Preserving nature: our impacts, our actions, our progress (1/5)
More than ever, we must act to preserve our endangered natural heritage, as highlighted during the United Nations COP 16 on Biological Diversity held from October 21 to November 1 2024 in Cali, Colombia. At Imerys, we are committed to mitigating the biodiversity loss that our activities can cause. How ? We tell you all about it in our first voluntary Biodiversity Report, from our commitments to our scientific approach and concrete actions on the ground. Over the coming weeks, a series of articles will showcase how we are turning these commitments into life. Let’s start with the key takeaways from our first-ever voluntary biodiversity report.
While we are proud of the progress made over the past seven years, as shared in our first biodiversity report, we remain humble in the face of what remains to be done. Preserving biodiversity is urgent and requires a long-term commitment and collaboration between employees, experts and communities. By combining science, local action, and genuine engagement, we aim to reduce our impact on natural heritage.
Our commitment : towards no net loss of biodiversity
Biodiversity, the variety of life forms on Earth, is the basis of everything we need to survive: food, clean water, medicines and shelter. Minerals are also essential to human life and, nowadays, they are present everywhere in our daily lives, from cosmetics to construction, and are key to enabling a more sustainable future. Geological deposits of industrial minerals are rare and constrains the location of our extraction sites. Therefore, biodiversity destruction can’t always be fully avoided. Mineral extraction from ground can damage the soil, disrupt the good balance of natural ecosystems, and can lead to the destruction of biodiversity.
This presents a complex challenge: how do we balance the benefits of minerals with the urgent need to protect biodiversity ? At Imerys, we are addressing this challenge by implementing concrete actions to reduce the pressure of our activity on biodiversity. Supported by scientific experts and driven by our voluntary commitments, we strive towards no-net-loss of biodiversity. This means avoiding impacts whenever possible. When unavoidable, we minimize, restore or, as a last option, offset our impacts adopting the biodiversity mitigation hierarchy measures. Throughout the process, we work closely with local environmental specialists to guide our actions.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth: the diversity of animals, plants, fungi and bacteria. Each of these species and organisms interact together in ecosystems, like a complex network, to maintain a balance. It is essential to preserve this balance. It is the basis of everything we need to survive: food, clean water, medicines and shelter.
The human species threatens this balance by using and consuming ever more resources. As a result, fauna and flora are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Over the last 200 years, species extinctions have occurred 10 to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate. According to IPBES, the leading scientific authority on biodiversity - the equivalent of the GIEC for climate - at this rate, the planet will lose 75% of its species in 500 years.
While minerals are also essential to our everyday lives, their extraction from ground disrupts the good balance of natural ecosystems and can lead to the destruction of biodiversity.
The management of biodiversity is a complex topic because of the inherent complexity and interconnections within nature. This complexity creates another challenge: there is no standardized method or single indicator to measure biodiversity. There are, however, recognized tools to manage ecological impacts. Mitigation hierarchy is a widely used scientific approach that aims to limit the negative impact on biodiversity based on a step methodology of avoiding,minimizing, restoring and finally offsetting the impact. The biodiversity mitigation hierarchy is the cornerstone of our biodiversity policy.
A science-based approach
With more than 150 active industrial sites and quarries in 40 countries on all continents, preserving nature heritage is a complex task that combines global thinking and local action.
To guide our actions, we became an active member of Act4nature International, a collaboration between businesses, scientific experts, institutions and environmental NGOs. Together, we’ve established 10 shared commitments and 23 specific actions tailored to Imerys. That forms the backbone of the Group’s strategy from governance and roadmap set up to awareness, training and actions on the field.
In 2018, Imerys became a member of Act4nature International. Its objective is to develop the mobilisation of companies in favour of biodiversity through pragmatic commitments supported by their CEOs.
We don’t have all the answers. That’s why we work with scientific organizations like PatriNat, which provides essential expertise to help us understand local ecosystems.
Tools like the ecological atlas, developed with scientists, map the biodiversity in and around our sites and guide the creation of action plans to protect and restore habitats.
Since 2018, Imerys has been collaborating with PatriNat, a French scientific organization. It is jointly accredited by the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), the French Biodiversity Office, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD). They provide us with crucial external scientific expertise and help us to select and develop the best tools and protocols.
We've created an ecological atlas in partnership with scientists that maps all our quarries and plants worldwide. This tool helps teams to understand the ecological environment in a 5 kilometers radius of a site and gives them access to updated and reliable data. The goal is to enable the creation of pertinent local action plans to mitigate the negative impacts of our activities.
Addressing our main impact : biodiversity habitat degradation at quarries
Updated and reliable data, gathered from field surveys and indicators, help us identify where our actions are most needed. Our quarries, where extraction activities directly impact habitats, have been identified as the first priority for Imerys. We’ve identified 20 priority quarries based on their output or proximity to sensitive ecological zones. 65% of these sites have already been audited against our biodiversity framework and policy by internal experts, together with our partner PatriNat. Our goal is to audit 100% by the end of 2025.
To assess our impact, we use updated and reliable data from field surveys conducted at some of our sites, the ecological atlas we’ve created with scientists, and recognized international indicators and tools like the Biodiversity Indicator and Reporting System (BIRS).
Priority sites are quarries extracting more than 1 million tonnes per year, or located within a 5 km radius of areas classified as sensitive or high-value according to the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a leading authority in biodiversity conservation.
Engaging teams and communities
Preserving biodiversity is a shared effort. We have raised awareness of biodiversity issues among 95% of our employees and appointed local biodiversity representatives at each site. We also engage with local actors and communities in our projects, as they have in-depth knowledge of the biodiversity challenges specific to the areas where we operate.
We encourage our collaborators to implement environmental and social initiatives on-site and to share them during our annual Sustainable Development Challenge. We also raise awareness through various initiatives, including art competitions and training programs.
Our measurable progress to date
Our first biodiversity report: strategy, actions, results
Our first voluntary biodiversity report is now available! This document provides a clear roadmap of our robust strategy, scientific approach and concrete actions we’re taking across our sites. It showcases the collective efforts and dedication of our teams in preserving natural heritage.
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Stay tuned for upcoming articles that will highlight successful initiatives to avoid, minimize, restore and offset the impacts of our operations on natural habitats, fauna and flora across sites.
To preserve natural heritage, it is essential to anticipate and limit impacts right from the project design phase. This involves rigorous analysis of the ecological context and the implementation of appropriate measures to minimize our footprint on ecosystems.
In the previous article, we presented our commitments, strategy, protocols and tools built with scientific experts and deployed across the Group to help protect biodiversity. For this second article, we talk about the first and crucial stage of the biodiversity mitigation hierarchy.
Imerys’ UK operations in Cornwall have taken another significant step in advancing their site restoration program, with the goal of planting 150,000 trees across its former China clay quarry sites. In early March, they collaborated with a group of local primary school children, reinforcing community engagement and underscoring their commitment to land rehabilitation in partnership with the local community.
Imerys minerals are found in over thirty industrial sectors, serving as essential ingredients in a broad range of applications—from cosmetics and construction to energy transition initiatives. In these fields, regulations and client expectations are increasingly stringent regarding environmental protection and health standards. Our goal is to help our clients get the most out of our solutions by enhancing their positive contributions to society and responsibly managing any potential negative effects throughout their entire life cycle.
We have partnered with inland shipping company NPRC to use renewable fuel powered barges for the transport of our minerals from our Antwerp terminal in Belgium to our customers in Northern Europe.