Cemex and Tefken to share experience

A collaboration agreement has been signed between Cemex Ventures and Tekfen Ventures to develop synergies to innovate in the construction industry.

Cemex Ventures is the Mexican materials producer’s corporate venture capital unit, while Tekfen Ventures is the investment fund of Tekfen, a Turkish industrial conglomerate working in the construction, agriculture, manufacturing and real estate sectors.

Meanwhile, Cemex has presented its 2018 Integrated Report – Building a Stronger Cemex – which includes a complete analysis of the company’s strategic vision, operational performance, corporate governance and value creation at a global level.

Cemex Ventures and Tekfen Ventures said they were committed to sharing their experience with one goal – fostering innovation in the construction and real estate industries. The two investment funds plan to work to invest in new technologies and innovative solutions to “drive the revolution of an industry as traditional as the construction industry with a global focus”.

The companies said that by giving visibility to startups that they were aware of and might be of interest to the other, Cemex Ventures and Tekfen Ventures would help in the search for and implementation of innovative projects and solutions.

They said that by strengthening the flow of exchange of new business models, entrepreneurs would have access to a greater number of investors to support their solution.

Strategic

The Building a Stronger Cemex report includes an analysis of the company’s strategic vision, operational performance, corporate governance and value creation at a global level. It also releases its new 2030 Sustainability Ambitions, which it said aimed to benefit its main stakeholders.

Fernando A Gonzalez, CEO of Cemex, said, “Conscious that our progress begins with our people, our highest priority and permanent commitment is to achieve zero incidents in our daily operation.

“We have also strengthened our commitment to the ethical principles and values that enable us to work as One Cemex, aligning ourselves with our new diversity and inclusion policy, as well as our human rights policy and improved code of ethics.”

Among the main achievements presented in the report are that Cemex reached the goal of zero employee fatalities for the first year ever. In addition, it claimed to have reduced its total employee and contractor lost time injuries by 20% to a record low.

It added that 96% of its operations achieved zero fatalities and zero lost-time injuries, which it said was the highest percentage in Cemex’s history.

The company said it had achieved an alternative fuels rate of 27.1% – its highest rate in the past four years. In addition, 26% of the power consumption for cement was supplied from renewable energy, it said.

These milestones and other mitigation efforts were said to have enabled Cemex to reduce its net CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious products by 21.6%, compared to its 1990 baseline, avoiding more than 7 million tonnes of CO₂.

The company said this was equivalent to the emissions generated by the electricity consumption of 1.4 million homes in one year.

Cemex has prioritised five sustainable development goals (SDGs) that are directly related to the company’s business and are said to represent “a better opportunity to make a greater contribution to the global goals of the United Nations by 2030”.

The five objectives focus on the promotion of decent employment and economic growth, innovation and infrastructure development, the advancing of sustainable cities and communities, climate change mitigation, and environmental and ecosystem conservation.

Cemex and 10 other companies from the sector became founding members of the new Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA), which aims to consolidate the industry’s efforts to position concrete as the most sustainable material in the world.

Cemex has implemented community engagement plans at 95% of its cement plants. In addition, as a result of the company’s shared value projects, Cemex has collaborated with its communities and authorities to address social issues such as housing, land ownership, access to basic services, employment and financial inclusion through micro-credits.

Thanks to the Cemex environmental management system, the company said that compared to its 2005 baseline, it had reached a reduction in its air emissions of 87% for dust, 45% for NOx, and 64% for SOx. Additionally, more than 80% of the company’s operations have implemented water-recycling systems.

Expanded vision

The company said that in line with its commitment to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Devlopment Goals, and having defined its 2020 sustainability goals some years ago, it had expanded its vision and defined its ambitions looking towards 2030.

The company’s new objectives for the period include zero employee fatalities and lost-time injuries, 50% annual sales from cement and ready-mix concrete products with outstanding sustainable attributes, and a 29% reduction in its net CO₂ emissions per cementitious product against the 1990 figure – a goal it said was aligned with science-based targets methodology

The 2018 Integrated Report includes an external verification report carried out by accounting firm KPMG, and was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards.