Assurance

Picture: GCCA Picture competition 2024/2025 Nan Li- Concrete Wave Nishizawa Ryue, the Japanese architect who won the Pritker Prize, the highest honor in architecture, designed a new project in Shanghai.

CSC Assurance

We undertake monitoring, verification or assurance of our standard, performance levels, or improvement pathways and we make an overview of our approach publicly available

1.Overview of our approach to monitoring

Data Collection and Analysis

CSC’s monitoring is crucial to evaluating en enhancing the certification impacts. Data is collected from certified companies, audit reports, and stakeholder feedback to identify strengths and areas for improvement within the certification scheme. This
data-driven approach supports informed decision-making, and enhances the effectiviness of sustainability standards. All the data from certified companies is collected from all users in a centralized system, the CSC Toolbox. Subsequently, it undergoes analysis to detect patterns, quantify influence, and fine-tune certification standards. Terms and conditions of its use are publicly available in the Toolbox.

Terms and Conditions: https://toolbox.csc.eco/site/terms-and-conditions

Performance Monitoring and Improvement Pathways

The toolbox plays a key role in monitoring certification outcomes:
● It tracks certification levels based on a structured scoring system, incorporating the individual scores from the concrete plant, and the weighted average from its CSC certified cement and aggregates suppliers (CoC).
● The toolbox also provides performance data, including compliance with all prerequisites, fulfillment of mandatory criteria (for Silver level or higher) and challenges faced by plants in meeting specific standards.
● It highlights improvement pathways by identifying recurring difficulties, enabling targeted support for companies seeking certification.

The data allows gaining insight into the implementation status of sustainability practices in the cement, concrete and aggregate industry and is used to steer future updates of the CSC certification system, by monitoring inconsistencies and enabling remedial measures to reinforce compliance systems.
Data collection also includes site visits, interviews of success cases and workshops with experts invited when in-depth knowledge is required.

Transparency and Public Reporting:

CSC ensures transparency by making certifications results and certificates publicly available. Full assessment details, however, are only accessible to the respective certified companies. Key stakeholders, including Regional System Operators, Certification Bodies, Auditors, and plant owners with Toolbox accounts, can access relevant data through the Toolbox, enabling them to review, download,and analyze certification outcomes as permitted.

Additionally CSC publishes an Annual Report that provides insight into the achievement of management, environmental, social and supply chain criteria across product categories, via fulfillment rate. The Annual Report also includes CSC Chain of Custody (CoC) indicators to monitor traceability and transparency of certified materials throughout the supply chain.

Annual Reports since 2017 can be found through a basic and quick search in CSC website under the URL: https://csc.eco/about-us/resources/ Annual Reports
CSC also monitors CSC Certified plants worldwide in a map automatically updated by the Toolbox with the Certified plants worldwide.

See map in the URL: https://csc.eco / Our projects

CSC also defines key performance indicators through collaborations with green building councils, such as BREEAM, DGNB and LEED, among others. These collaborations are meant to monitor the progress on key outcome areas as well as contribute to the continuous improvement and robustness of CSC standards. Green Building Labels play a key role in advancing sustainability in the builtenvironment. CSC is recognized by several leading green building certification systems globally, enhancing its credibility and visibility. By aligning with these labels, CSC supports the construction sector’s environmental goals and encourages the construction and concrete industries to integrate sustainability into their core practices

2. Overview of our approach to verifying and assuring our standard.

Ongoing Standard Review and Stakeholder Engagement

CSC engages in regular dialogues with industry associations, producers, certified companies, auditors, and civil society organizations through recurring regional system operators gatherings, Technical Committee meetings and comprehensive consultation processes.
● Technical Committee Meetings: Held every three weeks with a balanced representation of stakeholders. R All decisions and system updates are documented in a written record (log file – minutes).
● Integration of Key insights: Feedback from stakeholders, results from internal audits, and insights from our annual reporting process are all integrated into the framework, ensuring good and timely information for effective assurance of improvement pathways
● Alignment with Global Standards: Performance data is also reviewed to align with global frameworks such as ISO 14001, ISO 9001, and ISO 50001.
● Regional System Operator Gatherings & Consultation Processes: Recurring forums that gather stakeholder feedback to refine certification criteria and implementation processes.

Third-Party Certification and OversightThird-Party Certification and Oversight

To ensure transparency and maintain the credibility of the certification scheme, the certification process review is performed by third-party independent certification bodies. CSC Certification Bodies are approved by the ExCo after a rigorous application process through which they have to demonstrate to be competent with respect to system certification and/or product certification and holding a valid accreditation provided by accreditation bodies which are signatory of the Multilateral Recognition Arrangement of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF-MLA). CSC also conducts annual audits of the Certification Bodies as regards the latter’s
compliance with the accreditation standards and to maintain quality, accuracy, and compliance within the certification process.

Audit Reports since 2020 can be found through a basic and quick search in CSC website under the URL: https://csc.eco/about-us/resources/ Audit Reports

Compliance Validation and Continuous Assurance

On a monthly basis, a compliance validation is performed by CSC staff to review fulfillment of requirements on all CSC certificates issued at the level of Gold and Platinum. Findings are communicated to Regional System Operators and corrective measures are implemented by Certification Bodies.

Furthermore, regular reviews of guidelines, prerequisites, and supporting proffs are cnoducted to align the CSC framwork with emerging industrial trends and environmental hurdles. These extensive revisions are supervised by the Technical Committee, while a diverse stakeholder engagement process guarantees broad representation and pertinence.

Data- Driven Certification and Corporate Reporting

CSC serves as a foundational resource for corporate sustainability assessments.
Certified plants must provide comprehensive annual records from the preceding year of certification and disclose key sustainability data, including:
● biodiversity metrics upon commencing quarry operations.
● Plants are also expected to disclose EPDs, report on product specific carbon emissions to customers,
● present relevant extracts of the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP) questionnaires,
● encourage towards setting science-based emission reduction targets as outlined by the Science Based Target Initiative.
● For certain assessments, such as the voluntary CO2-module add-on, baselines are defined at a country level instead.
An in-depth analysis is required to contrast the baseline data of certified plants engaged in recertification processes, where certified plants baseline data is assessed against previous performance metrics to track progress and drive continuous improvement.