CEMEX announces its objective to expand its volunteering commitments for 2020

• 22% of CEMEX employees globally engage in volunteering, and the company’s goal is to reach 30% by 2020.
• Through their diverse volunteering activities, employees contribute to the company’s five priority Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

CEMEX has set a new target in connection with its volunteering commitments for 2020, aligned with the company’s vision of building a better future while contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Currently, 22% of CEMEX employees worldwide are performing diverse volunteering activities that directly contribute not only to the company’s five priority SDGs, but also to the four pillars of the company’s community investment strategy: education and development of capabilities for employability, sustainable and resilient infrastructure and mobility, social and environmental innovation and entrepreneurship, and a culture of environmental protection, health, and safety. Building on this momentum, CEMEX’s new goal is to increase this percentage by up to 30% by 2020.

“At CEMEX, we are committed to improving the quality of life and wellbeing of society, particularly in the communities where we live and work. Our volunteering strategy seeks to identify our employees’ interests and skills, together with ways they can give back what they have experienced in their professional career through volunteering,” said Martha Herrera, CEMEX Director of Corporate Social Responsibility.

“Our employees, as global citizens, are committed to the development of their community and their planet, and they are actively driven by our vision of building a better future for everyone locally and globally. Through volunteerism, we can continue to achieve a true transformation of our ecosystem. While we know that there is still much to do, it is inspiring to see how our employees are committed to contributing and collaborating to build the sustainable world that we want and deserve today and for generations to come.”

Employees from the CEMEX in the UK have taken part in a wide range of volunteering activities across the country this year. Some people have chosen to volunteer their efforts to improve local attractions; a team from the Aggregates Division in Scotland recently spent a day at Doune Ponds in the village of Doune in Perthshire. Tasks that were carried out included painting fences and walkways, and removing a pontoon from the pond.

Others decide to help local groups or schools – such as a team from Southampton who chose to help their local Sea Cadets group. They worked hard to lay a new hard standing at the cadet’s new building. The new building and surrounding hard standing will enable the unit to double their membership to 80 cadets.

Furthermore, some employees have partnered with community charities, e.g. a team from Concrete Products Customer Service Centre helped at Myton Hospice’s Coventry Warehouse. The team helped to sort through a large amount of clothing and homeware donations, identifying which items were suitable for re-sale in their shops in and around the Midlands.

Meanwhile, there are also opportunities to help protect the local environment; team members from the UK Business Performance Team took part in a Beach Clean lend-a-hand at Formby Beach on Merseyside earlier this year.

The global efforts to which employees at CEMEX are contributing include:

• In Egypt, volunteers participated in a skills-based project called “INJAZ’s.” This two-day volunteer activity at a local high school engages students in different activities that introduce them to work readiness, as well as entrepreneurial skills that contribute to the creation opportunities for youth to aspire to a good job while fostering economic growth.
• In Mexico, our employees participate in the CEMEX UNITE corporate volunteering program, giving their time, talent, effort, and leadership on behalf of their community, highlighted by the collection 1,600 kg of trash in the La Huasteca region.
• In Nicaragua, volunteers participated in hands-on activities to better life on land and in the water and to mitigate climate change through reforestation and ecosystem restoration, improving the quality of life of the communities in which they live and work.
• In Poland, a group of volunteers from our local materials department built walking paths for the St. Kalikst Hospice in Tychy. They made paths of DECO decorative concrete, so wheelchairs and hospital beds can move on them.
• While in the U.S., we continued our mission of promoting road safety, participating in the Arizona Bicycling Summit and holding our first Arizona-based Safer Roads Together event at the 29th Annual El Tour de Mesa, an annual cycling event that benefits dozens of local charities. Our Safer Roads Together initiative is designed to give cyclists and pedestrians a better understanding of how to stay safer when they are on the streets.

CEMEX understands the key role that volunteering plays in the company’s vision to build a better future for everyone, so employees from all of its countries and levels remain motivated to give their time, skills, and effort for the wellbeing of the communities where the company operates.