About Us
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Investor Center
1Q 2012 Earnings Report Live Video Webcast Thursday, April 26, 2012, 10:00 AM ET. More

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Careers
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Sustainable Development
We have identified 7 areas of the highest concern to our company and our stakeholders. More

Browse more than 40 cases illustrating CEMEX sustainability projects and initiatives. More

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Suppliers
CEMEX’s success depends on supplier relationships that are built on trust and mutual benefit. More

Our objective is to ensure the promotion and recognition of sustainable practices across our suppliers. More

Sustainable Development

Land Management & Biodiversity

Our commitment to effective land management and biodiversity conservation is longstanding. We work diligently to responsibly manage the land within and around our operations to protect biodiversity and maximize our contribution to nature conservation. Because the opening, operation, and closing of our cement and aggregates sites, in particular, can potentially affect biodiversity, we work constantly to minimize their potential impacts. These can include habitat degradation, species disturbance, changes in groundwater levels, discharges to water bodies, and dust emissions.

We recognize that our access to raw materials and our ability to operate in a given locale depends to a large extent on our ability to effectively manage our land impacts and protect the biodiversity of the area. However, we also believe that our operations, especially cement and aggregates, can have positive impacts and actually contribute to biodiversity conservation. For instance, quarries provide valuable habitats for some protected species through site rehabilitation, but also during the operating period.

We have quarry rehabilitation plans in most of our operations and many examples of successful rehabilitation projects focused on biodiversity conservation. We also benefit from longstanding relationships with conservation organizations in various countries in Europe, the USA, and Mexico, among others. For example, to enhance our performance, in 2007 we signed a 10-year agreement with BirdLife International, one of the world's most important conservation organizations, building on our existing relationship with the organization in Europe dating back to 2003. This partnership is an important aspect of our biodiversity management strategy and includes two important tools:

Biodiversity scoping study. We have conducted a biodiversity scoping study that maps all of our cement and aggregates sites worldwide and assesses their proximity to areas of importance to biodiversity. The biodiversity scoping study provides our operational managers with useful tools to better understand the biodiversity context in which they operate and highlights those facilities that overlap with important biodiversity areas. Moving forward, we will establish priorities among the subset of overlapping sites, ensuring that the appropriate level of biodiversity management is in place, and developing collaborative on-ground works targeted to the development of operational best practices and effective site-based conservation.

Biodiversity database. We maintain an online database of information on the biodiversity management practices of each cement and aggregates site worldwide. It contains site descriptions and information regarding biodiversity attributes of each site, relationships with stakeholders, and site management. The database is useful in calculating biodiversity KPIs, measuring the company's biodiversity performance, identifying best practices, developing management standards, and supporting continuous improvement.

We also actively contribute to several working groups related to local biodiversity impacts and the cement industry. Among these is the WBCSD Ecosystem Focus Area, which concentrates on exploring mechanisms and developing tools to support business decisions on biodiversity management, and the CSI Task Force 5—Biodiversity Working Group, which has as its main objectives to establish standards and performance indicators for biodiversity management for the industry and to promote members' best practices.

More about our conservation efforts