Across our North American plants and facilities, environmental responsibility is not a communications exercise. It is operational practice, documented annually in our integrated report and measured against clear 2030 targets aligned with Votorantim Cimentos’ global sustainability commitments. Those targets include reducing net CO2 emissions to 520 kg per tonne of cementitious product and achieving 53% thermal substitution with alternative fuels.
This work is grounded in the Sustainable Legacy principle of Our VC Way, which asks us to make decisions with long-term impact in mind for a lasting impact.
Decarbonizing cement and concrete production is one of the most demanding challenges, and we approach it without overstating where we are. Our teams are producing more blended cements that use supplementary materials like slag and fly ash to reduce clinker content and the emissions associated with it, without compromising the performance our customers depend on. We are also increasing the use of alternative fuels where doing so is technically sound and environmentally responsible, recovering industrial byproducts that would otherwise go to waste and integrating them into our cement and concrete. That work earned external recognition in 2024, when VCNA received four awards in the Slag Cement Association’s Sustainable Concrete Awards for reducing the environmental footprint of concrete production.
Energy efficiency improvements at our plants and terminals, combined with ongoing logistics work, reduce fuel and power consumption over time. In 2024, St Marys Cement earned Natural Resources Canada’s ENERGY STAR for Industry certification, placing it in the top quartile for energy performance across Canada and the United States. These are not one-time projects. They are continuous improvements tracked against our 2030 commitments and reported transparently each year.
Acting with Ownership means we do not simply manage the environmental impact of our operations and move on. We monitor it, measure it, and look for ways to actively improve it. Our Land, Resources, and Environment team uses the Biodiversity Indicator and Reporting System, a tool developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to assess the ecological health of our sites across three dimensions: habitat area, ecological condition, and habitat significance.
The results shape real decisions. Our CBM McMillan site in Ontario scored 7 out of 10 on that system in 2024, nearly double the industry average of 4. That score reflects work done years earlier: the construction of vernal pools in 2022 that now provide habitat for the blue-spotted salamander, a specially protected species under the Ontario Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. The lake at the same site, rehabilitated after materials extraction, now supports an aquaculture operation, aquatic plant life, and fish-eating birds.
Westside Creek Marsh tells a longer version of that same story. In the early 2000s, VCNA partnered with the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority to restore a degraded landscape in the Durham Region. Today, the result is a 25.7-hectare wetland home to more than 250 bird species, rare plants, and vital aquatic life. The restoration involved planting over 52,000 aquatic plants, stabilizing creek banks using willow cuttings and tree roots from the site, and restoring fish habitat for native species, including largemouth bass. Osprey returned and nested there for the first time.
Sustainable Legacy also means looking forward. Through our partnership with MaRS, one of North America’s largest venture ecosystems, VCNA teams have explored more than 20 emerging technologies in areas like carbon capture, carbon dioxide removal, energy storage, and waste-to-value, with two introductions, Skygauge and Hyperion, progressing into pilot or commercial projects.
Innovation also shows up in the concrete itself. Through a multi-year partnership with Concrete.ai, Prairie Materials became one of North America’s early adopters of AI-supported mix optimization. The Concrete Copilot application predicts how a mix will perform at the 28-day mark before it is ever poured, helping technical teams optimize cement content, water use, and cost while lowering carbon emissions, including on projects requiring 30 to 50 percent reductions compared to industry averages. Every recommendation is reviewed and approved by our experts before a single cubic yard is produced.
The results are practical, not theoretical. VCNA has delivered more than 300,000 yards of AI-designed mixes, Prairie has AI-optimized designs approved for state and infrastructure projects, and adoption is expanding to Canada Building Materials, Superior Materials, and United Materials.
Our sustainable products help to reduce clinker content and repurpose waste materials while meeting performance standards for strength and durability.
EPDs provide third-party verified life-cycle data on cement products’ environmental impacts. Access our EPDs for specific products to compare resource use and emissions.
