CBM – A sustainable and responsible business
The name says it all: Cleantech Building Materials (“CBM”) was founded in 2015 on the principle that operating in a sustainable and responsible manner is key to the growth and success of a modern business. The Company has a number of policies in place that underpin its day-to-day operations, ensuring the safeguarding of both the environment and its stakeholders. This highlights CBM’s fundamental commitment to delivering responsible business growth and development, whilst being at the forefront of providing a more sustainable option for developing the built environment.
Environmental
The CBM Group is currently focused on the sale and ultimately the production of Accoya® Wood. The Group has begun the process of building the first Accoya® Wood factory in China to serve the megatrend of urbanization sweeping across Asia, and to enable the manufacture of wooden products destined for the US and European markets.
Accoya® Wood is a high-performance solid wood, which happens to be both sustainable and non-toxic to the environment. It is produced through the enhancement of sustainably grown Radiata Pine into the ideal material for windows, doors, shutters, decking, cladding and much more.
Architects and manufacturers have traditionally chosen Accoya® Wood foremost for its guaranteed durability of over 50 years, its dimensional stability, and its excellent insulation qualities. However, in recent times there is an increased awareness that the alternative materials with which Accoya competes (aluminium, steel, uPVC, tropical hardwoods) are intensely resource depleting and/or highly carbon-polluting. Accoya® Wood ‘locks in’ carbon for the 50+ years of its life cycle. For every cubic meter of Accoya® produced, 944kg of CO2 is sequestered, compared with 88kg of CO2 emitted. For this reason, Accoya® is the only structural building material to have received Cradle to Cradle™ Gold certification (https://www.c2ccertified.org/products/scorecard/accoya_wood_radiata_pine_alder)
The Group’s main operating business in Asia, Diamond Wood, has been FSC® certified since 2008, and this certification covers the entire business. The Accoya® Wood manufacturing process has been awarded the “Sustainable Production Technology Award” in the Netherlands, in part due to how they key outputs are recycled. The CBM Group’s Accoya® factory in China will similarly make sustainable production the overriding criteria of its mission. The Chinese government is a strong supporter of this approach.
Social
CBM’s stakeholders are an integral part of the business, they consist of customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, advisors and the local communities within which the Group operates.
As part of CBM’s mission to shape a more sustainable future, every step the Group takes is taken with ethics and integrity in mind. The Group’s senior management seeks to regularly engage with all stakeholders to understand their views and respond to any concerns they have. Some of the ways we engage are as follows:
Employees
The Group was founded on the principle of diversity as a source of differentiated competitive strength, with employees located across Europe and Asia. Opportunities are given to the most appropriate current and prospective employees irrespective of age, gender and disability. The Group ensures adherence to the most current legislation.
The Group recognises that consistent, transparent and timely communication is key to employee engagement and uses a number of channels and platforms to communicate with its people at all levels of the business. The priority is to ensure that employees understand the Group’s vision, the priorities of the Group, as well as the strategy and objectives. Moreover, there is regular communication with employees about the values of the business and the behaviours expected of everyone, ensuring an appropriate business culture is maintained.
Customers
Transparent communication to our customers and channel partners is critical to the success of the Group’s business. We work closely with industry pioneers, who share CBM’s vision of addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization with high-performance, sustainable building materials. The Group has a collaborative approach with our customers and channel partners, aiming to become their long-term partners.
Supply Chain
The Group selects suppliers and subcontractors that align with its business vision and values and actively engages with its supply chain to promote the Group’s principles and practices. Key amongst these are the FSC-certified suppliers of Radiata Pine, providing the CBM Group with a long-term source of sustainable wood with which to produce Accoya® Wood. Many of the Group’s relationships are managed at a local level to support local communities.
Shareholders
We ensure there is clear, accurate and transparent communication between the Board and shareholders, and the Company provides updates on our strategy and progress towards our objectives. We carry this out through news announcements, the CBM website, the annual report and at Annual General Meetings. Additional, periodic meetings are held with shareholders.
Governance
Good corporate governance is one of CBM’s core values and it is something that the Group takes very seriously.
Further information on the Company’s corporate governance policies and procedures may be found here.
