Displaying items by tag: Strategy

Belgium: Switzerland-based Holcim has agreed to acquire façade and external insulation systems producer Cantillana. Cantillana employs 200 people across nine plants in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Its forecast full-year sales are Euro80m in 2022. Holcim says that the move is in line with its Strategy 2025 - Accelerating Green Growth target of expanding its solutions and products unit to 30% of group sales.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has joined EPEA’s Heidelberg Circular City Building Material Registry pilot project. The initiative uses EMEA’s Urban Mining Screening digital registry, which is able to estimate the composition of buildings based on building data. HeidelbergCement says that it will enable it to source construction and demolition waste for circular economic use in building materials production. This will support its ReConcrete 360° recycled concrete CO₂ reincorporation project, among other projects. The initiative will turn Heidelberg into Europe’s first Circular City.

“Full circular economy and sustainable construction are central elements of our climate strategy,” said HeidelbergCement chair Dominik von Achten. “We are focusing on the life cycle assessment of our product concrete, including the processing of demolished concrete, and returning it to the construction cycle. By 2030, we want to offer circular alternatives for half of our concrete products.” Von Achten concluded “Together with the city of Heidelberg, also a pioneer in the area of climate protection, we want to use the Circular City project to demonstrate the enormous potential of concrete recycling for future urban construction.” 


Zimbabwe: Fossil Mines plans to keep Lafarge Zimbabwe publicly traded and to recapitalise it through investments after it completes its acquisition of the company. The Insider newspaper has reported that this will lead to an increase in the company’s cement production.

Zimbabwe consumed 1.4Mt of cement in 2021, of which 560,000t (40%) was imported. Switzerland-based Holcim agreed to sell its 76% stake in national number two producer Lafarge Zimbabwe to Fossil Mines earlier in June 2022.

US: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) hosted chief executive officers (CEO)from across the global cement industry at its CEO Gathering in Atlanta, Georgia, on 9 June 2022. The event explored the best ways for the sector to progress towards net zero CO₂ emissions. Speakers included: UN special advisor on climate Selwin Hart, US Department of Energy assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management in the Brad Crabtree, architecture firm Gensler CEO Diane Hoskins, Chair of Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) executive chair Bjorn Otto and climate economist Gernot Wagner.

GCCA CEO Thomas Guillot said “To achieve net zero and enable the delivery of the sustainable built environment of the future, there needs to be ongoing engagement and deeper collaboration between our industry and government in the years ahead. Targeted government policy will be vital to removing barriers and to expediting our industry’s decarbonisation plans.”

India: Ramco Cements plans to make capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments of US$154 – 167m in the 2023 and 2024 financial years. At the beginning of the 2023 financial year on 1 April 2022, Ramco Cements’ net debt was US$489m. It plans to pay back US$64.3m during the current financial year, with the ultimate aim of becoming net debt-free before the 2026 financial year.

Guatemala: Cemex has secured its electricity supply for its Guatemalan operations until 2027 through the signing of a renewable power purchase agreement with Enel Green Power. Enel Green Power will supply an estimated 164GWh of renewable energy under the agreement, enabling Cemex to operate one of its Guatemalan cement facilities using 100% renewable energy.

“Transitioning to renewable energy sources is an integral part of our climate action strategy,” said Cemex South, Central America and the Caribbean president Jesús González. “We remain committed to becoming a net-zero CO₂ company and are taking decisive steps to achieve this goal.”

Sweden: HeidelbergCement says that it will establish a 1.8Mt/yr carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant at its Slite cement plant in Gotland. It aims to achieve full-scale capture of the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 2030. In conjunction with the CCS plant project, Cementa will increase the share of biomass in the Slite plant’s fuel mix.

Chair Dominik von Achten said “Just a few days ago, we published new sustainability targets, underlining the importance of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) as one key lever to almost halve our CO₂ footprint by 2030 compared to 1990, and achieve Net Zero by 2050 at the latest.” He continued “Slite CCS is the largest CCUS project yet in our group and the cement industry, and a model for what will be achievable with CCUS also beyond 2030. As this initiative contributes considerably to the climate ambitions of Sweden, and is a unique project for us in terms of scale, we are keen to make it happen.”

Europe: The European cement industry association Cembureau has published its 2030 Biodiversity Roadmap. The roadmap sets out the association’s strategy for becoming nature positive by 2030. This consists of four focus areas, namely participation in the European Union (EU) Pollinators Initiative, control of invasive species, support for protected species and ecosystem rehabilitation efforts.

Chief executive officer Koen Coppenholle said “The European cement industry is committed to achieving the goals set in the EU Green Deal. In addition to climate change, one of the key priorities of our industry is to protect and preserve the rich ecosystems thriving in and around our quarries and to make a strong contribution to biodiversity across the EU.”

Mexico: GCC has announced its plan for a 100% Portland limestone cement (PLC) transition of its Samalayuca, Chihuahua, cement plant. The producer says that the plant will complete its transition in July 2022. It said that the move is part of its CO₂ emissions reduction roadmap.

Germany: The World Economic Forum and US State Department have welcomed HeidelbergCement as the newest member of the First Movers Coalition. Founded in 2021, the coalition brings together companies across multiple industrial sectors to coordinate the creation of demand for emerging reduced-CO₂ production technologies. As part of its membership, HeidelbergCement commits to purchasing zero-emission vehicles for 30% of new heavy-duty truck purchases and 100% of medium-duty truck purchases by 2030.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said “I welcome HeidelbergCement to the First Movers Coalition, and its commitment to purchasing zero-emissions trucking solutions that the world must focus on scaling up over this critical decade. The First Movers Coalition is a critical pillar of the world's efforts to advance breakthrough zero emissions technologies to decarbonise many of the largest sectors of the global economy and to put us on a track to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”