Displaying items by tag: US
US: The state Land Use Commission of Hawaii has approved Hawaiian Cement’s licence application for expanded operations at Pohokea quarry in Wiakapu until 2035. The Maui News newspaper has reported that the commission has ordered the producer to hold consultations with the US Department of Land and Natural Resources with regards to the management of possible impacts on yellow-faced bees. The insects were declared an endangered species in 2016. The bees’ welfare formed the basis of a challenge by the conservationist Sierra Club Maui against the licence extension.
Titan America’s Pennsuco and Roanoke cement plants secure US Green Building Council Regional Leadership Award
17 June 2021US: The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has granted its Regional Leadership Award to Titan America’s Pennsuco, Florida, and Roanoke, North Carolina, cement plants. The award recognises green building and sustainable practices. The Pennsuco plant implemented 16 zero waste and sustainability programmes. At the Roanoke plant, Titan America subsidiary Roanoke Cement Company (RCC) achieved TRUE Gold Zero Waste certification in 2020 and implemented environmental product declarations (EPDs).
RCC cement manufacturing vice president Zaklina Stamboliska said, "Through our zero waste programs we have implemented native landscaping and other biodiversity advances to our local ecosystems. We have entered into outreach with local universities to educate students and shared our knowledge among our industry, concrete producers and others through work with EPDs. We are building and spreading the word."
US: Colombia-based Cementos Argos is planning to export 0.4Mt of cement to the US in 2021. The cement producer’s exports to the country grew by 419% year-on-year to 135,000t in the first five months of 2021 from 26,000t in the same period in 2020. It says that it expects the US cement market to grow by 2.2% year-on-year in 2021.
The company is currently upgrading its integrated plant in Cartagena, Colombia and improving the associated port terminal. The US$40m project is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2021. It is intended to support the export market to the US and elsewhere.
US: SRM Concrete has completed its acquisition of 24 former Argos USA ready-mix concrete plants in Dallas, Texas. No issues were reported by the regulators, according to Agencia CMA. The purchase, valued at US$180m, was announced in May 2021.
PCA forecasts US regional cement consumption in 2021
15 June 2021US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) Market Intelligence Group has released its Spring 2021 Regional Forecasts for the Northeast, Central, West, and Southeast regions. Residential construction has been identified as the main driver of consumption growth in most regions.
The Pacific sub-region of the West is forecast to grow by 1.1% year-on-year in 2021, while the Mountain sub-region will drop by 0.7% following strong growth in 2020.
The West South Central sub-region is expected to rise by 2.3% and the West North Central by 1.2%. In the former this will be supported by residential demand and a recovery in the oil well cement market. The PCA added that he sub-region maintains very strong construction fundamentals given demand from strong in-migration and an expanding tax base.
The PCA noted that the Northeast had been hit ‘hard’ by the coronavirus pandemic but that cement consumption still grew by 0.6% in 2020. In 2021 the association has forecast growth of 0.1%. Although residential construction is expected to drive demand the association said that the region is expected to lag behind national trends in public cement consumption given, “state fiscal conditions and the characteristics of the region.”
Finally, the PCA forecasts that cement consumption in the South Atlantic sub-region will be ‘strong’ with growth of 6.8% in 2021 and 2.1% in 2022. Demand in the East South Central sub-region is also expected to be positive with consumption growth of 7.6% in 2021 and 1.9% in 2022.
Cobod using 3D printer to build house in Arizona
14 June 2021US: Cobod’s modular BOD2 3D construction printer is being used to build a 160m2 residential house in Tempe, Arizona. The new house will be ready for its occupants by September 2021. The building has been designed by Candelaria Associates.
General manager Henrik Lund-Nielsen said, “Our 3D construction technology and printers have enjoyed immense success in Europe, Africa, The Middle East, and Asia. Obviously, due to our long-term cooperation with GE, we have some success with US customers also. Still, we are really pleased that our printers are now beginning to make a stronger inroad into the US construction market. More and more US companies realise that our technology is superior to what local suppliers can deliver. Our printers have done buildings in two US states now and more will follow in the coming months.”
Switzerland/US: LafargeHolcim and GE Renewable Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding to research new ways to recycle of used wind turbines. The partners are seeking to use the shredded blades to produce low-CO2 building materials. LafargeHolcim said that undertaking builds on the work of its subsidiary Geocycle, which previously began using GE’s waste wind turbine blades to produce alternative fuel (AF) for cement production. The cement producer called recycling the ‘key next step’ in line with the Circular Economy Action Plan of the European Union’s European Green Deal.
Trade versus climate on the edge of the EU
09 June 2021Little trickles of detail about the European Union’s (EU) proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) started to emerge last week. The key bit of information that Bloomberg managed to squeeze out of their source was that a transition period with a simplified system is being considered from 2023 and then a full version could turn up in 2026. Cement importers, and those in selected other heavy industries, would be required to buy electronic emission certificates at prices corresponding to those in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS). Other titbits include: that the prices will be set on a weekly basis based on the average carbon permit price within the EU that week; a default value will be devised for importers who can’t back up their emissions data; and imports from a country with its own carbon pricing scheme will be entitled to a discount. The plans are due to be made public in mid-July 2021. Debate is then expected to follow before approval will be required from the European Parliament and member states.
The detail isn’t out there yet but the CBAM is set to collide with trade agreement territory. For example, how the draft agreement tackles issues such as exports from Europe and whether importers should be compensated for not receiving a free allocation of carbon credits could be seen to offer competitive advantage to one party or another. Climate policy will clash with trade policy once or if the CBAM makes in into law. At this point countries that import cement into the EU may start trying to negotiate or complaining to the World Trade Organisation. One previous example of climate policy bashing into trade agreements is when the EU tried and failed to apply the ETS to aviation in the early 2010s. The experience from this incident is expected to inform the European Commission’s approach on the CBAM.
Outside the EU, new carbon pricing schemes have been popping up all over the place and various cement associations are creating or refining their own carbon neutral plans. Last week in North America, for example, the Cement Association of Canada said it was working with the government on launching a roadmap by the end of 2021. In the US, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) has also been hard at work to publish its own roadmap by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, over in the oil sector there were a couple of victories for activist shareholders in May 2021 with Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron all being forced to make changes to their climate change polices by courts and activist investors. This makes one wonder how long it will be before the same thing happens to cement companies.
All this increases the pressure between trading agreements and climate legislation. One of the questions that has popped up at Global Cement’s webinar series has been whether attendees thought that a global carbon pricing and/or trading scheme might be a realistic position or not (the majority said ‘yes’ within 20 years). Yet the EU CBAM, all these sustainability plans and continued pressure by investor activist don’t happen in isolation. They occur in an interconnected world.
So it was both non-surprising and eye-popping to discover recently that a private carbon exchange is being prepared in Singapore for a launch by the end of 2021. Climate Impact X (CIX) is being backed by DBS Bank, Singapore Exchange, Standard Chartered and the Singapore-government owned investment company Temasek. As for which companies would actually voluntarily enter into a scheme that would actively reduce profits, the answer lies above. Any organisation looking to trade between carbon pricing jurisdictions might well have an economic incentive to find a truly international scheme that was reputable. Or, perhaps, a publicly owned company dealing in carbon-intensive products might be bullied into one by its activist investors. The focus on such an exchange being reputable is essential here, given the potentially large amounts of money that could be involved and the mixed views on existing carbon offsetting schemes. CIX says it will use satellite monitoring, machine learning and blockchain technology to ensure the integrity of its carbon credits and this is certainly thinking in the right direction. Until it arrives though, we wait to see the detail on the EU CBAM.
Mahendra Singhi to work with Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition on Asia-Pacific strategy
09 June 2021India/US: Mahendra Singhi, the head of India-based Dalmia Cement (Bharat), has been invited to represent the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) as Carbon Pricing Champion. He will work with Feike Sijbesma, Honorary Chair of Board of Royal DSM to devise carbon pricing strategies for the Asia-Pacific region
The CPLC is a global coalition promoted by the World Bank Group. It is represented by 34 national and sub-national governments, 172 private sector organizations 100 strategic partners non government organisations, business organisations, and universities. The voluntary initiative aims to accelerate climate change mitigation by securing the place of carbon pricing on the global agenda.
US: The Boston Globe newspaper has reported that the single biggest threat to the US government’s planned industrial reinvigoration based around a US$2.2tn federal infrastructure spending plan is a shortage of resources. The newspaper named a lack of workers and cement mills as particular concerns. It reported that the National Association of Home Builders has called for tariffs to be cut for certain key building materials such as lumber and that more cement should be imported.