Wienerberger Sustainability Projects – 2006+

Projects for social working environment adapted to meet needs of local employees
In keeping our focus on people, social engagement and support for employees form the cornerstone of our social responsibility. Wienerberger works to provide its employees with an attractive and social working environment through training programs, the improvement of working conditions, voluntary benefits and support for common activities. Questionnaires and feedback cycles form the basis for an active dialogue with employees and help to define their particular needs. This leads to the development of country-specific measures that reflect the requirements of the local workforce. For example, working hours in Austria were made more flexible during the past year to offer employees a greater opportunity for self-determination. In Ukraine, Wienerberger voluntarily provides its employees with health insurance to give them added security.
 
Support for charitable organizations with special focus on assistance for children
“Wienerberger makes bricks, but homes are built for people”. This awareness is reflected in our goal to use our products and financial support as a means of helping people who have been hurt by unforeseen circumstances or misfortune. Our most important concern in this respect is to help children, the weakest members of our society. We work together with recognized organizations, which we support by providing free bricks for the construction of educational facilities and buildings as well as financial backing for their projects. A long-standing partnership connects us with SOS-Kinderdorf, and we have steadily intensified this contact through numerous projects on different continents in recent years. With the founding of the SOS-Sustainability Foundation special funds are reserved for Asia. These funds are invested under professional management and will continue to grow over the years.
 
We continuously support environmental protection and social projects in nearly all countries in which Wienerberger is present. Please find below a selection of the sustainability projects that our local subsidiaries carried out during the past year.

SOS-Sustainability Foundation, SOS Kinderdorf (2004/2005 – on going)  
After the Tsunami in 2004, Wienerberger donated € 1.2 Mio. for instant relief to SOS Kinderdorf. As the activities of SOS Kinderdorf are targeted at projects that cater for children in need on a sustainable long term basis, the SOS-Sustainability Foundation was established. The foundation manages funds reserved for Asia, which are invested under professional management and will continue to grow over the years. With the foundation we have found an instrument that will guarantee long-term assistance for the victims of the Tsunami.
 
In the last two years, among other projects in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, a project in Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, India was sponsored and 1,500 children were supported and cared for. Coming from fishing families, a large number of those children have lost their fathers in this natural disaster. Therefore, the children and their widow mothers are provided with food and medical aid. SOS-Kinderdorf is cooperating with local self help groups, teachers and other important people in the villages to help affected children and their mothers.
 
For 2007/2008 € 214,000 from the SOS-Sustainability Foundation are allotted to this family oriented project in South India.
 
Jövövár (“Castle of the Future”) Initiative, Hungary
The Jövövár Initiative, which was founded by Wienerberger in 2000, has received increasing attention and broad support from industry and the Hungarian media in recent years. Only in the past year, five additional companies joined this program. Roughly € 1 million has been collected since the start of the Jövövár Initiative to finance projects that assist children and young people. Under the auspices of the Hungarian minister of education, more than € 200,000 of funds and donations in kind were distributed during 2006 to institutions that are active in the education, upbringing, medical care or rehabilitation of children. Our building materials were used, among others, to renovate schoolrooms, build gymnasiums and repair damaged roofs.
 
Preservation of the national heritage, Netherlands
In cooperation with the municipal authorities of a small medieval town in the Netherlands, a project was started to renovate the wall surrounding the city. Wienerberger developed and produced special bricks for this project. They not only harmonize with the existing design and maintain the historical flair of the city, but also contain iron to increase the load-bearing capacity and thereby give the wall the required strength. Work on the project began during 2006 and should be completed by mid-2007.
 
Construction of a school area for the Happy Kids Foundation, Romania
The Happy Kids Foundation plans to construct a modern school area that will also be available for use by the local community. It will include a day nursery, day care center, grammar school and high schools as well as various recreational facilities like sports fields and cafeterias. This project is designed to support the education of children with special needs as well as children from rural areas. Wienerberger has agreed to donate all bricks required for construction of these facilities. The project was started in October 2006 and is scheduled for completion in 2012.
 
Christmas donation for children, Austria
As in the past years, Wienerberger has dedicated its annual Christmas donation to projects that help children in need. The Concordia project managed by Father Sporschill received € 37,500 for a children’s house in its “City of Children” in Pirita, Republic of Moldavia .This house has made it possible to place 18 abandoned children with a new family. A further € 37,500 was donated to SOS Kinderdorf for a project in Byelorussia. As part of a program to strengthen families, the SOS social center in Minsk provides psychological and medical support for people affected by crisis and, in particular, offers financial assistance to single mothers.
 
Concordia Project was founded in 1991 by Austrian father Georg Sporschill when he and three other social workers traveled for Caritas to Bucharest to help abandoned children living on the streets. The first house for children was founded shortly after and the social work in the streets and train stations commenced. Ever since, social workers, teachers and counsellors are helping kids in Rumania, Moldova and the Ukraine.

All local companies are working to improve environmental protection

“Building Value for a sustainable future” is one of our guiding principles and our many activities demonstrate that these are not just empty words. As a producer of building materials, Wienerberger “uses” nature in a kind of symbiosis. Our clay mining procedures are designed to minimize the impact on the environment and our bricks and roof tiles are ecologically friendly natural products with a long life that can be easily be recycled. All companies in the Group work continuously to improve environmental protection measures and optimize the use of energy.
 
Specially designed activities and cooperation with NGOs
For example, our French subsidiary prepared a policy statement that can be applied to the entire Wienerberger Group. These principles underscore the commitment of the company to compliance with environmental protection laws, climate protection, energy savings, the restoration of clay mining sites, recycling of waste, exchange of experience with other companies, humanitarian assistance, support for local communities, preservation of our cultural heritage and transparency. At our plants, we work to maintain the best possible understanding with municipal authorities, representatives of interest groups and neighbouring residents. The focus of our activities is placed on mutual understanding and learning from one another. We also value an open and continuous dialogue with NGOs.
 
Exemplary cooperation with WWF on specific projects
A special cooperation has linked us with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for the past five years since the signing of a letter of intent for the pursuit of joint projects. Within the framework of this agreement, Wienerberger supports the international activities of the WWF in Austria, which include the Ramsar Center in Schrems, a documentation, event and research facility on wetlands, as well as the WWF-Seewinkelhof in Apetlon. In exchange, the WWF advises Wienerberger on the realization of environmental protection projects.

Installation of air pollution controls in 8 tunnel kilns, USA
General Shale, the US subsidiary of Wienerberger, successfully completed the installation of air pollution controls in eight large tunnel kilns during the past year. This € 7.5 million investment represents an important step in reducing emissions by the American brick plants, and underscores the role of General Shale as a leader in environmental issues for the US brick industry.
 
100% recycling of production waste, Romania
A project was started during September 2006 to support the recycling of all waste arising in connection with the production process. In particular, this involves waste paper and plastic, iron scrap, batteries, residual oil and tyres. To ensure success of the project, the waste removal and recycling firms that work with the company are also involved. This project is currently in the first phase of implementation, which covers the recycling of waste paper and plastic.
 
€4 million for environmentally compatible production technology, Germany
Over the past two years, Wienerberger has carried out an extensive € 4 million program to modernize the brick plant in Ansbach. This project optimized the production process with the use of new technology, and thereby led to a reduction in energy requirements and increase in environmental compatibility. It also improved the kiln-to-dryer heat transfer which, in turn, further decreased the amount of energy used in the production process. The installation of modern thermal post-combustion at this plant has made an important contribution to reducing the emissions from brick production to a level that is far below permitted limits.
 
Cooperation “Living Rivers”, WWF, Netherlands
In the context of this project, Wienerberger is committed to dig off clay in wetlands (land between levee and river) and rebuild the original course of the river. As a consequence the land can be re-integrated into nature as wetlands with many advantages for humans and nature:

- formation of recreation areas with unique fauna

- restoration of wetlands with their original function as buffer zones during floods

- increase of ground-water table prevents the sagging of soil which is a great danger for large parts of the Netherlands
 
€1 million to reduce emissions, Czech Republic
In 2006, Wienerberger invested roughly € 1 million to install more environmental friendly production technologies in its Czech facilities. Three plants were refitted with thermal post-combustion equipment, which reduced emissions from the production process by up to 1/10 of the original level.