Regional responsibility
Our corporate philosophy is expressed succinctly by the motto “Think globally — act locally.” In shouldering our responsibility to the community at our various locations around the globe, we lay the foundations for our business practices — and our success — all over the world. This is how we make good business contacts, capitalise on existing knowledge and maintain a vigorous dialogue with our neighbours. Our aim is to join together with local partners to create added value not only for ourselves as a Group but also for the larger community at our company locations. Wherever possible, it is our policy that local employees should take over the management of local operations. Only in exceptional cases do we bring in managers from abroad.
At the same time, all of our plants work closely with local suppliers and service providers. In fact, around 30% of our procurement volume is invested in the immediate vicinity of our plants. In this way, and by providing jobs, we help to create added value and to promote — by means of wages, investment, purchases and taxes — economic development at our various company locations.
Local conflicts of interest
Over the past two years, there have been conflicts with nongovernmental organisations at two company locations, in Israel and Australia. In both cases there was an alleged violation of quarrying rights; in both cases, we carefully investigated the issue, together with local management, and initiated discussions at the local level. We were able to obtain the necessary authorisation at both locations before any quarrying work began. We have not pursued any quarrying activities without having first received the requisite permits, and we intend to abide by this principle in all of our future operations.
Cooperative activities
We also consider it important to make sure that our business operations have a minimal impact on the regional environment and to actively help restore natural habitats to their former state. To this end, we have set up two public-private partnerships (PPPs), one in Georgia and one in Tanzania.
In Georgia, for example, we teamed up with the German development aid organisation GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) in October 2009 to launch a PPP that is scheduled to run for a three-year period. Its aims are to restore and conserve biodiversity at all of our quarries in Georgia, to increase public acceptance of modern renaturation and recultivation methods, and to promote the sharing of knowledge between stakeholders from government and administration, business, science and research, nature conservation organisations, and the local population.
Similarly, HeidelbergCement and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, signed an agreement in May 2010 that will facilitate the improvement of infrastructure in African countries south of the Sahara by increasing the availability of cement in the region. In line with this agreement, IFC and its finance partners have acquired a minority stake, amounting to as much as US$180 million, in HeidelbergCement’s operations in Africa. In return, HeidelbergCement has pledged to invest this money in the expansion of its cement production capacity in the countries in this region.
Our company will bring to this partnership not only many years of international experience in the production of building materials but also its commitment to rigorous standards in the fields of corporate governance, ethics and environmental protection. This investment programme will yield a host of benefits. In addition to improving local infrastructure and supporting the construction of new housing, it will create jobs and raise environmental standards.