CRH : Sustainability Performance Report 2024
CRH
Building our World. Shaping the Future.
CRH 2024 Sustainability Performance Report
Contents
Inside the Report
At CRH, sustainability has been embedded in our business strategy for decades. Through the deep portfolio of products and services we provide, we are helping to deliver a more resilient and sustainable built environment.
In this 2024 Sustainability Performance Report, we provide details of how our Framework for a Sustainable Future is centered on helping to solve three complex global challenges - water, circularity and decarbonization. By focusing on developing products, services and solutions for our customers that help to address each of these three global challenges, we are creating value for all and driving future growth for CRH.
We are also investing to protect the natural world, support our people and communities, and operate responsibly.
Chapter 1
Sustainable Leadership
Chapter 2
Sustainable Solutions
Chapter 3
Sustainable Foundations
Chapter 4
Sustainable Performance
2024 Sustainability Performance Highlights 03
Business Overview 04
Driving Sustainable Value 06
A Message From Our Chief Executive Officer 08
Our World Today 09
Our Framework for a Sustainable Future 12
Our Double Materiality Assessment 14
Sustainability Recognitions & Benchmarks 16
Water 18
Circularity 27
Decarbonization 34
Natural World
Biodiversity
46 48 4
Environmental Action 51
People & Communities 53
Safety & Well-Being 55
Empowered Employees 60
Inclusion & Engagement 64
Community & Social Impact 67
Responsible Business 70
Governance & Ethics 72
Responsible Sourcing 78
Our Sustainability Policies824
Engaging With Our Stakeholders84
Reporting History, Scope and Basis86
Data Summary87
SASB96
GRI Index97
DNV Assurance Statement105
Notes on Forward-Looking Statements and References to 'Materiality'111
How to Navigate Our Report
Navigation
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2024 Sustainability Performance Highlights
4%
reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 (Market) CO2e emissions
44.7m
tonnes of wastes and by-products recycled
13.9
14.6
12.6
2022
2023
2024
$14.6bn
revenues from products with enhanced sustainability attributes1 ($bn)
$385m
investment in health and safety over the last 5 years
94%
accident-free locations
34,553
employees recorded as having been trained in our Code of Business Conduct
c.139bn
liters of water recycled at our operations
1.0
0.9
2024
0.8
2022
2023
0.8kg/$
Revenues
CO2e emissions per dollar of revenues2
$250m
Venturing and Innovation Fund
1 Revenues derived from products that incorporate any, or a combination of: recycled materials; are produced using alternative energy and fuel sources; have a lower-carbon footprint as compared to those produced using traditional manufacturing processes; and/or are designed to specifically benefit the environment (i.e. water treatment and management systems, products with strong thermal mass/U-values).
2 Scope 1 and 2 CO2e emissions (kg/$ revenues). CO2e emissions subject to final verification under the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).
95%
locations in sensitive areas with Biodiversity Management Plans in place
Business Overview
Leading the transition to smarter, more sustainable construction.
CRH reimagines and reinvents new ways to build, connect and improve our world. We provide the solutions that solve complex construction and building materials-related challenges in major markets in North America and Europe. Our solutions play an important role in shaping a more sustainable built environment and through the use of technology and innovation, CRH is helping to reinvent the way our world is built.
Revenues by Division
65%
Revenues by End-Market2
AmericasInternational
InfrastructureNon-ResidentialResidential
Leadership Positions3
#1 #1 #1
Aggregates North America
Asphalt North America
Concrete Products North America and Europe
#3 #3
Readymixed Concrete North America
Cement
North America and Europe
* Represents a non-GAAP measure. For a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measure see pages109 to 110 in this Report, as well as pages 40 to 42 on 'Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Non-GAAP Reconciliation and Supplementary Information' in the Company's 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K available on crh.com.
1 Basic EPS of $5.06 (2023: $4.36) is the GAAP figures most comparable to Basic EPS pre-impairment*.
2 End-market exposures are approximate and derived from management estimates.
3 Market leadership positions are based on annualized sales volumes. This includes volumes which are used internally (e.g. aggregates supplied internally for cement production).
Business Overview Continued
CRH is at the forefront of the development of more sustainable and better performing materials. Through our differentiated solutions strategy and unrivaled scale, CRH works with customers across the entire construction value chain, uniquely integrating materials, products and services to better serve our customers' needs and drive repeat business. As our customers' needs continue to evolve, our solutions help them to build simpler, safer and more sustainably.
CRH is a leading producer of aggregates and cement, backed by a significant reserve base across an extensive network of quarries. These materials are an essential element of almost every construction project. They are used in a variety of value-added construction products within our connected portfolio including concrete, concrete products and asphalt.
CRH is investing in innovation and new technologies including recycling to increase efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of essential materials in line with evolving customer and societal demand.
Products & Services
Asphalt
Paving & Construction Services Readymixed Concrete Infrastructural Concrete InfrastructureStructure
Products
Architectural
Products
Complete Solutions
Road Solutions
CRH is the largest road builder in North America working with state and federal transport authorities to design, build, upgrade and maintain the vast road infrastructure networks that connect the communities in the markets we operate in.
We build and repair surface transportation infrastructure by applying our unique capability to adapt materials, products and services to offer bespoke sustainable solutions that ensure higher quality and better value for the customer and end-user.
Building & Infrastructure Solutions
We work with large critical infrastructure owners to provide solutions to collect, connect and protect the delivery of vital infrastructure including municipal water systems, data centers and energy networks.
Customers work with CRH due to our ability to provide highly specified and innovative solutions that address the complexity involved in delivering critical infrastructure. Our value-added approach includes design, specification, manufacturing, installation and maintenance.
Outdoor Living Solutions
CRH is a leader in solutions which transform outdoor environments into dynamic living spaces so that communities, businesses and homeowners can "Living Well Outside".
We provide customers with a full service offering, from materials and products to digital design services and logistics.
Our connected portfolio of solutions incorporates hardscapes, masonry, fencing, railing, lawn and garden, pool finishes and composite decking.
Sustainable Leadership
Driving Sustainable Value
Sustainable
Leadership
Sustainable
By uniquely integrating our essential materials, products and services into complete solutions, we have developed the expertise and capabilities to meet our customers' needs for highly innovative, value-added solutions for their water, circularity
Solutions
and decarbonization challenges. Our approach enables CRH to grasp the commercial opportunity from the transition to a more sustainable built environment.
Construction Trends
Evolving Customer Needs
Aging infrastructure, growing urbanization, and labor shortages are shaping the future of construction.
Robust Infrastructure Funding
Significant public investment in critical infrastructure across our footprint.
Climate Adaptations
Extreme weather events are increasing the need for more climate-resilient infrastructure.
Reindustrialization
Onshoring of supply chains and industrial manufacturing activity.
Customer Challenges
Differentiated Strategy
Transforming essential materials into value-added products, services and innovative solutions.
Innovation and Technology
Accelerating innovation through CRH Ventures and our Innovation Center for Sustainable Construction (iCSC).
Scaling Solutions
Our ability to replicate and scale our innovation and technical expertise between geographies gives us opportunities for further growth.
Proven M&A Strategy
Enhancing our capabilities through investment in strategic acquisitions and partnerships.
Sustainable Solutions
Water Infrastructure Solutions
Innovative water management products and solutions help strengthen climate resilience.
Circularity Solutions
Integrating recycled materials into our products and protecting natural resources.
Lower-Carbon Solutions
Designing lower-carbon infrastructure solutions and enabling energy efficient buildings.
Sustainability Performance
Protecting the natural world, helping our people thrive and operating as a responsible business.
Driving Sustainable Value Driving Sustainable Value
Continued Continued
We are connecting with our customers to provide the solutions they need to develop transportation and critical infrastructure that builds resilience for a changing world. Below are examples of some of the water infrastructure, circularity and lower-carbon solutions we provide that will continue to shape society in the future:
revenues from products with enhanced sustainability attributes in 2024
Accelerating Innovation
As a leader in building solutions, with almost 80,000 dedicated employees driving our success, we're united by our relentless drive and capability to help solve our customers' challenges and our purpose, to stand together to reinvent the way our world is built.
We're addressing water, circularity and decarbonization challenges and innovating solutions that drive positive impacts for society and the environment, as well as enhancing our sustainability performance and long-term growth opportunities.
Making strides in innovation will take us to the next level of performance. We're uniquely positioned to deliver value-driven solutions which can solve complex and pressing problems for customers and wider society. Investing in innovation through our venture partnerships is part of a customer-connected approach at the heart of our business. It underscores our ambition to accelerate and scale the most promising technologies and innovations.
Led by our venture capital unit, CRH Ventures, our strategic investment partnership with Sublime Systems, the pioneering U.S. based company in the field of sustainable cement production, marked a major step forward in our commitment to advancing decarbonization within the construction industry. Alongside this, our investment in FIDO AI, the artificial intelligence (AI) leak detection software company, emphasizes our commitment to addressing global water challenges.
CRH Ventures also launched a new accelerator program in 2024, Sustainable Building Materials, targeting construction and climate technology start-ups innovating to develop new materials and applications to reduce construction-related emissions and enhance circularity.
Leading on Sustainability
Advancing our performance remains a constant focus. In 2024, we recycled 44.7 million tonnes of wastes and by-products, sourced internally and from other industries, into circular solutions for our customers, reinforcing our position as the leading recycler in North America.
We progressed on our target to deliver a 30% reduction in absolute carbon emissions by 2030, keeping us on the path to achieving our ambition of becoming a net-zero business by 2050.
We reduced our Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2e emissions by 4% in 2024.
Fostering our Culture
At CRH, people are our greatest asset. Our industry-leading financial performance and ability to deliver superior value for our customers is testament to the continued hard work, commitment and expertise of our employees. We continue to invest in people, fostering an inclusive culture that promotes talent and rewards creativity, ensuring we have the workforce to drive our ambitious goals forward.
Protecting our People
The safety and well-being of our people is embedded in CRH's values. We're focused on providing our teams with the training and resources needed to help ensure that everyone who works in CRH returns home safely to their families at the end of the working day. Regrettably, despite our best efforts and uncompromising approach to safety, there were five workplace related fatalities in our business in 2024. Our thoughts are with the families and colleagues of each one, and we will continue to do everything in our power to prevent incidents such as these occurring in the future.
Looking Ahead
This is a time of significant opportunity for CRH. We have the potential to help reinvent the way the world is built through smarter, better connected and more sustainable construction. Our focus on innovation will enable us to continue to meet customers' evolving needs and help to create a more resilient society. By reducing the environmental impact of construction, building with greater efficiency and providing value to communities, we can truly make a lasting difference.
Our World Today
Amidst a rapidly growing population, demands on resources and impacts of climate change, we're uncovering new opportunities.
At CRH, we continue to push the boundaries of sustainable construction. As a leader in the built environment, we have a relentless drive and a capability for solving some of the major challenges of our time. We see significant opportunities for our business to accelerate the development of innovative and sustainable solutions.
Our sustainability framework identifies three global challenges for society and the built environment - water, circularity and decarbonization. Our ability to help solve these challenges, by uniquely integrating our materials, products and services, positions us to capture further value and accelerate growth across CRH.
We're innovating new technologies for access to clean drinking water and stormwater management for millions of homes and businesses. We're also driving advancements in circularity, reducing our own waste, recycling other companies' wastes and by-products and designing solutions that are built to last.
We continue to make progress on decarbonization and the development of lower-carbon products and solutions to meet our customers' needs, keeping us on the path to achieving our overall ambition of becoming a net-zero business by 2050.
We know that by standing together to reinvent the way our world is built we can make the biggest impact. Below India Kalsi, Vice President Solutions, CRH International Division, Yuliya Kravtsov, President, Sapphire, CRH Americas Division and Eduardo Gomez Mendoza, Head of CRH Ventures, discuss global sustainability trends, their impacts on society and how our businesses are evolving to be more agile and innovative.
India, what do you see as the primary factors contributing to the global water crisis today?
Climate change is causing unprecedented levels of global water disruption. Floods, water shortages and the quality of water are headline topics. A growing population, aging infrastructure and a lack of capacity in our water networks is forcing communities to rethink how we upgrade and build new water infrastructure to enable better water management and ensure access to clean water for living, economic growth and public enjoyment.
What role does CRH play in improving the future of water management?
We're meeting the customer and community need for smarter design by rebuilding and reimagining essential water infrastructure to increase community resilience and to help shape the future of water management."
As the trend toward urban living continues to grow, it is putting increasing pressure on clean water, stormwater and wastewater infrastructure. Stormwater and wastewater systems are often at or beyond capacity and cannot take the increasing flow of water that comes from urban environments into our drainage networks. To help reduce the impact of stormwater events, we're supporting our customers through our innovative solutions that help to manage water flows into stormwater and wastewater networks to prevent flash floods. These include our sustainable urban drainage and other solutions that also enhance biodiversity in urban areas. For example, Oldcastle APG, in CRH's Americas Division, is a leading provider of permeable paving systems, which enable faster absorption of water into the ground, rather than flowing into the sewer network, thereby reducing flood risk. We're also providing solutions that are crucial for ensuring effective, sustainable and safe management of wastewater, which is essential for public health and environmental protection.
India Kalsi,
Vice President Solutions, CRH International Division
In addition, Roadstone, in CRH's International Division in Ireland, provides innovative stormwater solutions to upgrade residential and roadside underground systems that capture, store and move heavy rainfall at a controlled rate and then treat it, before releasing it into the drainage network.
What are the most promising water management solutions?
In 2023, CRH Ventures launched our first accelerator program which is designed to support the most promising solutions for water management. As a result, we currently have multiple innovative pilots underway that explore how digital technologies can enable better water management solutions for the future. For example, Hydro International and Tarmac, in CRH's International Division in the UK, have partnered with Previsico on a trial that will enable flood monitoring and prediction technology to improve road and drainage maintenance services.
We have also invested in FIDO AI's technologies to offer a full solution to our customers. This allows us to leverage our manholes and pipes, alongside FIDO AI sensors and AI to automate leak detection to help our customers reduce water losses. By investing in new water management solutions, we're building on our ability to provide highly specified and innovative products that address the complexity involved in delivering critical infrastructure.
Yuliya, what are the challenges and opportunities on the journey to a circular economy?
The increasing need for homes, buildings and infrastructure makes the built environment the largest consumer of materials. CRH is developing circular solutions that help conserve natural resources, reduce global carbon emissions and create more sustainable and resilient infrastructure for future generations. But implementing solutions for a more circular economy is not always straightforward. It can require redesigning supply chains, manufacturing processes and waste management systems, which can be costly and challenging.
Social and cultural factors influence people's behavior to move away from the current "take-make-dispose" approach. Scaling circular solutions will require collaborative efforts between governments, the private sector and academia, while overcoming barriers such as cost, scalability and equitable access. By working together, we can promote opportunities, foster innovation, enable a supportive policy environment, incentivize businesses and enhance public awareness and trust.
How is CRH reimagining our processes to address circularity?
Emerging technologies have the potential to transform industries, make circular models more scalable and improve economic and environmental outcomes. At CRH we're finding the right technologies to improve material recovery and recycling of waste streams that may otherwise end up in landfill. This includes technologies that incorporate wastes and by-products from other industries as alternative materials in the production of our cements and concretes, as well as recycled materials, such as recycled asphalt pavement and recycled aggregates, in our road and other solutions.
In CRH's Americas Division, Sapphire sources and processes lower-carbon alternative fuels from other industries, such as used tires, and supplies these to Ash Grove cement plants to replace the fossil fuels used in cement production.
How are we innovating to advance circular solutions?
We consider the whole life-cycle of products and projects. Through early engagement in project design, we can help to address our customer's pain points by finding the best outcomes for their projects, including materials efficiency, durability and recyclability and help to keep homes, buildings and infrastructure in use for as long as possible.
We're also investing in innovative technologies, such as AI powered robotics, which can improve the efficiency of material sorting and increase recycling rates and quality. Another advancing area is the use of new bio-based or biodegradable materials to reduce environmental impacts and eliminate the need for traditional waste treatment.
Being a leading provider of building materials solutions comes with a certain level of responsibility to our customers, employees and communities. At CRH, we take this responsibility seriously by innovating circular solutions."
Yuliya Kravtsov,
President, Sapphire, CRH Americas Division
Disclaimer
CRH plc published this content on March 28, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via , unedited and unaltered, on March 28, 2025 at 15:20 UTC .