Eye on Hospitality: How to Work Sustainability into Operations

A cement industry body and the Canadian government have released a blueprint for the sector to reach net-zero by 2050, challenging the heavily polluting industry to decarbonize with technology, efficiency and carbon capture.  The Roadmap to Net-Zero Carbon Concrete By 2050 report was published by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada in cooperation with the Cement Association of Canada (CAC). The CAC is a trade association representing most of the country’s cement companies.  It identifies concrete as the second-most consumed product on earth, used for all manner of buildings and infrastructure. In Canada, the industry is said to be responsible for 158,000 direct and indirect jobs, and $76 billion in direct, indirect and induced economic impact.  Cement and concrete are also a serious contributor to climate change. Cement contributes to seven per cent of global emissions and 1.5 per cent of Canada’s pollution.  Canadian firms are expected to produce 55 million tonnes of cement and 400 million tonnes of concrete over the next five years.  The report says the cement and concrete industry has committed to reducing more than 15 megatonnes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) cumulatively by 2030. The report lays out a series of paths the industry and government can take to achieve that goal.  Ways to decarbonize – The first path deals with clinker, the precursor to cement. Its production is energy-intensive and a major source of the carbon dioxide emissions related to cement.  To reduce emissions from clinker, the report prescribes:  Rreducing clinker volumes by increasing the volume of decarbonized raw materials;  Increasing the use of low-carbon fuels for combustion such as waste-based fuels; adopting clean energy and energy efficiency; and employing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).  For concrete, the report recommends increasing the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to reduce GHG emissions.  It also notes the importance of: decarbonizing concrete manufacturing and transportation; optimizing the design and construction process to produce less waste; and use of materials built for longevity, adaptive re-use and deconstruction.  From government, the report suggests new codes and standards to mandate low-carbon concrete and addressing the issues surrounding the procurement of concrete and cement.  Adam Auer, president and CEO of the CAC, said governments have “the potential to be significant market-makers for innovation and to really de-risk the novelty of new low-carbon innovation for the rest of the market.”  

Today’s investors are interested in more than a company’s size or market worth. Particularly in the younger generation, they expect companies to operate according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.

Update on our work on sustainable food systems by Francesco Rampa, Head of ECDPM’s Sustainable food systems team Dear Francesco, I hope that this message finds you and your family well and that you’re keeping safe. Although vaccines against COVID-19 are being developed at an impressive speed, the social and economic effects of the pandemic will linger much longer. If anything, 2020 and the exceptional situation we found ourselves in reminded us that, no matter how distant, communities around the world are connected. In 2021, we need to build back our food systems better, not only to avoid more health crises but also because of looming challenges such as climate change, malnutrition, poverty, inequality and biodiversity loss. Our team continues to work for a positive change towards sustainable food systems in Europe and Africa. Here is what has kept us busy over the last months. We wrote a guide on the concept and practice of a sustainable food systems approach to help practitioners and decision-makers to handle the complexity and move towards more coherent, effective and context-appropriate interventions for the necessary transformations. The guide came in handy also when discussing the design and adoption of a sustainable food system approach for Irish official development assistance. While Ireland’s development policy recognises the need for systemic responses to the challenges posed by unsustainable food systems, this has not been integrated into any of the country’s development strategy or operations yet. In an upcoming paper, we will put forward a three-year plan to integrate the sustainable food system approach into Irish strategy and operations – keep an eye out in the coming months! In the search for the sustainability of food systems, trade can either help or hinder the process. Together with the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), we…