Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has applauded Lafarge Africa Plc for consistency in disclosing its sustainability performance to capital market stakeholders. This was conveyed during the Facts Behind the Sustainability Report (FBSR) presentation of Lafarge Africa hosted by NGX recently.
In his opening remarks, Mr Temi Popoola, Chief Executive Officer, NGX, applauded Lafarge Africa Plc for its consistency in leveraging the Facts Behind the Sustainability Report event series to inform stakeholders of its sustainability initiatives.
“The decision taken by Lafarge Africa to continue to address stakeholders with the FBSR platform is truly commendable and will undoubtedly contribute towards favourably positioning the company in the line of sight of ethical and environmentally conscious investors.
“Mounting evidence shows companies that adopt sustainable practices are better positioned to protect their brands from environmental and social risks, while also positioning themselves to benefit from the major capital allocated by sustainable investors.
“These global trends reflect the importance of companies disclosing their ESG performance, as the benefits are far-reaching. Our role at the Exchange, is to support our listed companies and provide capacity-building opportunities for them to grow their competence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting.
“The overarching objectives for us is to see more companies approach and embrace sustainability from a knowledge perspective, realising how much impact and value they are able to create for their stakeholders,” he said.
Sharing key highlights of Lafarge Africa’s sustainability performance, Mr Khaled El-Dokani, Country Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Africa Plc, stated that, “Lafarge Africa, a member of Holcim, has fully enlisted sustainability as part of its core values and sustainability continues to be a main value driver for our strategy and operations. We are established as an organisation inspired by the purpose of building progress for people and the planet. Throughout the reporting year, we remained focused on our ambition and goals to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions while ensuring that we improve our footprint in the Nigerian society.
“Our advances in sustainability are evinced by tangible outcomes across our four pillars including the recycling of over 89,000 tonnes of waste and 446,000 cubic meters of water across three plants as well as the rehabilitation of 600 hectares of land with 16,500 seedling plants and 124,000 direct beneficiaries from our N2billion corporate social investment initiative.”
While encouraging listed companies to report on the progress of their respective sustainability efforts, the Divisional Head, Business Support Services and General Counsel, NGX, Irene Robinson-Ayanwale, noted that, “At NGX, we will continue to strengthen our collaborations with organisations such as Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) initiative, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to build capacity within the market to drive the adoption of sustainable business practices across our ecosystem.”
Recall Lafarge was among the few listed companies honoured by NGX during the 2022 World Environment Day celebration, for leveraging the FBSR platform in disclosing performance on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.