The Greek cement industry implements an environmental policy and applies certified environmental management systems in order to monitor and continuously reduce the environmental footprint of its activities.
At the same time, programs are carried out on a regular basis to raise awareness and provide training on topics related to behavior towards the environment, both at individual and corporate-level, as well as the exchange of views regarding the best practices for improving environmental performance.
Last but not least, the members of the Association maintain a continuous communication and smooth cooperation with the local communities where they operate, in order to implement and promote practices of high environmental performance, social responsibility and safety, with the aim of achieving the best benefits at local, regional and national level.
Although extractive activity has by its nature a negative impact on biodiversity, the Greek cement industry has achieved to reduce or even reverse the initial negative effects. This has been made possible through the implementation of rehabilitation plans of Greek cement industry quarries according to standardized practices and industry guidelines.
At the same time, the Greek cement industry operates in full compliance with the legal framework regarding environmental protection and biodiversity.
In addition, biodiversity restoration and management programs are implemented, including specialized biodiversity monitoring protocols such as BIRS (Biodiversity Indicators Reporting System), which has been developed by an independent panel of experts in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (International Union for the Conservation of Nature – IUCN) and aims to monitor changes in biodiversity over time.
A similar tool applied recently by the Greek cement industry is the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (ΙΒΑΤ).This tool is being used in the context of the evaluation of specific quarries to identify areas of high biodiversity value, while multi-year studies are carried out in various regions of the country in collaboration with specialized scientists and university institutions.
