Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with top-ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement, Aggregates & Concrete and Gypsum. It employs more than 84,000 people in 79 countries, Lafarge posted sales of Euros 19.0 billion in 2008.

In 2009, and for the fifth year in a row, Lafarge was listed in the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World'. With the world's leading building materials research facility, Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities, working for sustainable construction and architectural creativity.

Innovation is one of the Group's key driving forces. To develop building materials, Lafarge puts its clients first and offers complete, innovative solutions to industry professionals and the general public for improved safety, comfort and quality in daily life.

For several years, Lafarge has pursued its goals in the context of a sustainable development strategy, with a unique level of expertise combining industrial efficiency, value creation, respect for people and cultures, environmental protection and dedication to saving energy and natural resources.

Designing and producing building materials, meeting the needs and expectations of women and men in terms of housing, mobility, health, education and infrastructure projects necessary for economic and social development - this is our core business.

Lafarge is committed to progress and attentive to ever-changing needs, ensuring that, all over the world, its materials can contribute to improving daily life and building a more sustainable world for everyone.

The Vision of the Lafarge Group is to be the undisputed world leader in building materials.

History

Lafarge in South Africa was formerly Blue Circle Limited and consequently embodies two companies with proud histories. Lafarge can trace its origins to a small lime works, started in 1833, in southern France.

Blue Circle had been providing innovative products and services to the South African construction industry since 1914 and had its origins in the UK. The local company was taken over in 1998 and in 2001 the Lafarge Group took over Blue Circle (UK) together with the rest of its international operations.

Our Mission

Constantly anticipating building requirements throughout the world in order to upgrade building methods by delivering economic, social and environmentally-friendly solutions that are increasingly innovative and effective.

Our Values are reflected in our actions:

•The health and safety of our employees is our No.1 priority
•We are committed to the values of respect, care and excellence. Inseparable from the result-oriented culture introduced at all levels of the organization, we see these values as crucial for achieving the long-term vision of the Group. They have been translated into Principles of Action which guide the functioning of our companies around the world.
•Lafarge has a commitment to be ranked among the world's most effective industrial groups in terms of employee health and safety, protection of the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance

Our Principles of Action

Lafarge's Principles of action, rewritten in 2003, not only express the Group's vision to be the undisputed world leader in building materials and commitments to customers, employees, communities and shareholders, but also the Lafarge Way:

•Making its people successful
•Focusing on performance improvement, with a
•Multi-local organization; to build a performance culture and the set of values to which we are particularly attached and which make Lafarge a different kind of group.

Our Group strategic plan to be the best in our sector combines our values, the interests of our stakeholders and our clear leadership ambition.

Our commitment to operate sustainably

"We are committed to act as a responsible industrial player in each country where we operate. This is not new, it is the Lafarge way. We certainly produce high quality materials to meet customers and communities needs. But we do so while reducing our environmental footprint, taking care of our employees' health and safety, respecting and contributing to wider initiatives in the society. As a leader, we have to set the pace and be a role model in our industry to secure a sustainable future. For more than three years now, we have set out our commitments in a transparent and measurable way in our sustainability ambitions 2012 and we are moving forward."
Bruno Lafont, Chairman and CEO of Lafarge

Lafarge combines its skills and technical resources with the expertise of others for greater effectiveness in the environmental control field:

* Lafarge was the first industrial group to enter into a worldwide partnership with the environmental protection organisation, WWF International In South Africa, Lafarge is an integral part of the parent company’s worldwide environmental conservation programme.
* Lafarge is a founding member of CSI (Cement Sustainability Initiative) which actively promotes responsible management and the worldwide reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by the industry
* Lafarge is co-chair of the “Energy Efficiency in Buildings” Project, which works towards the objective of zero net energy use in buildings
* All Lafarge quarries are required to carry out regular environmental audits and develop rehabilitation programmes that comply with the Group’s rigorous standards, as well as the requirements of the Department of Minerals and Energy
* In South Africa, Lafarge and NPC-Cimpor have formed a joint venture, ECO2, to develop alternative fuels and energy from wastes in a professional and sustainable manner.

LAFARGE AND WWF INTERNATIONAL RENEW THEIR PARTNERSHIP

Mr. Bruno Lafont, Chairman and CEO of Lafarge, and James P. Leape, Director-General of WWF International, have announced the renewal of the partnership between Lafarge and WWF International for another four years. This new phase of the partnership will see a continuation of the work carried out by Lafarge and the non-governmental organization since 2000.

In 2000, Lafarge was the first industrial player to become a WWF ‘Conservation Partner' by signing a five-year global partnership, first renewed in 2005. Through this ongoing partnership, WWF International and Lafarge formalized their will to work together on the reduction of the environmental footprint in the construction materials sector.

Working areas for an effective partnership

Lafarge and WWF International have jointly identified key areas where they intend to get firm commitments from the Group:

* Climate change: to pursue the program of CO² emission reductions based on the targets defined in 2001 with WWF International;
* Persistent pollutants: to improve monitoring and reporting practices within the Group and to take action to reduce persistent pollutants emissions;
* Water consumption: to improve Lafarge's understanding of its water consumption and define concrete action plans to reduce it;
* Biodiversity: to apply on a number of sites the biodiversity indicator and the management system for rehabilitation of quarries that were developed in the previous phases;
* Sustainable construction: to promote sustainable construction products and systems all along the building construction chain.

Lafarge

Phone:+27 (0) 11 257 3100
Fax:+27 (0) 11 257 3021
Website: www. lafarge.co.za
Email: cement.enquiries@lafarge-za.lafarge.com