating, still 2% higher than its like-for-like emissions two years earlier.

Despite this cost to our environment and our society, LafargeHolcim is proud; proud that it performs top in a list of industry peers for risks linked to ESG – environmental, social and governance – factors. LafargeHolcim's Chief Sustainability Officer says:

We are very proud of this industry-leading ESG ranking. It positions LafargeHolcim as the number one construction materials company within Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Rating, as well as the very first to rank below 20 in its “low risk” category. We are proud of the results of this assessment and are encouraged to keep on raising the bar to further accelerate the transition to sustainable construction.

If LafargeHolcim – with its country-beating carbon footprint – tops ESG risk rankings, "leading the way in sustainable construction", what does it say about the rest of the industry?

Investors are becoming increasingly concerned about sustainability issues. ESG ratings can be a signal of earnings risk. The company cites analysis performed by Sustainalytics:

Modern investors in public and private markets are demanding ESG data, research, ratings, and solutions in order to make informed, meaningful investing decisions. From climate change to supply-chain practices, the nature of the investment process is evolving and shining a spotlight on demand for stakeholder capitalism. Whether assessing the durability of a company's economic moat or the stability of its credit rating, this is the future of long-term investing.

LafargeHolcim claims:

The Sustainalytics report states that the company is at low risk of experiencing material financial impacts from ESG factors due to its strong management of material ESG issues. The company is especially recognized for its strong corporate governance performance and its improvement across all seven of the material ESG issues and corporate governance factors that were analyzed. According to the report, LafargeHolcim’s strongest areas of ESG risk management are its global business ethics programs, its broad range of sustainable products & services and its responsible use of resources, notably in terms of water management.

Which sounds great, but LafargeHolcim ignores the line from Sustainalytics' overview that recognises:

the company has a moderate level of controversies...

It turns out that "LafargeHolcim has been on Sustainalytics’ radar for several years":

Despite the limited amount of publicly-available information at the time, LafargeHolcim has been on Sustainalytics’ radar for several years through our country involvement research. As part of our newly-developed Human Rights Risk Monitor, we now track company involvement in 14 countries and regions where there is a particularly high risk of companies being complicit in human rights violations. This includes conflict areas, such as Syria, but also disputed territories and authoritarian states where human rights abuses are rife.

LafargeHolcim would point to progress in this area:

LafargeHolcim CEO endorses worldwide initiative to promote human rights by joining the Call to Action for Business Leadership on Human Rights by @wbcsd. https://t.co/dYTGpCr2ln#mediarelease pic.twitter.com/dfhZRwOi56

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) February 19, 2020

I hope that by giving my personal commitment to this Call to Action we can highlight the importance of this topic for LafargeHolcim. We have always strived to be a valued member of the communities where we live and work and a model corporate citizen on a global level. Standing up as a promoter of human rights shall further advance these goals

Some would argue with always, given that not long ago the company was embroiled in this controversy:

LafargeHolcim admits to ‘unacceptable’ activity in Syria https://t.co/GlDxAEYZJy

— Financial Times (@FT) March 2, 2017

LafargeHolcim’s reputation at risk over alleged links with Isis https://t.co/4cgDQsqO4t

— Financial Times (@FT) March 19, 2017

LafargeHolcim CEO to depart in wake of Syria controversy https://t.co/P8JI8usEHv pic.twitter.com/aac53vlyAu

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 24, 2017

Coalition forces torch Lafarge cement plant in Syria

We have previously posted about LafargeHolcim’s involvement in Syria. Executives from the parent company of Aggregate Industries have been accused of financing terrorism. Later this month, the Court of Appeal in Paris will decide whether these charges will be upheld.

Last week, LafargeHolcim’s plant in Syria was in the news again:

Das Problem-Werk von @LafargeHolcim in Syrien ist Geschichte... https://t.co/tPHPwJJsok

— Marc Iseli (@MarcIseli) October 18, 2019

France set fire to the Lafarge Cement Factory in Jalabiyeh on the Turkish border, before the arrival of the #SSA in the area. Thus, the traces of a secret operation of importance have literally gone up in smoke. The factory supplied jihadists with cement!https://t.co/h7vACvSowM

— Mats ☮ Nilsson (@mazzenilsson) October 18, 2019

#Erdogan accuses #France of helping terrorist group against #Turkey, gives @LafargeHolcim ops in #Syria as a proof on how French cement firm LaFarge helped #YPG build over 90 km long tunnels. pic.twitter.com/GFReuhhUuZ

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) October 16, 2019

UN links LafargeHolcim with atrocities against Rohingya in Myanmar

With executives currently facing "charges of financing terrorism and crimes against humanity" in Syria, LafargeHolcim has become linked to another human rights issue: the atrocities by Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, against the Rohingya people in 2017.

The latest report by UN Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar finds a #LafargeHolcim subsidiary has commercial ties to the major holding companies which play a role in the atrocities against the Rohingya. #BizHR #internationalcrimes https://t.co/g8iF0RjDpG pic.twitter.com/w5ZhuHhYiC

— Nina Burri (@BurriBurn) August 5, 2019

We’ve previously posted about The terrible human cost of LafargeHolcim’s operations and Holcim and human rights.

The military abuses against the Rohingya people "undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law". As this article tells:

The violence, which the UN described as ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, included the killing of thousands of people, the rape of women and children and the razing of villages. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled across the border to Bangladesh.

It is thought that more than 24,000 Rohingya people have been killed. The UNHCR says:

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar. The latest exodus began on 25 August 2017, when violence broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, driving more than 742,000 to seek refuge in Bangladesh. Most arrived in the first three months of the crisis. An estimated 12,000 reached Bangladesh during the first half of 2018. The vast majority reaching Bangladesh are women and children, and more than 40 per cent are under age 12. Many others are elderly people requiring additional aid and protection. They have nothing and need everything.

In the article UN links firms to Rohingya abuse, The Australian newspaper reports:

A new UN report has outed dozens of international and Myanmar companies with business links to the Myanmarese military, as well as states still selling arms to the country, which risked enabling further "gross ­violations of human rights".

Panel chairman Marzuki Darusman said their research had uncovered an "indisputable link" between the Tatmadaw’s vast business activities and its "committing of atrocities".

"What has enabled the ­Tatmadaw to commit these crimes is in fact their business ­relations and activities"

The UN report, by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, lists LafargeHolcim as having commercial ties to construction companies controlled by the Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw.

The Mission concluded that many of these violations amounted to crimes against humanity and included murder; imprisonment; enforced disappearance; torture; rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence; persecution and enslavement.

The Mission named senior generals of the Tatmadaw who should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The Mission was able to identify 15 foreign companies that have joint ventures with Tatmadaw conglomerates… For example, the Mission has documented a commercial partnership between Thilawa Cement and Building Materials Ltd. and Sinminn Cement, a MEHL subsidiary. Thilawa Cement and Building Materials Ltd., according to corporate filings, is listed as being owned by Lafarge, which since 2015 merged into LafargeHolcim, a French-Swiss company and the world’s largest cement manufacturer. According to corporate records, Thilawa Cement and Building Materials Ltd., and SinMinn Cement, the MEHL subsidiary, share board leadership.

The Mission finds that any foreign business activity involving the Tatmadaw and its conglomerates MEHL and MEC poses a high risk of contributing to, or being linked to, violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. At a minimum, these foreign companies are contributing to supporting the Tatmadaw’s financial capacity.

Money earned by the #Myanmar military from business deals “substantially enhances its ability to carry out gross violations of human rights with impunity”, claims an independent UN group.
via @UN_News_Centre https://t.co/ZHDS4ofshW pic.twitter.com/F8QoEzCpGD

— UN Geneva (@UNGeneva) August 6, 2019

The UN report calls for a boycott of Myanmar companies with military links. According to one report, LafargeHolcim "ceased operations in the country in 2018."

@LafargeHolcim soutient du gouvernement birman qui massacre un des peuples les plus oppressés du monde https://t.co/kkloOftWno

— 🕋Mansouri🌍 (@Mansouri69008) August 8, 2019

French court of appeal to rule on LafargeHolcim terrorism charges

Executives from the parent company of Aggregate Industries have been accused of financing terrorism in Syria. We have posted on the subject before.

Global Cement now reports:

The Court of Appeal in Paris will decide on 24 October 2019 whether charges of financing terrorism and crimes against humanity will be upheld.

Gosh, another person behind the Straitgate project moves on

Last year AI lost another CEO. At the time we said:

During the time that AI has been trying to get its act together in East Devon – to gain permission to butcher a successful farm and risk water supplies for more than 100 people for the sake of a relatively small amount of sand and gravel that could only be processed off-site 23 miles away – the company has gone through three CEOs, and will now be looking for its fourth. Is this simply an indication of how long the Straitgate Farm fiasco has been staggering on, or an indication of deeper problems?

The previous year, Aggregate Industries' parent LafargeHolcim also lost its CEO – after he was charged over allegations of colluding with terrorists in Syria; charges that were only dropped last month.

But it’s not just CEOs.

Over the many years that all this has been rumbling on, it’s hardly surprising that some of the players behind the Straitgate 'project' have moved on. We’ve posted about some of them before, here and here:

We suggested "he should have a good look at what his company is trying to get away with at Straitgate Farm". Perhaps he did. Today it’s been announced he’s moving to Breedon.

and here and here:

The Regional Director who had been overseeing the Straitgate project ever since we’ve been involved was replaced last year. At the same time, the Estates Manager responsible for Straitgate also moved to pastures new.

The person at the Environment Agency who knew most about Straitgate – who over the years had been concerned that a minimum safeguard of 1m should be left unquarried above the maximum water table – also left in 2017, having been with the agency some 29 years.

But what is perhaps even more noteworthy is that two of the leading protagonists behind the most contentious and complicated part of the application – hydrogeology – have also both now moved on. One went last year – AI’s head geologist – and the other – a Technical Director at consultants Amec Foster Wheeler (now Wood) – left in February. Dr Tim Haines was the name that has appeared at the bottom of AI’s water reports since 2015. He was also the person who defended AI’s scheme at the last public exhibition – the scheme to dig down to the maximum water table, leaving a 0m unquarried safeguard, even though with only 6 maximum data points across some 55 acres he could only guesstimate where that level might be – telling local people what the chance was they would lose their water supply:

He was explaining how there was a chance, a small chance in his view, 1 in 20 if pushed to put a number on it, that people currently relying on springs and wells for their drinking water would suffer subsequent problems with their supply if AI's quarry plans were to go ahead.

How central were both of these people to AI's plans for Straitgate? Look who championed AI’s madcap seasonal working scheme at this meeting with the EA in 2017:

TH explained it was a composite taken using the maximum levels form 2013-14 at each piezometer and using elevations of springs. Because the extremely wet period of 2013-14 was used the maximum level is higher than one that would be derived if more recent groundwater levels were used and therefore can be considered to be conservative.

In 2018, that prediction – "considered to be conservative" – failed in four locations.

Both of these key players at AI and AFW are no longer with their respective companies. Telling, or just coincidence? Whichever, perhaps their replacements will realise what a lunatic proposal this really is.

AI’s generosity knows no bounds

We’ve posted about Aggregate Industries' troubles at Westleigh Quarry - the problems with dust, the problems with HGVs, the impact on the village of Burlescombe.

Only last month, DCC’s DMC committee spent less than half an hour nodding through an extension giving AI another 600k tonnes at Westleigh – in the face of numerous concerns from local residents.

What do we get this month? A press release from AI crowing:

As part of its commitment to positively contributing to the communities around its sites, Aggregate Industries has gifted three information boards to the residents of Burlescombe...

Residents will be thrilled; a few hundred pounds on marketing boards in return for their all suffering.

But then it’s no more than we should expect from this subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, the Swiss-French cement multinational. Last year, AI – a company with sales in the region of £1,200,000,000 – donated just £37k to the communities it impacts, together with £12k of materials; in other words £0.00004 for every £1 of material sold.

To put that £37k in context, here's what the executives of LafargeHolcim paid themselves in 2017:

Eric Olsen was charged with funding terrorism in Syria.

Lafarge charged with ‘complicity in crimes against humanity’

At the beginning of June, we posted in LafargeHolcim: “a long history of questionable business practices” that it was expected that the company’s French unit would be placed under formal investigation over allegations of financing terrorism in Syria.

Yesterday, LafargeHolcim made the headlines across multiple news channels – including the BBC, The Telegraph, The Guardian, the FT – when it was confirmed:

LafargeHolcim’s French unit was placed under formal investigation in Paris over allegations the cement maker was “complicit in crimes against humanity” — one of the few companies in the world to face such an allegation.

An allegation of complicity in crimes against humanity is extremely unusual, according to lawyers and those involved with the case. 

The Paris-based non-government organisation, Sherpa, said: “This is . . . a decisive step forward in the fight against the impunity of multinationals operating in armed conflict zones. That the courts are finally recognising the scope and seriousness of these allegations is absolutely historic.”

It was announced the company was to be formally investigated by French judges on Thursday over sanctions violations, endangering the lives of others, financing of terrorism and complicity in crimes against humanity.

The former managers under investigation include LafargeHolcim's first chief executive, Eric Olsen.

A panel of three judges in Paris ordered Lafarge to hand over €30m (£27m) to authorities as a security deposit ahead of the trial.

A source close to the inquiry said investigators also suspected that Lafarge sold cement to Isis.

LafargeHolcim is the parent company of Aggregate Industries.

LafargeHolcim: ‘a long history of questionable business practices’

This week, LafargeHolcim’s French unit is expected to be placed under formal investigation in Paris over allegations of financing terrorism in Syria. Under French law, a formal investigation means that prosecutors believe they have "serious or consistent evidence" that could result in prosecution. LafargeHolcim’s former CEO has already been charged. We've posted before on this issue.

Don't expect to see this pumped out of LafargeHolcim’s PR machine. They’re more into this sort of thing:

Moo-ve on over to our #Instagram to find out how we enhance and protect #biodiversity https://t.co/qB2MJPXXkK pic.twitter.com/I2LyconBMp

— LafargeHolcim (@LafargeHolcim) May 18, 2018

But before LafargeHolcim moo-ves on over and destroys a successful dairy farm in East Devon that’s been operating for generations; before it degrades and destroys #biodiversity in the process; before it assumes responsibility for the wellbeing of Cadhay's mediaeval fishponds and ancient woodland –  irreplaceable assets – knowing that accidents happen, here’s a quiz:

Which company has "a long history of environmental violations"?

Which company "worked to weaken restrictions on cement production emissions internationally"?

Which company has been fined $271,010,228 in the US since 2000 – $215,330,873 for environmental violations – according to Violation Tracker "the first [US] search engine on corporate misconduct"?

Which company is this passage referring to:

A 1993 Environmental Protection Agency study reported that people living near cement plants may inhale harmful airborne dioxins, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, thallium, and lead at levels that might cause cancer or other diseases. Such emissions are especially dangerous to children, the elderly and people with heart and lung conditions. 

[You know who] had promised in 1997 that despite the expansion of the Texas plant, new technology would result in cleaner air. It was granted permits to double production. 

But emissions went up, not down. Residents near the plant reported a high incidence of cancer as well as illnesses among farm animals. The pollution affected the entire Dallas-Ft. Worth region. 

Local regulators said the plant had not installed equipment promised in the permit application, made changes that increased air pollution, and then lied in emissions reports for nine years.

Which company was subsequently called a "high priority violator/significant non-complier"?

Which company was fined A$280,000 for damaging Aboriginal rock art, stone arrangements and sacred places – up to 10,000 years old – at a National Heritage site?

Which company allegedly made €1,100 million in windfall profits by obstructing EU climate policy, lobbying for higher carbon emissions trading quotas and then selling off the surplus?

Yep. LafargeHolcim has "a long history of questionable business practices." It is the parent company of Aggregate Industries, and would be the ultimate beneficiary of any quarrying at Straitgate Farm.

Isn’t that good to know?