Displaying items by tag: GCCA

The Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA) has been cheerleading at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai this week with the release of a progress report on the sector’s work towards reaching net zero by 2050. The headline figures are that net CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material fell by 23% in 2021 compared to 1990 based on Getting the Numbers Right (GNR) data. Energy efficiency improved by 19% and the fossil fuel component used by the cement sector has fallen to 80% from 98% in 1990. The GCCA has described 2020 - 2030 as the “decade to make it happen” and has set some targets to back this up. Its members intend to reduce CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 20% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels and concrete CO₂ emissions per m3 by 25% over the same time-frame.

The new developments for the cement sector at COP28 so far have been the launch of separate but apparently similar initiatives to help decarbonisation through coordination between nations. The Cement Breakthrough Agenda, backed by the government of Canada and other partners, follows the creation of the Breakthrough Agenda at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) whereby designated governments lead so-called ‘Priority Actions’ to decarbonise various sectors. The idea is to collaborate on measures such as policies, regulations and technologies to help reduce the cost of future investment in decarbonisation. The priority actions will be developed in 2023, worked towards in 2024 and then revised on a regular basis thereafter. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also launched the so-called ‘Climate Club’ on 1 December 2023 to help developing nations invest in technologies to decarbonise sectors such as cement and steel production. The intention is to set up the technical groundwork for a standardised calculation of CO₂ intensity in selected products, such as cement and steel, set definitions on what net zero is for these sectors and then set up a platform to connect countries with funding and technical support from governments and the private sector. Neither the Cement Breakthrough Agenda nor the Climate Club has mentioned funding though.

Additionally, Holcim announced that it had become a founding member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s SMI Circularity Task Force. The group aims to promote the circular economy to the private and public sector. Holcim was keen to point out that it is already recycling nearly 7Mt/yr of construction and demolition waste, with a target of 10Mt/yr pencilled in by 2025.

Other groups are not as upbeat as the GCCA though. The Global Carbon Project, for example, has estimated in its annual Global Carbon Budget that global fossil CO₂ emissions are set to rise by 1.4% year-on-year to 36.8Bnt in 2023. This figure includes both the CO₂ released by cement production and the CO₂ uptake from cement carbonation. Ongoing research by Robbie Andrew, a greenhouse gas emissions scientist at the CICERO Center for Climate Research in Norway and the Global Carbon Project, found that process emissions by the cement sector fell for the first time since 2015 in 2022, to reach 1.61Bnt. This decrease was most likely due to China’s falling cement production in 2022, stemming from a downturn in the local real estate sector. However, both the data from GCCA and the Global Carbon Project may be right simultaneously as they look at the emissions of the cement sector in different ways.

The GCCA’s job is to advocate for the cement and concrete sector and it is presenting itself well at COP28. Since its formation, it has set up roadmaps, encouraged collaboration and innovation, and is now reporting back on its progress. Net zero remains the goal by 2050, but the GCCA is being upfront about the role carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is expected to play after 2030 and the lack of any full-scale CCUS units so far. Yet it is tracking what has happened so far through the Green Cement Technology Tracker in conjunction with Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT).

As for the rest of COP28, various reports have been aired in the international press about whether the conference will call for a formal phase out of fossil fuels in some form or another. Whether it actually happens is another matter entirely, especially considering that the president of COP28 is the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and any eventual language would likely be vague. Yet the work by the GGCA and others has started to make the unthinkable a little more thinkable.

UK: Fernando Gonzalez has been appointed as the president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA). He has been the association’s vice-president since 2018 and succeeds outgoing president Jan Jenisch.

Gonzalez has called for industry and governments around the world to establish a "robust regulatory framework" that can further accelerate the cement and concrete sector's decarbonisation efforts. He said "It is a great honour to be president of the GCCA - cement and concrete are the world's essential building materials. As an industry, we've gone beyond the commitment phase to taking decisive action today to reduce our CO₂ emissions."

Gonzalez is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cemex. He has worked for the company since 1998. On the operational side, he has led various regions of Cemex, including Europe, Asia and South Central America and the Caribbean, and has held corporate positions in strategy, planning, business development and human resources. He was appointed Executive Vice President of Planning and Development in 2009, chief financial officer in 2011, and has been the company's CEO since 2014.

Mexico: Construction activity grew by 29% year-on-year during the first half of 2023. Local press has reported that this is its sharpest increase since reporting began in 2006. Major infrastructure projects reportedly drove the growth. These include the Mayan Train, Isthmus Train and Mexico-Toluca Interurban Train railway projects and the Olmeca oil refinery project.

As a result, Cemex and GCCs’ share prices have been the fastest and seventh fastest growing respectively on the main index of the Mexican Stock Exchange.

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) launched the Green Cement Technology Tracker on 20 July 2023. The Green Cement Technology Tracker presents users with a real-time overview of active initiatives to reduce CO₂ emissions in the global cement industry. At present, the tracker covers carbon capture projects, which account for 36% of planned emissions reductions under the GCCA’s 2050 Roadmap for Net Zero Carbon Concrete. The partners plan to subsequently expand the scope of coverage to other emissions reduction technologies.

GCCA CEO Thomas Guillot said “Unleashing technology such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage is key to achieving our net zero mission in our sector. Carbon capture pilots, projects and announcements are picking up pace across the world. This technology works, and our next goal is to scale up, working with stakeholders such as governments and the investment community to help transform the industry worldwide.”

The Green Cement Technology Tracker is freely accessible here on the LeadIT website.

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has named the 15 anticipated deliverers of low-CO₂ cement and concrete production shortlisted for participation in its second Innovandi Open Challenge. The association chose the start-ups based on their potential to deliver CO₂ emissions reduction in the global cement and concrete sector in line with its Concrete Future 2050 Net Zero Roadmap. The applicants are presenting their pitches to GCCA members on 30 June 2023. All those accepted will gain access to members' plants, labs, networks and expertise. The following start-ups made the Innovandi Open Challenge 2023 shortlist:

GCCA cement director and innovation lead Claude Loréa said “We received more than 70 quality applications, so drawing up a shortlist was challenging." Loréa continued "Our essential industry needs something easily scalable and affordable. Those start-ups on the list demonstrated the most potential, and we look forward to hearing more about their ideas. But we’ll also be keeping in touch with other start-ups who didn’t make this year’s shortlist, with future projects in mind.”

Switzerland: The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, addressed a meeting of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) in Zürich, Switzerland, on 13 June 2023. Guterres reiterated the role of cement as 'fundamental to building a better world.' He called on GCCA members to realise the association's 2050 Net Zero Roadmap in order to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C.

Guterres said “Science tells us that requires cutting global greenhouse emissions by almost half by 2030. That means taking a quantum leap in climate action – and slashing global emissions. Starting now.”

GCCA Thomas Guillot said “We applaud all the action our members are taking to implement carbon-cutting measures, and the latest data show emissions are coming down. But many challenges remain, which we must overcome, if we are to achieve net zero, including enabling polices and regulations from governments across the world which often don’t yet exist.” He added "I urge every manufacturer across the world who has not yet done so to join our pledge to eliminate emissions by 2050, But I also implore all governments to work with our essential industry, to deliver the policy framework that can create the favourable conditions to unlock the transition.”

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has received over 70 submissions to its Innovandi Open Challenge 2023, and is now preparing the shortlist of startups to present their pitches on 30 June 2023. The Innovandi Open Challenge seeks new disruptive technologies to help to achieve net zero cement and concrete production by 2050. Startups selected under the challenge will have the opportunity to partner with the GCCA and its members to further develop their products.

GCCA cement director and innovation lead Claude Loréa said “To receive more than 70 quality applications from start-ups for this year’s Innovandi Open Challenge is hugely encouraging, and shows what level of interest and work is being done to help drive climate action, with applications received from every region of the world." She concluded "Our vital industry needs products which are affordable, scalable and easily adopted. We look forward to sifting through the applications with our member companies and working with those who are selected.”

India: More than 75 representatives from academic institutions and businesses from across the world are attending the Innovandi Global Cement and Concrete Research Network (GCCRN) Spring Week taking place in New Delhi. The GCCRN has brought together 450 researchers and scientists from more than 40 universities and institutions, including the EPFL in Switzerland, South East University in China, University of Toronto in Canada, the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, the University of Cape Town, Imperial College London in the UK, as well as 35 cement and concrete manufacturers and their suppliers. The focus of the conference is to work towards reaching net-zero CO₂ concrete production, including sourcing and improving alternatives to clinker, work on calcined clays, concrete recycling – plus its carbonation and durability - as well as kiln electrification and carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS).

Claude Loréa, the Innovation and ESG Director at the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), said “Global Innovation collaboration and research will help unlock our industry’s decarbonisation mission. Spring Week is the key date in the GCCA’s Innovandi calendar. It provides an opportunity for our partners to meet face-to-face, exchange ideas, run workshops, and measure progress on key research projects in line with our industry’s 2050 Net Zero Roadmap. Our industry and our key partners are stepping up to the challenge and it’s fantastic to see the progress on some of the 75 PhD candidates supported by the GCCRN.”

The event is also updating attendees about progress made by projects involved with the Innovandi Open Challenge. This initiative matches start-ups with GCCA member companies from around the world, to help scale up research and technical innovation. Two of the six start-ups selected in 2022 at the first ever Innovandi Open Challenge, which focused mainly on carbon capture and utilisation, have already gone to pilot stage. Applications for the second challenge, which focuses on low carbon concrete, close on 15 May 2023.

The GCCRN was set up by the GCCA, a lobbying group representing more than 80% of the world’s cement and concrete manufacturers outside of China. All GCCA member companies are committed to decarbonising the industry by the mid-21st Century, in line with the GCCA’s Concrete Future 2050 Net Zero Roadmap.

UK: The Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA) held an online launch for its second Innovandi Open Challenge on 14 March 2023. The global challenge matches start-up companies with some of the world’s leading cement and concrete manufacturers, which operate in almost every country across the world, to work on initiatives to cut emissions and pioneer environmental change across the industry. The launch follows the success of the first ever Innovandi Open Challenge in 2022, which saw cement companies partnering with six start-ups, with a strong focus on carbon capture and utilisation projects.

This time around, applicants are being asked to work on the development of new materials and ingredients for low carbon concrete – a major step towards the goal of net zero concrete. Alternative materials, including construction and demolition waste, can result in far lower CO2 emissions than traditional concrete, as well as reduce the need to use virgin raw materials. The applications phase will last until mid-May 2023.

Thomas Guillot, CEO of the GCCA, said “We’re calling on the best and the brightest from around the world to join us in the urgent fight to limit global warming and help towards delivering the great prize of net zero concrete. If you are a start-up from Austria to Australia, from Brazil to Bangladesh, with an innovative idea or technology, then we want to hear from you.”

Those companies that are accepted for this year’s Innovandi Open Challenge will gain unique access to industry plants, laboratories, key networks and the expertise and infrastructure of the GCCA’s 40 members from around the world. They will also receive guidance from the GCCA and its members to help them with the development of new technology and business cases.

Claude Loréa, GCCA cement director and innovation lead, said “We’ve already seen some remarkable progress from those start-ups who’ve been working with our members on the first Innovandi Open Challenge, with several projects already in the pilot stage. This year’s theme, low carbon concrete, is equally challenging. To succeed, we need products which are affordable, scalable and easily adopted. Good luck to all this year’s applicants. We look forward to working with those selected.”

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has launched a year-long spotlight on the work of women in the cement industry under the tagline Essential Women in Essential Industry. The launch of the campaign on International Women’s Day 2023 included video stories from 100 women across different industry roles.

Secil chief operating officer Majida Chahine, who in 1997 became the industry’s first female general manager in Lebanon, encouraged women to ‘break barriers to create a better future for themselves and others.’

Megan Mulholland, a Breedon Group weighbridge operator in Ireland, said “I think the industry is changing as more women are coming through.”

GCCA cement director Claude Lorea said “Concrete is essential to us all. It provides homes, connects communities, encourages trade, provides energy, and improves health. The wide-reaching roles covered by the women in these videos demonstrate the variety of skills they provide to our industry.” She concluded “Having a diverse industry enables us to problem-solve and succeed. There’s still a lot more we have to do, to have gender parity in heavy industries like ours. But today and throughout 2023, we celebrate the women already working with us to break down barriers.”