At the COP16 Biodiversity Summit, held in Colombia, Manuel Lascarro, General Director of the Colombian Chamber of Cement and Concrete and Executive Director of FIHP (the Ibero-American Ready-Mixed Concrete Federation), as well as a Member of the Executive Committee of the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC), represented the CSC. Manuel Lascarro highlighted the concrete, cement and aggregate industry’s dedication to biodiversity through responsible sourcing practices. COP16, the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, serves as a global platform for advancing biodiversity goals, with a particular focus this year on nature-based solutions and sustainable industry practices.
During a session organized by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) titled “Biodiversity, Nature-Based Solutions, and the Net Zero Roadmap for the Cement Industry,” Manuel Lascarro presented CSC’s framework and initiatives. He underscored CSC’s commitment to maintaining or enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem integrity across the concrete and cement value chain, with a special focus on ecologically sensitive areas, such as karst regions. The presentation included a dedicated slide and video on CSC’s key biodiversity commitments supporting biodiversity management and avoiding continuous biodiversity loss.
Key Biodiversity Criteria in CSC Certification include comprehensive biodiversity assessments in Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, responsible land use for biodiversity support, a publicly accessible biodiversity policy, assessment and management of high biodiversity value areas, site-specific biodiversity action plans, commitment to no net loss or positive impact on biodiversity, and voluntary actions to support local conservation efforts, each documented with respective evidence.
In total, 25 attendees representing contractors, NGOs, academia, government, and consultants engaged in the session, which received positiv feedback on the industry’s biodiversity initiatives.