Contribution to United Nations' SDGs

Sustainability at CEMEX

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Contribution to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

As a leading building materials company, we recognize and embrace our responsibility in the development of sustainable cities and resilient communities. Aligned with our purpose and our commitment to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we prioritized five SDGs upon which we can further contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda.

Our Five Priority SDGs

Our five priority SDGs are directly related to our business strategy. Thus, objectives 8, 9, 11, 13 and 15 represent our greatest opportunities for shared value creation and concentrate our largest potential for building a better future. With less than ten years remaining to achieve the goals by 2030, our commitment is to continue to embed the UN SDGs into our business processes, accelerate our positive impact, create systemic change, increase engagement, promote a sense of purpose, and raise awareness among our stakeholders.

Our Contribution to our Five Priority SDGs

SDG 8 decent word and economic growth

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

  • We build our people’s skills through programs in CEMEX University and develop capabilities through leadership development programs, reaching over 600 people to date.
  • We’ve worked with over 53,000 youth to date bridging the gap and reducing the proportion of youth not in employment or education. 
SDG9 industry innovation and infrastructure

9. Industry, Innovation and Infraestructure

  • We have delivered a superior customer experience enabled by digital technologies – as of 2021, over 61% of our global sales were processed through CEMEX Go. 
  • We launched Vertua in 2020, our first-ever net-zero CO2 concrete, which is now part of an extensive family of products that includes low carbon cements, concrete, as well as aggregates and admixtures globally available.
  • Waste management, recycling, and reusing are key elements in our urbanization solutions portfolio that directly contribute to a circular economy.
  • CEMEX continues promoting a green and circular economy. We consume waste and contribute to the reduction of landfills. 
SDG 11 sustainable cities and communities

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities

  • Through our urbanization solutions strategy, we are enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanization planning and management around the countries where we operate. 
  • We have provided access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable housing, as well as social impact actions, to positively impact around 25.4 million people. We are closer to our goal of impacting 30 million community partners by 2030. 
SDG 13 climate action

13. Climate Action

  • One of the main goals of our Future in Action strategy is to provide low carbon and sustainable products and solutions to our customers so that the built world of the future is more sustainable and circular.
  • We have been working globally to take full advantage of proven technologies and maximize the technical levers currently available in the cement and concrete production processes to reduce the carbon footprint of our global operations.
  • We leverage the capabilities of our Global R&D, CEMEX Ventures, and Smart Innovation process to discover and scale breakthrough CO2 reduction and mitigation technologies throughout our entire value chain.
  • We promote and advocate for a circular economy, primarily focusing on waste directives for energy recovery, promoting the adoption of low carbon cements, increasing the availability of clean energy, and recycling construction and demolition waste.
SDG 15 life on land

15. Life on Land

  • Protecting biodiversity and the environment is fundamental to our commitment to carrying out our activities sustainably. Our Biodiversity Policy enables us to responsibly handle natural resources by integrating practices with best standards and aligning our biodiversity initiatives with our decision-making process, management system, and business model.
  • Our quarries rehabilitation and biodiversity conservation efforts enable CO2 removal and enhance these natural carbon sinks. Similarly, El Carmen, CEMEX’s 140,000-hectare biodiversity reserve located on the U.S.-Mexico border, stores around 12 million tons of CO2 in its natural habitat, contributing to climate change mitigation.

Collaboration Towards Achieving the SDGs

Collaboration is crucial to address the critical and complex challenges facing humanity today. We join forces with sector peers, field experts, authorities, customers, suppliers, NGOs, and other stakeholders to collectively work toward achieving the SDGs. To learn more about our industry’s joint contribution to achieve all 17 SDGs, visit the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) website.

CEMEX Participation in UN Initiatives

  • Signatory and active participant in the UN Global Compact since 2004.
  • Signatory to the Women’s Empowerment Principles and Target Gender Equality.
  • Member of the UN Global Compact CFO Coalition for the SDGs.
  • Joined the Race to Zero campaign and the Business Ambition for 1.5°C Coalition.
  • Participant in the UN Global Compact Young SDG Innovators Programme.
  • CEMEX employees take part in the UN Global Compact SDG roundtables in Mexico through the Social Impact Stewards Program.
  • Member of the Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE) led by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
  • Participant at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.
  • CEMEX’s Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework, published in 2021, includes indicators that directly contribute to the UN SDGs 7, "Affordable and Clean Energy", 9, "Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure", and 12, "Responsible Consumption and Production".