Caring for the Environment

Lafarge combines its skills and technical resources with the expertise of others for greater effectiveness in the environmental control field:

• Lafarge was the first industrial group to enter into a worldwide partnership with the environmental protection organisation, WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature).  In South Africa, Lafarge is an integral part of the parent company’s worldwide environmental conservation programme.
• Lafarge is a founding member of CSI (Cement Sustainability Initiative) which actively promotes responsible management and the worldwide reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by the industry
• Lafarge is co-chair of the “Energy Efficiency in Buildings” Project, which works towards the objective of zero net energy use in buildings
• All Lafarge quarries are required to carry out regular environmental audits and develop rehabilitation programmes that comply with the Group’s rigorous standards, as well as the requirements of the Department of Minerals and Energy
• In South Africa, Lafarge and NPC-Cimpor have formed a joint venture, ECO2, to develop alternative fuels and energy from wastes in a professional and sustainable manner.

Mr. Bruno Lafont, Chairman and CEO of Lafarge, and James P. Leape, Director-General of WWF

International, have announced the renewal of the partnership between Lafarge and WWF International

for another four years. This new phase of the partnership will see a continuation of the work carried

out by Lafarge and the non-governmental organization since 2000.

In 2000, Lafarge was the first industrial player to become a WWF ‘Conservation Partner' by signing a

five-year global partnership, first renewed in 2005. Through this ongoing partnership, WWF

International and Lafarge formalized their will to work together on the reduction of the environmental

footprint in the construction materials sector.

Working areas for an effective partnership

Lafarge and WWF International have jointly identified key areas where they intend to get firm

commitments from the Group:

• Climate change: to pursue the program of CO2 emission reductions based on the targets defined in 2001 with WWF International;
• Persistent pollutants: to improve monitoring and reporting practices within the Group and to take action to reduce persistent pollutants emissions;
• Water consumption: to improve Lafarge's understanding of its water consumption and define concrete action plans to reduce it;
• Biodiversity: to apply on a number of sites the biodiversity indicator and the management system for rehabilitation of quarries that were developed in the previous phases;
• Sustainable construction: to promote sustainable construction products and systems all along the building construction chain.