SUPPLY CHAIN CONCERNS CEMENT

Cement has a wide range of possible source countries similarly to steel. The ITUC of cement at Amy Guttman Hall is 4.0. Source countries of concern with high ITUC scores (5.00) are UAE, Thailand, Turkey, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Egypt, Columbia, China, and Brazil. There are 7 other countries on the list with an ITUC score of 3 or more. In general it seems the sourcing for cement, no matter where it comes from apart from a handful of nations is quite concerning.

The GSI score is 1.6 with the highest contributors being Vietnam, Turkey, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Greece, Egypt, and Croatia all with scores 5+. The majority of the other scores are lower in the 1-3 range which brought the overall GSI score down to 1.6. But if any of the cement was sourced from the countries with a higher GSI, it would be a very concerning material for the building.

For the concrete, the two suppliers are Madison Concrete & Action Concrete. Neither of these two manufacturers provide the origins of the raw materials which go into the concrete. For the recycled and virgin steel in all columns, framing, and reinforcement, Central Metals was the supplier for the project. Central Metals does not provide the origin of their steel either. For the timber GluLam framing and the CLT floor panels of the building however, Nordic Structures do specify that the export country for the raw material is Canada. Knowing the suppliers for the materials in a project unfortunately does not completely disclose the origins for raw materials of a known quantity. If the suppliers are able to specify where they curated their raw materials, the social LCA would be able to identify the nations at risk due to the procurement of the material more confidently. Knowing the supplier allows us to make assumptions of where the company may have sourced the raw materials but unless the manufacturers themselves disclose that information, it will remain guesswork that would be conducted through the Responsible Sourcing Tool or Labor Exploitation Risk Tool.