Cement Sector Growing Through Sustainable Development Goals
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)’s Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) held its 11th Annual forum in New Delhi on September 27. It celebrated how, through sharing knowledge and experience, the private sector can capture and build on the opportunities offered by the SDGs and understand the risks of inaction.
The annual CSI Forum is the most important sustainability event for the cement industry. It is organized in a different location every year over the past decade; the CSI Forum allows its members to interact with partners and key stakeholders and also gives voice to local and regional participants. This year’s Forum was hosted by two of the leading Indian CSI members: Dalmia Bharat Cement and UltraTech Cement, in partnership with other Indian and global CSI members and the Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA) of India.
This year’s theme focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with an emphasis on areas that are most relevant and critical for the cement and concrete sectors. 193 UN Member States adopted the SDGs in September 2015. As a consequence to this, a multitude of public and private stakeholders have been harnessing their collective strength to accelerate and scale-up their sustainability agenda. The SDGs constitute a bold plan to address socio-economic, environment and societal challenges of our time.
The scale and ambition of the 2030 development agenda create further opportunities for the private sector to demonstrate the central role it plays in sustainable development. The private sector serves as an essential partner in bridging the gap in financial and technological capacity necessary to meet the challenges of achieving the SDGs.
Through open and constructive debates, the Forum examined and evaluated the new framework set up by the SDGs to tackle the sustainability challenges that businesses and societies must face together. On the basis of a risk and opportunity assessment, the Forum also explored areas where the cement and concrete industry could take leading steps to engage with the SDGs. Together, over 100 participants from more than 30 countries, representing cement companies, trade associations, UN agencies, NGOs, financial institutions and multilateral bodies, considered opportunities for collective action by CSI members and for partnerships.
Mr Philippe Fonta, Managing Director, WBCSD, commented “The SDGs provide a structured framework to further enhance the good work that has already been done by the cement sector, mainly through the CSI collaborative approach. CSI members are leading the way in sustainability by seizing the opportunities that collaboration creates. All 17 SDGs are addressed in some way, by the sector right across the value chain, and the development of an SDG Framework will help to coordinate the effort.”
Mr KK Maheshwari, Managing Director, UltraTech Cement, spoke about the interface of the Indian cement industry with the SDGs “The cement industry in India constitutes one of the core sectors and plays a vital role in the growth and development of the nation. The Indian cement industry is driving thought and practice leadership in the sustainability space. It is imperative for the industry to accelerate the implementation of our sustainability commitments.”
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