Cembureau’s sustainability response

Cement association Cembureau has responded to a European Commission (EC) consultation on assessing sustainable construction practices.

The organisation has said there is a need for funding to research into the environmental effects surrounding the use of industrial materials – which it believed needed to be examined across the entire lifetime of a building.

In replying to the EC’s survey titled "Which materials for sustainable construction?” Cembureau stressed that the overall environmental performance of buildings needed to be considered rather than looking at isolated aspects.

A statement from the organisation read, “We recognise that as buildings become more energy efficient in the future, the embodied impacts of construction products will cover a greater share of the overall impact of buildings.
“As such, funding for research into reducing the impacts of materials is justified.”

On the use of natural resources, the association added that this was a factor to be taken into consideration in relation to “availability to future generations”. Therefore, it should be looked at in the context of their availability or scarcity.