Embedding sustainability for better infrastructure

Reducing environmental impact through better design and construction of sustainable infrastructure. This includes material savings, alternative cements, and addressing aspects such as resource efficiency, circularity, waste, and energy management. In tunnelling projects, geology plays a crucial role, mainly through rock quality and recycling possibilities. Lombardi's "Energy Tunnel" concept focuses on preserving valuable geological resources like underground water and heat.

Infrastructure is of foremost importance for human development by providing access to basic services, enabling economic growth, and bringing human overall well-being. For example, a dam can create various beneficial effects for a local community by giving access to clean drinking water or for agricultural use. It can also enhance resilience towards climate change induced events, such as glacier melting or floodings. And additionally, it can be a source for clean energy generation supporting the stability of electrical grid systems.

Lombardi’s business is centered around creating sustainable infrastructure: designing, constructing and operating dams, railway, roads, bridges, and tunnels over project phases and in all project related roles. Hence, there is a relationship between Lombardi and the quality of life and well-being these infrastructure projects can deliver.

Today, from a sustainability perspective, the majority of infrastructures are very unsustainable. Their construction on land formerly covered by nature or used as agricultural land means that land has to be cleared. The construction itself comes with significant amounts of materials, energies and involves large numbers of transports.

Lombardi created a sustainability offer to bring the topic into the projects and our daily work.

Our Value Sustainability

Published by

Christian Schlatter
Head of Sustainability competence center
Contact

Published on

November 09, 2023

Competences

Engineering for net-zero future

The environmental impact of cement

2019 the Swiss national cement production reached over 4.1 millions of tons which corresponds to around 85% of the demand (CemSuisse). With an average of 500 g CO2/g cement, the resulting CO2 emissions connected to cement manufacturing alone equals to 2.3 million tons of CO2 per year, roughly 6 % of the yearly national total emissions (of 38.58 million tons in 2019; EDGAR) and even 7 to 8 % of the worldwide emissions. Besides the environmental aspects of infrastructure, the social and economic dimension are often easily visible and of similar concern like the environmental one.

4

million tons of cement were produced in Switzerland in 2019

6 %

of the yearly total CO2 emissions in Switzerland were attributed to cement production

8 %

of the worldwide CO2 emissions

500 g

CO2/g cement in average

10-50 %

potential for reducing emissions in our projects