Innovative assurance for Holcim

Two Tomorrows has provided independent assurance of the 2009 sustainable development report from global cement and aggregates company Holcim.

We assured the report using the AA1000 Assurance Standard (2008). We were engaged to provide Type 1 assurance, which covers evaluation of adherence to the AA1000 principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness. Our work included an evaluation of Holcim’s reporting against the Cement Sustainability Initiative Commitments and of claims made by Holcim about its biodiversity objectives.

In an innovative move to provide an independent challenge on behalf of stakeholders, we facilitated meetings of a Stakeholder Report Review Panel, a group of stakeholder representatives who gave their views on Holcim’s approach to identifying material issues and on drafts of the report. This helped strengthen our assurance opinion and provided many recommendations for Holcim to consider.

Our findings and recommendations included:

• The report includes information on Holcim’s main sustainable development issues and should enable global stakeholders to make informed judgments.
• Holcim maintains a wide range of mechanisms at international and national levels for involving stakeholders in the development of its response to the challenges of sustainability.
• The outputs of Holcim’s Stakeholder Report Review Panel have been given full consideration, and many of the suggestions generated have resulted in positive improvements to the report.
• Holcim has introduced new ways of measuring progress toward biodiversity objectives; in future, Holcim should report in more detail on the outcome of these activities.
• We recommend that Holcim should include additional analysis of the financial implications of its sustainability programme.

Among the performance highlights Holcim includes in the report are that:

• its 2010 carbon dioxide target was achieved ahead of schedule
• the use of thermal energy derived from alternative fuels continues to increase
• lost-time injury frequency has been cut by 74 per cent since 2004.

Looking to the future, the report details new targets for further carbon emissions reductions, biodiversity action plans for sensitive sites and community engagement plans for all Group companies.

The report meets the A+ application level of the Global Reporting Initiative’s sustainability reporting guidelines.

Our assurance statement in the Holcim 2009 sustainable development report (PDF, 4.1MB)

Holcim case study