Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement

Cemex last week. HeidelbergCement and LafargeHolcim this week. China yesterday. One can’t seem to move for major building materials companies (or their owners) issuing carbon neutral strategies at the moment. This week HeidelbergCement first launched its ‘Beyond 2020’ plan, a mixture of financial, portfolio and sustainability goals. Then, LafargeHolcim said that it had signed a pledge with Science-Based Targets (SBT) towards meeting intermediate targets by 2030. Last night, President Xi Jinping told the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York that China was aiming to hit peak emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

The timing of these various sustainability goals are directly or indirectly linked to Climate Week NYC, a notable annual event on the climate change calendar that is taking place at the moment. So it’s a good time for large-scale industrial CO₂ emitters, like building material producers, to have something positive to say.

China’s announcement steals the limelight given that the country produces around half of the world’s cement and holds a higher share of clinker production capacity. Western media has pointed out the geopolitical implications of Xi’s statement that was delivered shortly after a speech by US president Donald Trump, a notable climate change sceptic. Xi’s speech didn’t contain any details so it may simply have been an attempt to demonstrate global leadership. Yet if the Chinese government makes a go of it, the effect could be profound. Data from the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) shows that the Chinese cement industry emitted an estimated 782Mt CO₂ in 2018 compared to 1.50Gt CO₂ from the cement industry globally and 37.1Gt CO₂ from all human-related sources. In other words, the Chinese cement industry was responsible for 2% of all CO₂ emissions in 2018. And this industry is mostly owned by a government that has just publicly declared a carbon neutral target.

In some ways the other announcements, by the western-based multinational building material companies, are even more radical since these producers are subject to market forces. These companies don’t have to do this. They also contain more specifics than Xi’s words so far.

HeidelbergCement says it has brought forward its CO₂ emissions target for 2030 of 525kg CO₂/t (specific net CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material) to 2025. That’s a 30% decrease from 752kg CO₂/t in 1990. Its new goal for 2030 is below 500kg CO₂/t. The main emission reduction methods it outlines include: increased use of alternative raw materials and fuels; increased use of secondary cementitious materials to reduce the clinker factor of cement; investment in plant efficiency and CO₂ reduction at the plant level; and increased share of low-carbon concrete products.

Chart 1: HeidelbergCement’s path to net carbon zero concrete: Source: Leading the way to carbon neutrality, HeidelbergCement.

Chart 1 above outlines HeidelbergCement’s thinking post-2030 with further reductions to CO₂ emissions mainly achieved through circular economy methods and different carbon capture techniques. Two points to hold in mind here. One: note the current uncertainty about which route will provide the biggest share of the reduction. Two: this chart considers concrete, not cement.

LafargeHolcim’s announcement was that it has joined Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C.’ It says that by doing so it has become the first global building materials company to sign the pledge with intermediate targets for 2030, validated by SBTi. This is slightly confusing given that other building materials companies have had different dealings with the SBT as it has worked towards its current scheme. Earlier this month, for example, we reported that Taiwan Cement had started an SBT project in 2019 and had some targets approved by the SBTi in June 2020. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) said it was joining SBTi at the start of 2020 and HeidelbergCement reported its SBTi approved targets in mid-2019. Finally, India-based Dalmia Cement is also on the SBTi ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ list but it is a stretch to describe it as a ‘global’ company.

The core of LafargeHolcim’s statement is a further reduced target for CO₂ intensity in cement of 475kg CO₂/t by 2030. So far it’s decreased its CO₂ intensity by around 23% to 516 kg CO₂/t in 2019 from ~730kg CO₂/t in 1990. There’s less looking ahead after 2030 compared to HeidelbergCement but the measures outlined until then include: more use of low-carbon and carbon-neutral products; increased use of alternative raw materials and fuels; doubling waste-derived fuels in production to reach 37%; greater use of calcined clay and developing novel cements with new binders; and operating the company’s first net zero CO₂ cement production facility.

Many of the various networks and initiatives across the climate action community came together in June 2020 as part of the UN backed ‘Race To Zero Campaign,’ an attempt to align the disparate leading net zero initiatives ahead of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP), due to take place in November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. This swirl of different net zero schemes also partly explains the confusion over the different organisations backing sustainability targets that companies can sign up to. So it’s a good thing to see closer collaboration here.

More cynical readers will have latched on to president Xi’s opportunity to show up President Trump in the climate change action stakes. They may also prefer news stories about activist investors prompting change at shareholder-owned companies as they increase their portfolios or stories like Morgan Stanley’s announcement this week that it has a new commitment to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. If the investment bank actually means it and other financiers follow suit then the fiscal incentives for net zero draw closer and the rest should follow. Moneys talks… and hopefully CO₂ stays buried in the ground.

For sustainability comparisons among the top global cement producers see the October 2020 issue of Global Cement Magazine

Norway: The Norwegian government has introduced a bill to parliament to allow funding for industrial scale implementation of HeidelbergCement’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its 1.2Mt/yr Brevik plant in Porsgrunn, Telemark. If enacted, the legislation will provide for the majority of required funding.

HeidelbergCement chair Dominik von Achten, “We are very pleased with the proposal of the Norwegian government. This allows us to continue the pioneering work that we started together with our partners in Brevik. The CCS project in Norway is an important cornerstone in our climate strategy. It will enable us to significantly reduce otherwise unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions related to the cement production process.”

Germany: HeidelbergCement has presented a new business strategy, involving an accelerated climate action plan, called Beyond 2020. Under the Strategy, the company will aim to reduce its specific carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 10% to 525kg/t of cement by 2025 from 585kg/t in 2019. Its financial targets over the period are “a significant increase in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin by 300 basis points and return on invested capital (ROIC) to clearly above 8%. The group says that it will target a leverage ratio between 1.5 and 2 times its result from current operations in 2020.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Dominik von Achten said, “We see climate change and digitalisation as the two central challenges of the future for society and for our company. As one of the world's leading building materials producers, we have the ambition and the innovative strength to actively shape this change in a pioneering role. At the same time, we see further optimisation potential in our plants and processes. Ecology and economy are not contradictory. Our new medium-term targets for 2025 illustrate this claim.”

US: The Portland Cement Association has announced the winners of the Energy Environment Awards 2020. Cementos Argos’ 1.1Mt/yr Harleyville, South Carolina cement plant won the Energy Efficiency Award “by reducing kiln specific heat consumption and increasing the utilisation of the new vertical cement mill,” while CRH subsidiary Ash Grove Cement’s 1.0Mt/yr Midlothian cement plant won the Environmental Performance Award for “operating a whole-tyre burning system utilising a first-in-the-US hot disk system supplied with whole tyres from a nearby tyre recycling company.” Other winners were GCC’s 0.9Mt/yr Odessa, Texas cement plant for Innovation, LafargeHolcim’s 2.2Mt/yr Holly Hill, South Carolina plant for Land Stewardship, Titan Cement's Roanoke Cement Troutville plant for Outreach and HeidelbergCement subsidiary Lehigh Hanson’s 3.2Mt/yr Union Bridge, Maryland plant for Overall Environmental Excellence.

PCA president and chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Ireland said, “America’s cement manufacturers continue to focus on researching and developing new and innovative ways to reduce environmental footprint. The companies receiving these awards are great examples of our industry’s commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency.”

Egypt: Suez Cement subsidiary Ready Mix Beton says that it has secured a contract for the supply of concrete for the construction of two new monorail lines projects. Due to begin in late-2020, the contract covers the construction of a monorail line between Cairo and the New Administrative Capital and another between 6 October City and Giza. The company says that it will use Suez Cement’s CEM III/A ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) cement to produce concrete for the 96km monorail network.

Suez Cement said, “CEM III/A cement is highly recommended when building thick concrete supports and massive structures because its hydration temperature of less than 210kJ/kg reduces cracking compared with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) when the applied concrete is subjected to dual exposure to sulphates and chloride ions, as happens in coastal areas.”

Ukraine: The Interdepartmental Commission for International Trade (ICIT) has pursued a complaint by multiple domestic cement producers including Buzzi-Unicem subsidiary Dyckerhoff, HeidelbergCement subsidiary Kryvyi Rih Cement and CRH subsidiary Podilsky Cement in opening an investigation into imports of cement from Turkey. The Uriadovy Kurier newspaper has reported that, on its preliminary assessment, the ICIT deemed the complaint to provide “sufficiently substantiated evidence on the basis of which it can be considered that the importation of cement into Ukraine originating in Turkey could be at dumped prices, the margin cannot be considered minimal and the import volumes are not insignificant in accordance with the law.” It added, “The complaint also provides sufficiently substantiated evidence that imports were made to an extent and under conditions such that they may cause material injury to the domestic producer.”

Germany: Inclusive Development International, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) Germany have filed a complaint with the German government about HeidelbergCement subsidiary Indocement’s planned Kendeng, East Java integrated cement plant and quarry, which they say may adversely impact 35,000 livelihoods in the agricultural region. FIAN Germany managing director Philipp Mimkes said, “The government must meet its human rights obligations and act immediately. The rights to food and water of the communities in Kendeng must be protected against threatened injuries by this HeidelbergCement subsidiary. The food security of thousands of local farmers is at stake.”

Europe: Cembureau, the European Cement Association, has announced that its ‘Cementing Europe’s Future: Building the Green Deal’ webinar will take place on 13 October 2020. The programme includes keynote speeches from association president Raoul de Parisot and German Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Jochen Flasbarth. Additionally, members of the European Parliament and representatives of the European Commission, LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement and several other companies involved in the European cement industry will speak.

Egypt: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Suez Cement recorded a net loss of Euro38.0m in the first half of 2020, up by 99% year-on-year from 19.1m in the first half of 2019. The company made sales worth US$145m over the period, down by 18% from Euro177m. The causes of the decline were market saturation and reduced demand in the short term due to the coronavirus lockdown from 19 March 2020 to 27 June 2020.

Egypt: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Egyptian Tourah Portland Cement recorded a second-quarter loss of Euro4.65m in 2020, down by 79% year-on-year from Euro21.9m in 2019. The company made sales worth Euro1.81m over the period, down by 81% Euro9.74m, according to Reuters. In line with its position regarding future losses at 31 December 2019, the company called a shareholder’s meeting to decide on its continuity.