Politicians make the policy. But it’s often left to business to implement it. For this reason RioPlus Business is featuring submissions from the private sector across the globe in the lead up to Rio+20.
The aim is to demonstrate how Sustainable Development is becoming a reality in every continent, country and city. Our first is a joint project aimed at saving water in Colombia.
By Melissa Castillo Spinoso
In line with the UN Global Compact and the Environmental Principles derived from the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, CEMEX faces the many challenges that responsible water stewardship represents.
In December 2010 CEMEX partnered with IUCN to work jointly on a “Water Framework Project”, in order to define a water management strategy to help guide the company into a sustainable water future.
CEMEX says it has saved money and water by collaborating with a local ice-cream factory
The initial phase of this partnership was to evaluate the current status of water management within the company. This initial scoping exercise revealed that CEMEX had yet to respond to resource pressures with new management approaches and stakeholder engagement.
For example, in Bogotá, Colombia, a site called Planta Morato produced around 200,000 m3 of ready-mix per year and used approximately 35,000 m3 of water yearly.
In addition to this, 80% of this water was used to produce the final product of concrete, with each ton of ready-mix requiring around 180 liters of clean water. The remaining 20% of water was used mainly for cleaning machinery and dust suppression.
The site operated a [...]
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