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10 Questions

with Roland van Wijnen
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By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 21st, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Holcim's Roland van Wijnen says companies will need to embrace sustainable development.
Environmental protection and sustainable development have become hot issues in the European Union. Early in March, EU leaders agreed at a summit in Brussels to increase the share of the union’s energy sources that are renewable and also to further cut carbon dioxide emissions produced by industries. Roland van Wijnen, country manager for construction materials manufacturer Holcim Česko, talks with The Prague Post about what it takes to run an environmentally friendly business and companies’ motivations to steward the environment.
➊ Some countries and businesses dispute the EU’s efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and increase the use of renewables. How difficult was it at Holcim, which has been recognized for its dedication to the environment, to implement new policies?
The van Wijnen File
  • Job title: Country manager, Holcim Česko
  • Age: 35
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Education: University Twente, the Netherlands, MS in Industrial Engineering and Management
  • Previous job: Worked in corporate finance department of Holcim Group Support
  • Family: Married, two children
I am glad Holcim is recognized as environmentally friendly, as it is one of our strategic objectives and we make a lot of efforts to improve our environmental performance. Holcim has been in the Czech Republic for 15 years. The Czech colleagues have, for a long time, adopted our environmental approach. Furthermore, I think environmental care comes naturally to people — we all like to make this world a better place to live in. Implementation of Holcim’s environmental policies was and is not a problem.
➋ Many businesses complain that carbon limits slow their growth. Isn’t pursuing environmentally friendly policies a bit unnatural for businesses?
I believe, and this is in line with Holcim’s strategy, that sound economic performance goes hand in hand with the reduction of environmental impacts and a focus on social responsibility. In the long term, only companies ensuring a balanced growth of economic, environmental and social performance can maintain their license to operate and survive. Creating such balance — sustainable development — will become more and more important in business evaluations, also in the Czech Republic.
➌ Apart from policies such as reclamation of the areas where you mine stone and other construction materials, you also introduced the Holcim Awards for architects working toward sustainable development. Why?
Holcim enters the construction cycle very early and has little impact on it. At the same time, some 90 percent of the environmental impact of concrete occurs during its application and use. Committed to sustainable development, Holcim cares about that and is also sure the company can benefit from showing that it does what it says. That is the basic motivation behind establishing the Holcim Foundation, which, in very close cooperation with world-leading universities, organizes not only the Holcim Awards contest but also academic debates called Holcim Forums and other activities to promote the principles of sustainable development in the construction industry.
➍ Do you think businesses should be left to decide how to approach environmental policy or should this be enforced by law?
As I said before, I think only companies with balanced economic, environmental and social performance can be successful in the long term. Therefore, I think companies are quite well motivated to improve their environmental performance. When public policies or laws are formulated, I think they should create an incentive to invest in new installations, processes and products that are more energy and CO2 efficient. Due consideration must be given to keep the policies simple and transparent, prevent unfair distortion of competition and allow for fair burden sharing between sectors, industries and companies. This is a huge challenge for our society. On Holcim’s Web site [www.holcim.com], you can for example find position papers that contribute to the complicated discussion on the topic of climate change.
➎ EU rules aside, shouldn’t companies and their managers be more motivated to care about sustainable development?
I personally believe with the growing public awareness of environmental and social issues managers have good motivation to care about sustainable development, and many of them actually do. I am proud to work in Holcim, which has voluntarily set to reduce its world-average net specific CO2 emissions by 20 percent, compared to 1990 levels, and world-average specific emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and dust by 20 percent, compared to 2004 levels, by 2010.
➏ What’s your opinion of the carbon credits system under which some companies can release more than the allowed amount as long as others release less?
I think the combination of natural motivation of companies and public policies can contribute to faster improvements. Holcim works proactively to assist with practical policy development. For example, we lead the Cement Sustainability Initiative task force on climate protection to investigate public policy and market mechanisms for making meaningful reductions in CO2 emissions in the most effective way. One of our statements is, for example, that we advocate the use of Performance Based Allocation through industry benchmarking of efficiency improvements rather than an allocation based on historic values.
➐ Holcim is dependent on construction development. Doesn’t this tend to be environmentally unfriendly?
The construction industry is indeed booming in many Central and Eastern European countries as it follows society’s demand. The crucial issue is to satisfy this growth while ensuring a sensible approach to environmental and social issues. I think there are many positive trends in the industry and many construction companies commit to sustainable development principles. At the same time, Holcim contributes to improvements of the construction industry’s environmental performance also with the activities of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction.
➑ Last year, your company reported major growth worldwide. What is the growth potential of the Czech market?
The Czech market still has big growth potential. Also in 2006, construction activity here continued to grow steadily. With a lot of need for infrastructure, as well as housing projects, combined with the growing economic power of the country and EU assistance, the market will grow further.
➒ How much did your company profit from the mild winter, which aided the construction industry?
The mild winter has certainly positively impacted our sales, and Holcim Česko basically doubled its expected sales in cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete. I expect the entire construction-materials industry will have to work hard during 2007 to supply the market. I therefore am happy to report that we have been able to successfully complete the winter overhauls in the Czech operations and are therefore well prepared to supply the market at all times during 2007.
➓ What other management challenges planned for this year can you reveal?
Aside from the environment, it is our prime objective to ensure that we work without accidents and injuries to people who work in our facilities. Furthermore, we aim to grow with the market and strengthen our position in aggregates and ready-mixed concrete with a focus to maintain current levels of profitability. Recently, we announced the acquisition of two concrete plants and soon we will hopefully inform you of a new aggregates operation. Also, we face the challenge that we have not been able to fully convince our customers that the high increases in, for example, energy costs [41 percent from 2004 to 2007] cannot be compensated for with internal measures only. Given these enormous cost increases and the growth of the industry, I expect price increases will follow this and next year.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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