The CIF pursues a range of issues relevant to the cement industry in Australia and primarily related to business management, anti-dumping, energy and greenhouse, sustainability and corporate governance. The industry holds the following positions in relation to some of those issues:

Greenhouse and Energy Reporting

Climate change is an international issue requiring national action. The cement industry sectoral approach to reporting and disclosure has proven to be an exemplary model leading to significant greenhouse abatement action. The current direction of greenhouse and energy reporting policy arising from the fragmented jurisdictional and mandatory programs introduced or being mooted, forecasts either the demise of this approach or significant modifications. A single, national streamlined approach to reporting is the only logical avenue without further worsening the current state of regulatory burden on industry.

The cement industry supports a rigorous, transparent, mandatory, nationally consistent energy and greenhouse reporting system supported by legislation and intergovernmental agreement. Such a system should define the data set, clearly distinguish what data submitted in the reporting system can be accessed by which classes of government agencies, specify rules under which certain data can be publicly disclosed, and include mechanisms to enforce those rules and assure confidentiality when warranted. The cement industry supports the use and further development of AGO’s OSCAR program.

Secondary Materials and Resource Efficiency

The cement industry is at the forefront of resource efficiency initiatives, which have been achieved through research and development programs and innovation. The versatility of the cement manufacturing process enables the safe use of certain secondary materials from other manufacturing processes, and has resulted in the progressive uptake of supplementary cementitious materials or SCMs (materials which exhibit cementitious properties in the presence of lime released during the hydration of cement), non-traditional or alternative raw materials (materials containing calcium, silica, alumina or iron), and non-traditional or alternative fuels (having calorific value and in some cases recyclable raw material components).

The cement industry believes that the following issues are key imperatives to drive improved resource efficiency in Australia:

• The redrafting or replacement of the current suite of waste management related legislation to incorporate the critical principles of “material value” and “resource efficiency”;
• A national approach to waste management and resource efficiency regulation. We consider that a harmonised national approach to the assessment of secondary materials is critical and would hope that such an approach might then address the regulatory impediments to resource efficiency that this industry has experienced; read our review of the Productivity Commission’s draft report “Waste Management”
• The judicious use of market interventions that address only the identified market failure.

To read more on the Cement Industries initiatives, go to the CIF submissions page.