08 September 2021

China: Anhui Conch has signed a CO₂ trading agreement with Shanghai Environmental Energy Exchange (SEEE). The deal takes place within the context of Shanghai’s CO₂ trading pilot scheme. Anhui Conch says that it will not only facilitate the promotion of carbon allowance asset scheduling and carbon asset market transactions, but also provide accreditation and CO₂ management system certification. It says that SEEE will help it to better assume the role of a leading enterprise in the ‘dual-carbon’ field of the cement industry.

Anhui Conch says that it is focusing on developing a full-process carbon footprint monitoring system. It has begun researching the utilisation possibilities of captured carbon with academic partners.

France: The Court of Cassation has denied Lafarge’s appeals against the charge of complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria. The court of last resort has reversed the decision by the Paris Court of Appeal in 2019, according to the Agence France Presse. The case has now been referred back to investigating magistrates for reconsideration along with another charge of ‘endangering the lives of others.’ In a statement Lafarge said that the decision by the Court of Cassation did not in any way presume any guilt on its part and that it would continue to cooperate fully.

The legal case relates to the conduct of Lafarge in Syria between 2011 and 2014. Lafarge and Holcim later merged in 2015 becoming LafargeHolcim. LafargeHolcim’s shareholders voted to change the company’s name to Holcim in May 2021.

Mexico: Cemex has launched a sustainability-linked financing framework. It says that it is the ‘most comprehensive’ such framework in the building materials sector. The framework further aligns Cemex’s corporate sustainability commitments to its financing strategy, as part of its ‘Future in Action’ program. It establishes Cemex’s guiding principles when issuing new sustainability-linked financing instruments, including public bonds, private placements, loans, derivatives, working capital solutions and other financing instruments. Sustainalytics, an independent company that specialises in providing environmental, social and corporate governance research, ratings and data to institutional investors and companies, validated the framework’s alignment with the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles, the International Capital Market Association’s Climate Transition Finance Handbook and the Loan Market Association’s Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles.

“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time, and we will continue to address it as a fundamental component of our business strategy,” said Maher Al-Haffar, Cemex's chief financial officer. “Cemex is committed to increasing the role sustainable finance plays in its capital structure by potentially linking the cost of financial instruments to the achievement of targets, directly aligning our corporate finance strategy to sustainability commitments and further contributing to a low-carbon future.”

Cemex has included three key performance indicators in the framework: net CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious product, clean electricity consumption and alternative fuels rate. All of them were qualified by Sustainalytics and deemed aligned with the company’s climate action strategy. Cemex currently has a 2030 target of reaching below 475kg/t of CO₂ for cementitious products.

Sweden: Cementa has said that it ‘views positively’ the Swedish government's rapid action in proposing a new bill on limestone mining licencing. It lobbied the government to stick to its schedule to have a temporary licence in place for Cementa’s use of its quarries in Gotland by 31 October 2021. The group said that it is working ‘with full force’ to find practical and legal solutions to secure the Swedish cement supply in the short and long term.

Sustainability manager Karin Comstedt-Webb said “It will be important that the time frames are not limited by the new bill, but that it enables flexibility to secure Swedish cement supply in the future, so that we avoid ending up in the same problematic situation again in just a number of months.” She added “I want to emphasise that Cementa in all situations works with high environmental requirements. Our ambition remains to be able to show that our industrial operations and the production of the building material cement can go hand in hand with protection of Gotland's nature, water and people.”

Switzerland: Holcim has announced further details of its ‘nature-positive’ 2030 biodiversity and water management strategy. The producer says that under the strategy it will implement a 33% reduction in its cement operations’ water intensity by 2030. It will reduce the water intensity of its ready-mix concrete operations by 15% over the same period. Across all its activities, it is aiming to achieve water positivity at 75% of its sites and install a water recycling system at every site. The company says that it will continue to develop and deploy its nature-based approach across its products and solutions.

US: The US Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a 0.8% year-on-year increase in total US cement shipments in the first half of 2021 to 50.4Mt from 50.0Mt in the first half of 2021. Domestic deliveries constituted 85% of the total at 42.6Mt, against 7.75Mt of imports (15%). Clinker imports were 1.23Mt, with a total value of US$81.6m. Turkey was the lead exporter of clinker to the US in 2020 at 470,000t (38%), followed by Saudi Arabia with 466,000t (38%) and Canada with 276,000t (22%).

Ghana: The High Court of Ghana has ordered the Empire Cement Ghana to stop all activity related to building a new cement plant in the southern part of the McCarthy Hills. It has forced this until a hearing takes place for an injunction application by the McCarthy Hill Residents Association, according to the Ghana News Agency. The site was previously raided by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agents and the police in late June 2021 after a tipoff by local residents. The association alleges that the Chinese-run plant project has been misusing a temporary permit from the EPA to manufacture cement as a mandate to instead start installing equipment at the site.

US: Italy-based Bedeschi has been awarded a new order for the supply of two BED RNSH 1800/6 type apron feeders for Lehigh Cement’s integrated Mitchell plant in Indiana. The new feeders will be able to process up to 1300t/hr of crushed limestone and they will be placed in the primary and secondary crushing area to replace the old existing machines. They feature super duty design with CAT type chains and a Bedeschi super duty belt. As part of the installation Bedeschi has used a three dimensional survey to define the exact room availability in the existing plant. The new feeders will join three others at the plant that were already ordered as part of an upgrade programme for clay crushing and additive dosing. No value for the order has been disclosed.

Lehigh Cement, a subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement, resumed work on its US$600m upgrade project at the Mitchell plant in February 2021. Work on the upgrade was suspended in early 2020.

US: Sweden-based Bruks Siwertell has delivered a 5000 S road-mobile ship unloader to Ozinga. The product was originally ordered in 2020 and it provides a continuous rated unloading capacity of 300t/hr for vessels up to 5000dwt. It is Ozinga’s first order from Bruks Siwertell.

Ozinga specialises in concrete, dry bulk materials and natural gas energy solutions. It operates a network of truck, rail, barge and ship terminals mostly in the mid-west region of the US, where the new ship unloader will be used.