Sustainability

At Roadstone, we recognise that we must continually adapt our way of working to respond to the on-going climate crisis.

This can only be achieved by driving improvements and innovation throughout our entire business, embedding sustainability in relation to environmental, social and economic matters across the entirety of our operations. We are committed to accelerating the effective and efficient delivery of sustainable and high-quality construction products and solutions for our clients and customers, in order to build, connect, and improve the world around us. Through our commitment, we will ensure Roadstone’s role in developing a sustainable world for current and future generations alike.

Our Vision

To reinvent the way in which the world is built, with sustainability at its core. We will lead across our industry in Ireland, developing sustainable products and solutions for our clients, maintaining harmony with our natural environment and our people.

- Donal Rigney, Managing Director, Roadstone

Sustainability & Our Business

Roadstone, a CRH company, is the leading manufacturer and supplier of building materials in Ireland operating across 46 locations, Our nationwide business includes the manufacture and distribution of a wide range of construction material products.

We also provide an asphalt contracting service for commercial, domestic, and local authority road projects. Since our foundation in 1949, Roadstone has been at the cutting edge of the construction industry in Ireland and our commitment to providing unrivalled product quality, reliability, innovation, choice, and quality customer service remains steadfast.

This commitment extends to embedding sustainability practices in all facets of our operations and ensuring sustainability is at the heart of the work we are undertaking. The ongoing climate crisis has made it essential for us to respond and to adapt our current and future ways of working. The ‘Our solutions in Action’ section below details the many projects and products Roadstone has developed to demonstrate our commitment to embedding sustainability practices.

The National and European policy landscape is driving a sectoral wide response to the climate crisis. Organisations are now required to adhere to legislative emission reduction targets and report under various frameworks (compulsory and voluntary). Examples of these include the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), Task Force on Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the EU Taxonomy. These frameworks require organisations to report on their impact across a wide range of topics such as climate change mitigation, climate adaptation and resilience, circular economy, and biodiversity.

As a leader in the construction materials industry, Roadstone aims to further lead across all aspects of sustainability. Thereby ensuring that the work we do supports the transition to a low-carbon, efficient, safe, sustainable, and resilient society across both our internal operations and our wider supply chain.

Sustainability Framework & Targets

The CRH Group are leaders in responding to the global call to action on climate change, evidenced by their commitment to achieving a 30% reduction in absolute group-wide carbon emissions by 2030 (2021 baseline) and reaching net zero emissions by 2050. In early 2023, the SBTi validated CRH’s 2022 revised targets in line with the updated 1.5°C science-based framework.

Roadstone has developed a Scope 1 and Scope 2 decarbonisation roadmap to 2030 as part of the CRH targets. Within this roadmap Roadstone is committed to reducing absolute gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 42% by 2030 from a 2021 absolute base year, an important milestone of our strategy towards achieving our ambition to be net-zero by 2050.

At Roadstone, our overarching targets will set out our ambition for our future operations. In line with the wider CRH group, our priority areas are Decarbonisation, Waste, and Water. We aim to reflect and build upon these key areas to encompass the full spectrum of sustainability including social and economic activities, such as enhancement of social value and biodiversity through our actions. We will strive for constant improvement across our organisation and undertake continual monitoring and review of these and future targets to ensure they reflect our goals and visions for the company, and that measures to meet targets are being carried out.

Sustainable Development Goals

Our approach is founded on the principles of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs comprise of 17 goals which integrate economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

We operate across areas that contribute to achieving all SDGs, however, in line with CRH, and as a result of our industry and the work we do, we have prioritised the following 7 SDGs as being the areas where we have, and will continue to have, the most impact for the built environment.

Our Sustainability Journey

As a leader in the building materials sector in Ireland, our clients and stakeholders require us to use our expertise to produce high quality, cost effective, innovative, and certified products and solutions to meet their needs. Sustainability requirements are shifting in response to national and European policy and reporting standards, and in light of this, we see a shift in the drivers for our clients and their expectations from Roadstone. Our commitment to sustainability across our organisation must therefore adapt in order to reflect and align the changing policy landscape while meeting client expectations.

Our aim is to lead sustainable activities in our market by committing to and instilling sustainable practices such as circular economy principles, low carbon and low energy solutions into the work we carry out. We recognise that engaging and responding to the needs and expectations of our clients and the wider industry is a key priority, while also ensuring to align to CRH ambition, government policy and the overall shift in societal views of sustainable activities and climate change.

We pride ourselves on providing sustainable solutions and products for our clients. This is supported by the development of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and our Customer Carbon Footprint report for a range of our products and services. EPDs and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) enable us to inform clients of the overall environmental impact and performance of our products across a wide range of impact areas that can help identify and assess overall company sustainability.

As advocates for the change in our industry’s response to the climate crisis, our commitment to sustainable practices has driven continuous improvements, and research and innovation across our operations and the work that we do, in particular in the area of circular economy.

Over the past years, we have made significant progress to further embed sustainability within our organisation and the work we do. In 2021 we developed our first CO2 Roadmap to track and target reductions in Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions across all our operations. Reductions were achieved through a number of active projects that sought to improve energy efficiencies, optimise materials and mixture recipes, and utilise recycled/re-purposed materials.

In 2022, our progress was reinforced by the launch of CRH's Scope 1 & 2 GHG emission roadmap. We increased the number of projects tracking active CO2 reductions while also launching a number of Sustainable Solution R&D projects. Across our operations in 2022 we reduced our total Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions by more than 23,000 Tonnes of CO2.

As of 2023, we have a total of 80 active sustainability projects that includes projects from our CO2 Roadmap, Sustainable Solution R&D projects, as well as projects focussing on the wider spectrum of ESG including biodiversity, the environment and social value. In the first half of 2023 we have reduced our emissions by more than 15,000 Tonnes of CO2.

Our work to date is setting the precedent and foundation to continue achieving real and lasting results from embedding sustainability in what we do; we aim to replicate and scale-up this action into 2024 and beyond.

Customer Carbon Footprint Report & EPDs

For our RMC & Asphalt products we can provide a report detailing the Cradle to Gate (A1-A3) and Transport to Site (A4) product and project carbon footprint information including the carbon savings related to using our sustainable solutions. This report can be utilised at design or tender stage, during construction or end or project to give our customers a detailed insight into the embodied carbon. In addition, we can collaborate with our customers to gain a deeper insight into the embodied carbon in our products due to the Construction (A5), In-Use (B1-B7) and End of Life (C1-C4) impacts relating to the product application specific to the project.

This solution allows our customers to compare alternative products and services, actively seek lower carbon alternatives and understand the impact of using recycled and secondary materials.

EPDs are growing in popularity within the construction industry as a standardised way of providing information on the environmental impact of product throughout its entire life and compare the impacts of products within a construction project.

Roadstone currently have several Third-Party verified EPDs that are compliant with the requirements of EN 15804 available to download from the International EPD System platform:

Aggregates & Granular Fill (Belgard) S-P-05739 - Aggregates & Granular Fill (Belgard Quarry) (environdec.com)
Concrete Block Products (Belgard) S-P-04244 - Roadstone Belgard Concrete Block Products (environdec.com)
Paving & Walling Products (Gooig) S-P-04962 - Roadstone Paving and Walling Products (environdec.com)
Thermal LiteBlock (Belgard) S-P-02442 - Thermal Liteblock (environdec.com)

For more information or to request a Carbon Footprint Report or EPD contact info@roadstone.ie

Supply Chain Sustainability School Ireland

Roadstone are proud to be Founding Partner of the Supply Chain Sustainability School in Ireland.

Being a founding partner of the school demonstrates our commitment to support both our own supply chain and our customers in improving their resources and capability on how to deliver sustainable projects. The school assists Roadstone to be a better business and overcome sustainability challenges with a common industry wide approach. Together with the School, we're poised to drive lasting change, enhance skills, and boost performance in the Irish supply chain.

Discover more about the School and its FREE resources here: Home - Supply Chain Sustainability School Ireland (supplychainschool.ie)

Our Solutions in Action

Some examples of Roadstone’s endeavours which show our innovation and commitment to implementing sustainability across our organisation and bringing benefits to our customers, and the wider environment and community, are detailed below.