Report Assessment and Verification

Report Structure, Scope and Methodology

Background
TITAN Cement S.A. produced its first Social Report in 1983 and continued in the same reporting format till 2002. In 2003 TITAN Group adopted the Global Reporting Guidelines and proceeded to produce of its first Group-wide Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Report aligned with international standards and best practices. Since 2005, TITAN has followed the Communication on Progress guidelines issued by U.N. Global Compact Initiative and its Report is registered accordingly to the U.N. Global Compact electronic platform. In 2010 TITAN received an invitation to register the annual report as an “Advanced level” Report and thus, it will follow the relevant procedure.

Defining Report content
Report content and material issues are examined in respect to relevant feedback received from stakeholders as well as developments within TITAN and the countries where it operates. CSR Committees work cross-functionally  within TITAN to define reporting priorities at Group and local levels. To meet this aim GRI’s Technical Protocol “Guidance on Defining Report Content” is consistently followed.

Independent Assessment and Verification
TITAN is committed to raising its level of transparency and improving reporting to stakeholders. Since 2007 independent assessment and report verification have been a core part of TITAN’s procedure for continuous improvement. This process has covered all TITAN operations apart from the joint ventures in Turkey and the recently acquired plant in Kosovo, which is currently in the process of integrating TITAN standards and procedures. The 2011 Report has been independently verified by Det Norske Veritas Bussiness Assurance (DNV) and the detailed verification statement is included in this section of the Report.

Scope of the 2011 Report
Data from all TITAN Group subsidiaries form the basis of this Report. The Report covers the full range of economic, social and environmental impacts of TITAN operations. More details on economic, governance as well as principal subsidiaries are included in the 2011 Annual Report and Financial Bulletin. Thus, in the contents of this Report direct references to relevant sections are cited. The TITAN Group operates as a joint venture in Turkey and acquired a new cement plant in Kosovo at the end of December 2010. In this Report, data from Turkey have been incorporated in the Group Report, as well as data from Kosovo. Social performance indicators, particulalry related to employment profile analysis by gender and age as requested by the most recent update of GRI G3.1. are partially disclosed as relevant recorded data are not fully verified, yet.

Specific information regarding gender representation in employment and management are also not reported as not still included in local reporting systems. TITAN has undertaken the commitment to further improve reporting structure and methodologies in both Turkey and Kosovo, starting from environmental and safety systems. This process continues for update and integration of social management systems that it is expected to be completed in 2012.

The Report covers key indicators of Group environmental performance, consolidated data from cement production and cement grinding plants and their attached quarries - as well as four quarries that, although not attached to a specific cement plant, provide raw material only to cement plants. The plant in Kosovo and its attached quarries, acquired in December 2010, are included in this year report, apart from the data relating to training, which have not been recorded according to TITAN standards, and for this reason were excluded from relevant tables and consolidated figures.

The reader should also bear in mind that: Performance related indices that are connected to a Group target, like specific air emissions for CO₂, dust, NO_x and SO_x, specific water consumption, as well as alternative fuel substitution, are calculated based on the equity held by the TITAN Group in 2009.

All other reported data are calculated based on the equity held by the TITAN Group in each specific year. These include data related to raw materials, energy and water consumption, as well as waste production.

In 2011, the TITAN Group produced 12.9 million tons of cement at its 14 operating cement production facilities and two cement grinding plants. In addition, the eight Separation Technology production units produced 1 million tons of cement-like material.

Changes in the Report structure
The structure of this Report is similar to that followed in previous years, in order to achieve more consistency with long-term commitments and easier performance review. With feedback received from stakeholders changes have been made in certain sections as well as in the Table on page 11 titled “2011 TITAN Group Performance vs Targets 2015 and 2017”, as well as on page 4 in the Table titled “Non-financial performance”.

A more detailed presentation of TITAN’s social and environmental efforts at local level focuses mainly on areas that have been identified as priorities in each case. This has been underlined as an expectation of the stakeholders and in this Report an effort has been made to improve further the presentation of TITAN’s footprints by region.

Materiality and data accuracy
Figures for the water and biodiversity indicators were not revised for previous years in order to reflect the new definitions and coverage. More specifically for water, as the WBCSD/CSI Task Force on Water Management has compiled a draft of new definitions for KPIs and methodology of measuring-estimating and reporting, this report includes comprehensive figures for TITAN’s performance: the total Water Withdrawal, and Water Consumption (total and per ton of cement produced) is included, whereas the total of Consumption and Discharge is equal to the total Withdrawal. For the Biodiversity (local impacts) KPIs, TITAN has decided to increase the “coverage” reporting, to include all quarries in the Group, regardless of types of raw materials and the end usage. In other words, this year’s report provides the results of analysis for the total number of quarries for cement plant feed and aggregates production. It follows that the local impact KPIs according to CSI definitions (“Active quarry sites with high biodiversity value”, “Active quarries sites with biodiversity management plans”, “Sites with com­munity engagement plans”, and “Sites with quarry rehabilitation plans”) are now used for reporting performance over the full range of quarry operations for the Group.

Reporting and feedback expected from stakeholders
This Report is directed to key stakeholders, namely employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, government and regulatory authorities, local communities and NGOs. It is also directed to potential investors, analysts and any other interested party. Feedback from all is welcomed at the following web address: csr@titan.gr .

For more information please visit our website:

www.titan-cement.com  or contact: Maria Alexiou, TITAN Group CSR Manager, Secretary of the TITAN Group CSR Committee, at csr@titan.gr , 22a Halkidos St., 111 43 Athens, Greece.

GRI and U.N. Global Compact
TITAN declares that this Report fulfils GRI (G3.1) requirements for application level “A+” and this has also been verified by external independent Auditors.

TITAN has started following GRI Reporting Guidelines since 2003 when the first Group CSR and Sustainability Report was issued.

Following the GRI Guidelines has supported overall improvements in both internal and external communications, measuring long-term performance and expanding scope of engaging with stakeholders.

In 2007, TITAN Group adopted GRI G3 Guidelines and continued to invest in continuous improvement. In 2011, a step further was made by following the recently revised edition of the Guidelines G3.1.

Since 2010, TITAN was invited as a U.N. Global Compact member to join the process of self-assessment according to the new criteria set by the U.N. Global Compact Blueprint regarding Communication on Progress. TITAN declares this Report as meeting advanced level according to the Global Compact Communication on Progress criteria. The process of independent assurance of this Report has also covered the assessment fo UNGC criteria for CoP.