Building a Better Future for All™
Our purpose has become our guiding light, defining why we do what we do. We are embracing and integrating our bold sustainability goals into our business operations, governance structure and company culture. Sustainability is a never-ending journey for us. So, we continue to identify and develop solutions that strive to do right by our planet, our people, and the communities where we operate.
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Building a Culture of Sustainability
Throughout our company and across our value chain, sustainability is foundational at James Hardie. Our sustainability goals are integrated into our business operations, governance structure and company culture. We have ambitious targets that align with our purpose of Building a Better Future for All™, the issues that matter most to our stakeholders and our overall corporate objectives. Our progress is possible through collaboration and innovation. From our frontline employees to the builders who use our products, each person plays a role in putting our sustainability initiatives into action.
Communities
We create jobs that help drive local economies and aim to attract, develop, engage and retain talent. Our culture promotes inclusion, innovation, equity, performance and growth.
Planet
At James Hardie, we are setting ambitious goals as responsible stewards around reducing emissions, minimizing waste, and saving water.
Zero Harm
Our conviction is that every incident is preventable through changing behaviors. We address Zero Harm through a focus on safe people, safe spaces, and safe systems.
Innovation
At James Hardie, our efforts go beyond product creation; we continue to shape the building industry of the future.
FY24 Highlights
To help us track and assess our progress, we adopted new, more ambitious goals in FY23. We continued advancing that work in FY24 through collaboration and cross-functional integration, from Research and Development (R&D) to engineering to manufacturing to finance to human resources.
42%
Absolute scope 1+2 emissions reduction
by 2030
ZERO
Manufacturing waste to landfill
by 2035
25%
Women in management
by FY26
PLANET
Reducing our carbon footprint
We had a 22% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions at our Carole Park, Australia facility in CY23 from CY21, as a result of the elimination of coal, LEAN initiatives and grid decarbonization. Building upon our success in transitioning from coal to natural gas in the manufacturing processes at our Carole Park, we are developing a renewable electricity roadmap in the Asia Pacific region. At the same time, we are investing in reducing our natural gas consumption at Carole Park by tracking daily use and intensity metrics, creating action plans, meeting weekly, and engaging our people at the plant level.
PLANET
Raising the bar on water conservation
In Carole Park, Australia, we are investing millions of dollars to develop one of the most advanced water treatment plants across James Hardie to cut our wastewater discharge by at least half. Our new system will treat wastewater to remove and neutralize harmful chemicals so that it can be reused multiple times, contributing significantly to our goal of recycling 20 million cubic feet of water per year by 2030. The work we are doing in Carole Park is a foundational first step toward creating a closed loop system for water use and meeting our water recycling goal and will be leveraged to improve operations across the company.
ZERO HARM
Creating a healthier work environment
In Rosehill, Australia, plant manager Hector Castro and his procurement team spearheaded an innovative effort to incorporate three new electric forklifts into manufacturing and distribution. His efforts eliminated worker exposure and to forklift emissions, contributing to a healthier work environment for our employees.
ZERO HARM
Tracking safety performance
In APAC, where our sites achieved a DART (Days Away, Restricted or Transferred) rate of 0.47 against 2.48 million hours worked in FY24, we continued to double down on safety and held stop events to encourage conversations after experiencing an incident. We believe that every incident is preventable, and we address Zero Harm through a focus on safe people, safe places and safe systems.
COMMUNITIES
Helping Habitat for Humanity® globally
Through this new effort with Habitat for Humanity Australia, we will provide fibre cement products for durable, low maintenance and beautiful home exteriors. In addition, our employees volunteer with the Brush with Kindness program, refurbishing crisis housing for women and children escaping domestic violence. We also donated through Habitat to Studio Purpose to provide housing for homeless youth in South Australia.
Sustainability in focus
Here we highlight the impactful initiatives, innovative approaches, and meaningful collaborations that drive our ESG efforts.
James Hardie Environmental Product Declaration
James Hardie has a continued history of EPD’s in Australia, with the first published in 2017, updated in 2020 and again in 2023.
Greater product coverage compared to previous years – 97% of product volume covered
Our EPD covers the full product lifecycle from cradle to grave for a complete picture
Updated using material and manufacturing inputs from 2021 calendar year
Recarbonation included in the updated 2023 EPD. Recarbonation is a natural process in cement-based products in which cement reacts with the air and reabsorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) during the use phase of the product.
Updated EPD in compliance with ISO 14025 and EN 15804:2012+A2:2019
