• With Cementos Portland Valderrivas, the Foundation now has 28 member companies.
• The company will participate in the foundation's working groups on Energy & Climate Change, Sustainable Construction, and Business in Society.

 
Cementos Portland Valderrivas and Fundación Entorno-BCSD España yesterday signed a cooperation agreement to engage in joint activities in the areas of sustainable development and Business Social Responsibility (BSR), which will enable the cement company to strengthen its leading position in sustainable development through information, awareness-raising, training, demonstration and research activities.
 
The alliance is a response to the company's firm commitment to Fundación Entorno-BCSD España to be a pioneer in the field of sustainable development. Under the agreement, FCC Group company Cementos Portland Valderrivas will participate in the foundation's working groups on Energy & Climate Change, Sustainable Construction, and Business in Society, which comprise leading Spanish companies that seek to establish a combined front to face the challenges of sustainable development. 
 
The initiative is part of the work being done worldwide by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a leading international body comprising over 180 companies; Fundación Entorno- BCSD España is WBCSD's partner in Spain. The results of the working groups define the position of Spanish business within the major debates on sustainable development within the WBCSD.
 
The cooperation agreement was signed at the Madrid School of Mine Engineering with the participation of José Ignacio Martínez-Ynzenga, Chairman and CEO of Cementos Portland Valderrivas, Manuel Melgar, Corporate General Manager at Cementos Portland Valderrivas, Cristina García-Orcoyen, Director of Fundación Entorno-BCSD España, and Alfonso Maldonado Zamora, Director of the School.
 
Ramón Jáuregui, a member of the Spanish Parliament, attended as a special guest and gave a talk on "Business Social Responsibility".
 
During the event, Martínez-Ynzenga said that "the Cementos Portland Valderrivas Group shares the sustainable development vision held by Fundación Entorno and its member companies since we are aware that, in a globalised world, we companies must assume our full responsibility.  It is not enough to be profitable; we must go further and consider our performance in the light of how our activities influence the world around use, particularly people, society and the environment."

García-Orcoyen highlighted the importance of the agreement: "By joining this initiative, Cementos Portland Valderrivas will be able to work with other companies in the framework of an international institution on complex, important issues such as climate change and sustainable construction. It will also strengthen the working groups established by the Foundation and we will all benefit from its experience."
 
 
Commitment to fighting climate change
 
Cementos Portland Valderrivas has already assisted the foundation's working group on Energy & Climate Change through the publication "eCO2nomía. Liderazgo empresarial hacia una economía baja en carbono" (Business leadership in a low-carbon economy), which evidences the efforts it is already making to combat climate change. Cementos Portland Valderrivas applies the best available technology in cement production to improve energy efficiency and also reduce atmospheric emissions of the main combustion gases from the clinker kiln: nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx) and carbon dioxide.
 
The Cementos Portland Valderrivas Group has modified the white cement production line at its El Alto, Madrid plant (the largest cement plant in Spain and one of the most modern in Europe) by installing a pre-heater, a grate cooler and new burners.
 
Overall, the process modifications led to a number of environmental improvements:

• A reduction of NOx emissions by 64%.
• A 65% decrease in SO2 emissions.
• A 2.7% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of white clinker produced. This improvement, which is the result of an increase in process energy efficiency, reduced CO2 emissions by 8,000 tonnes per year due to better unit energy consumption.

According to Manuel Melgar, "This initiative is continued within our climate change strategy, which is part of our objective to 'Reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, CO2, per unit output', as set out in our Sustainability Report 2006".
  
FE-BCSD Spain Work Programme
 
All of the foundation's business members are invited to participate in the working groups (Energy & Climate Change, Business in Society, Sustainable Construction), which allow for a comprehensive discussion of topics and provide conclusions that are more generally applicable. National and international experts as well as stakeholders participate in each working group.
 
According to Cristina García-Orcoyen, "Our corporate partners have long abandoned old paradigms and have embraced new, profitable forms of business that are environmentally-friendly and socially responsible". 
 
FE-BCSD Spain
 
FE-BCSD Spain is a private institution which works with businesses that seek to strengthen their commitment to sustainable development. Its goal is to show the benefits associated with sustainable growth. The foundation has been a member of the WBCSD Regional Network in Spain (FE-BCSD Spain) since March 2006.
 
With the incorporation of Cementos Portland Valderrivas, FE-BCSD Spain now has 27 corporate members: Acciona, Adif, Bancaja Habitat, Consulnima, Cementos Portland Valderrivas, Cemex, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Elcogas, Ence, Endesa, Ericsson, FCC, Ferrovial, Fundación Grupo Eroski, Gas Natural, Holcim, Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, IBM, Metro, OHL, Philips, REE, Repsol YPF, Sol Meliá, Telefónica and Unilever.
 
Cementos Portland Valderrivas
 
Cementos Portland Valderrivas is the largest cement producer in Spain. The company has 15 cement factories: eight in Spain (two in Barcelona and one each in Vizcaya, Navarre, Palencia, Madrid and Seville) and seven abroad (three in the US, two in Argentina and one each in Uruguay and Tunisia); its total annual production capacity is 18.8 million tonnes.