European Commission nominates Dr. Michael Rademacher

The European Commission, Environment Directorate-General, has appointed Dr. Michael Rademacher to a newly created expert group.

The working group, made up of representatives of science and experts from the major stakeholders from the member states, will support the European Commission in formulating a technical guideline to implement Natura 2000 in the field of non-energy extractive activities. The intention is that the guideline should deal with sustainable access to mineral deposits and also contribute to the Business & Biodiversity Initiative under the Biodiversity Action Plan.

The whole project is part of the European Strategy for non-energy raw materials, which is currently being formulated by the European Commission, Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General. The aim of this strategy is to increase the sustainable supply of materials from European areas.

Dr. Michael Rademacher is the Recultivation and Nature Conservation Team Leader at HeidelbergCement and, in this capacity, is responsible for the renaturation and recultivation of the Group's quarrying areas. An integrated system for managing raw materials and nature conservation, developed and tested in pilot projects, allows us to take into account the requirements of both business practices and nature conservation.

HeidelbergCement operates 750 quarries and sand and gravel mining sites worldwide. Every year, 130 million tonnes of natural raw materials are quarried for cement production and more than 350 million tonnes of sand and gravel are extracted as aggregates, e.g. for concrete production and road construction. When the quarrying activities have finished, the areas are returned to nature. The goal of preserving species diversity is integrated into our environmental management system.