James Hardie is the world market leader in the development of fibre cement building products and related building systems. The company pioneered technology for the manufacture of cellulose fibre reinforced cement as an alternative to asbestos cement in Australia during the early 1980s.

Today, James Hardie is committed to supporting the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) by implementing management strategies and programs in the areas of:

• water and resource conservation
• energy consumption and management
• use of renewable and recyclable resources as raw materials
• avoidance of environmentally damaging raw materials
• waste minimisation by recycling of process materials
• pollution reduction, and
• protection of the natural environment.

These programs have considerably improved the resource and energy efficiency of our operations and building systems technology. They will also ensure an ongoing improvement in the environmental performance of our products.

James Hardie is a founding participant in the Commonwealth Government's Greenhouse Challenge to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions and undertake emission abatement plans.

Our considerable ongoing research and development program includes formulation, energy, waste water and solid waste reduction, and a life cycle assessment study of fibre cement products.

Considering the availability of the raw resource, its freedom from maintenance, excellent product lifecycle and minimum environmental impact, fibre cement building materials contribute to some of the most energy efficient and environmentally responsible building systems available.