Displaying items by tag: Sustainability

Cementir Group launched two of its lower carbon cement products in the Middle East and Africa markets this week. We’ll take a look at this in more detail and cover other recent products news from cement producers.

Egypt-based Sinai White Cement will manufacture the products under Cementir’s D-Carb umbrella. One will be a Limestone Portland cement, to the CEM II/A-LL 52.5N specification EN197-1, with around a 10% clinker reduction. The other will be CEM II/B-LL 42.5N with around a 20% clinker reduction. Both of these reductions are in comparison to Aalborg White CEM I 52.5R. D-Carb is the name of Cementir’s product range for white low-carbon cements. It was launched in European markets in 2024, with II/ALL 52.5R cement, and then expanded to Asia Pacific regions, including Australia, in early 2025. Cementir says that its customers can switch to D-Carb from CEM I as it “integrates well with their production processes without requiring major formulation changes.”

In late October 2025 Dyckerhoff revealed that it was the first cement manufacturer in Germany to receive general building authority approval (abZ) for the use of CEM VI (SLL) cement in accordance with DIN EN 197-5. The German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt) granted approval for Dyckerhoff’s Lengerich cement plant. CEM VI is a newer type of composite cement similar to CEM II but with a lower clinker content. The SLL type that Dyckerhoff wants to make has a clinker content of 35 – 49 %, granulated blast furnace slag of 31 – 59% and limestone of 6 – 20%. The company says that this cement can be used in more than 60% of all concrete types produced in ready-mixed concrete plants. Its composition is also useful for low-carbon concretes when no fillers, such as fly ash, are available. Dyckerhoff added that the low hydration heat of the cement has a particularly positive effect in massive cast components.

Earlier in October 2025 Rohrdorfer held an inauguration ceremony for a new pilot unit for calcined (they say tempered) clays at its Rohrdorf cement plant. The pilot project started in July 2025 and has been processing up to 50t/day of raw clay. When Rohrdorfer launched the project in early 2024 it said that it was going to use waste heat from the main production line and was also considering the use of hydrogen to provide the remaining amount of heat required. Waste gases produced during calcination were also going to be fed back into the existing waste gas cleaning system of the clinker production line after leaving the pilot plant to further reduce emissions. Rohrdorfer said that its approach was going to be the first time waste heat recovery was going to be used in conjunction with calcining clay.

Meanwhile, in West Africa, Dangote Cement inaugurated its new 3Mt/yr cement plant near Abidjan in the Ivory Coast in mid-October 2024. Around the same time the company launched various products in the country, including its CEM I and CEM II brands 32.5R, 3X42.5N, 3X42.5R and 52.5N. This is a more traditional range of cement products compared to the ones above but note the highlighting of strength. This has been a key selling point for products in this part of the world previously, hence its focus. CEM II is a blended cement that uses lower levels of clinker. One clinker substitute in CEM II products is calcined clay. Gebr. Pfeiffer, for example, said in August 2025 that it was to supply a vertical roller mill to Ciments de Côte d'Ivoire (CIMCI) for clay grinding at its cement plant. There are also a number of other calcined clay projects in the Ivory Coast and other countries in West Africa. Further afield, JK Cement in India also started to market its LC3 clay calcined cement product line in October 2025.

Finally, US-based Amrize launched its ‘Made in America’ label for its cement range this week, “offering builders the guarantee of American manufacturing and quality, supporting American jobs and local communities.” Readers may recall that Amrize was recently owned by Switzerland-based Holcim. However, the company is currently keen to point out that its cement products are “made in the US from its raw materials and processing to manufacturing, meeting rigorous US performance standards.” Amrize does sell blended cements including FortiCem Portland-Pozzolan Blended Cement, ECOPlanet Cements and OneCem Portland Limestone Cement.

Most of the news stories highlighted above demonstrate a trend for blended cements with lower clinker factors. There’s no real change here. This has been happening for a long time and it is being driven by both profit and sustainability motives, although the current bunch of stories may also be turning up to coincide with the COP30 conference in Brazil. Note the inclusion of places outside of Europe and the drive for new blends. Another factor to consider here is protectionism in certain markets, as Amrize’s marketing drive suggests. New blends will also require new certifications, standards and approvals as is the case with Dyckerhoff’s work on CEM VI (SLL). The next trend to watch for will be the market reaction to carbon captured cements, such as Heidelberg Materials’ evoZero product. Will end users pay a premium for zero-carbon cements?

Türkiye: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a €50m loan to cement producer Çimsa to support its decarbonisation efforts. According to the EBRD, the financing will fund a calcium aluminate cement (CAC) kiln and decarbonisation upgrades for existing grey and white cement kilns at Çimsa’s Mersin plant. CAC production has a ‘significantly’ lower carbon footprint than traditional grey cement, according to the producer.

The EBRD said that the project aligns with Türkiye’s Industrial Decarbonisation Investment Platform, the world’s largest industrial decarbonisation programme, which provides policy guidance and low-carbon pathways for hard-to-abate sectors, including cement.

Erdem Yasar, EBRD Deputy Head for Türkiye, said that the partnership supports both Çimsa’s competitiveness and broader industry sustainability.

Emir Adigüzel warned that cement prices in Europe could triple under current decarbonisation policies. The director of the World Cement Association (WCA) made the comments at a conference in Germany this week. He noted that most of these carbon-related costs will be passed to consumers. His view is that carbon pricing will force price rises across the industry.

That cement prices will rise due to decarbonisation policies is not in itself news. This debate is really about how much and who pays. The WCA's latest analysis asserts that the cement sector will require investment of US$200bn by 2050 to fully decarbonise. Some progress has been achieved so far. Major cement companies reduced carbon intensity from an average of 700kg CO₂/t in 2019 to 640kg CO₂/t in 2023. Adigüzel’s argument is that carbon capture (CCUS) in the cement sector has its place only “if applied correctly.” His view is that these technologies will have a limited effect on global industry decarbonisation as the required investment per cement plant exceeds the capital cost of an entire cement plant. The WCA prefers to promote decarbonisation instead via energy efficiency, alternative fuels, reduced clinker factor and new technologies. That last one includes CCUS but is not limited to it also covering things such as electrification and heat storage. Note today’s news that India-based Adani Cement has ordered a RotoDynamic Heater from Coolbrook. Adigüzel also criticised the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in incentivising non-scheme exporters to reduce their carbon footprint, particularly given the expensive investments required.

Decarbonisation is going to be expensive and CCUS is the priciest part of this. Hence, cement producers are likely to consider taking as many measures as possible before implementing CCUS. That cement companies would pass on these costs to consumers also seems likely. The other obvious outcome is that consumers will simply use less cement where possible. Yet Adigüzel doesn’t address how net zero can be achieved with continuing clinker production without using CCUS. His pricing for CCUS is at the right scale though. As Boston Consulting Group (BCG) pointed out in 2024, the cost of CCUS looks set to increase cement prices from US$90 – 130/t to at least US$160 – 240/t by 2050. As well as the capital costs to build a CCUS unit, this includes the additional energy costs required and the price of transporting the CO₂ to a sequestration site. The first two large-scale Heidelberg Materials CCUS projects in Europe, for example, both connect to government-backed transport and sequestration schemes. BCG went on to posit that decarbonisation trends would create five archetypes of cement plants: export hubs and larger plants close to CO₂ storage sites; former export sites far from storage; import grinding hubs; and stranded assets.

Finally, Carbon Brief reported this week that CO₂ emissions in China continued to stay flat in the third quarter of 2025, suggesting a stable or falling trend since early 2024. The adoption of electric vehicles and declines from cement and steel production contributed to the picture in the latest quarter. Emissions from the production of cement and other building materials fell by 7% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025. This was attributed to the ongoing real-estate contraction. Note that this decarbonisation trend in China has been created by market trends.

Expect plenty more sustainability stories everywhere over the next few weeks as the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) started this week in Belém, Brazil. The GCCA will be present at a number of events including an update to the Brazil Cement Industry Roadmap on Saturday 15 November 2025

The Global FutureCem Conference on cement industry decarbonisation will take place on 21 - 22 January 2026 in Munich, Germany

There have been a few sustainability-related news stories to note recently in Japan. Firstly, the Renewable Energy Institute (REI) released a report on decarbonisation pathways for the cement industry. Then, this week, the Japan Cement Association (JCA) held a press briefing on the sector’s work towards net zero and it released production and sales data. Finally, on a connected note, a speaker from Sumitomo Osaka Cement gave a presentation on recycling gypsum wallboard for cement production at last week’s Global Gypsum Conference.

The REI’s report is similar to other roadmaps published by cement associations around the world. The differences with the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) targets are worth pointing out though. The JCA is more conservative on the use of blended cements. It only specifies an aggregate CO₂ reduction target for 2030, limited to a greater use of alternative fuels (AF) and improved energy efficiency. Similarly, it forecasts clinker factors of 0.825 in 2030 and 0.80 in 2050, compared to the GCCA targets of 0.58 in 2030 and 0.52 in 2050. The report goes on to show that JCA members have higher Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a higher clinker factor than comparable multinationals, including Holcim, Heidelberg Materials and SCG. In summary the REI concludes that the local sector has been delayed in adopting blended cements, slow on using more renewable energy and continues to be reliant on coal.

The JCA’s update is more practical and outlines what can be expected. A benchmarking system for the sector was established in the 2025 financial year. The country’s emissions trading scheme will then start in the 2026 financial year. Companies that emit a three-year average of over 100,000t/yr of CO₂ will be subject to the scheme. The JCA is currently emphasising the sector’s role at the heart of the circular economy. It pointed out that it used just under 22Mt (5%) of the country’s total waste in 2024. It had an AF substitution rate of 27% in that year also. Other waste streams used included over 5Mt of blast furnace slag, over 6Mt of coal ash and around 1.7Mt of flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) gypsum.

That last one ties into a presentation that Yuki Mihashi, Sumitomo Osaka Cement, gave at the recent Global Gypsum Conference, held last week in the Netherlands. He gave an overview of his company’s pilot testing of a carbon capture and utilisation process that uses waste gypsum wallboard and mineralises it to make an artificial limestone from cement plant CO₂ emissions. The current pilot plant is based in Osaka and was completed in June 2025. It consumes 10kg/hr of gypsum and can produce around 5.8kg/hr of calcium carbonate. Gypsum wallboard professionals at the event had previously expressed concerns about competition for raw materials from cement producers. If developments like this one progress to full scale deployment there could potential be repercussions in other industrial sectors.

Graph 1: Cement production in Japan, 2019 - 2025. Source: Japan Cement Association. Figure for 2025 is estimated based on nine-month data.

Finally, the latest data from the JCA shows that cement production fell by 3% year-on-year to 32.99Mt in the first nine months of 2025 from 34Mt in the same period in 2024 . Overall sales followed a similar trend, although exports rose by 9% from 5.91Mt to 6.43Mt. This follows a general decline in cement production in Japan since the mid-1990s.

In summary, work on sustainability in the cement sector continues in Japan as it does elsewhere. The conservative approach to clinker factor forecasts is interesting to note compared to more optimistic projections elsewhere. A slower update of blended cements may explain some of this. Interestingly, Taiheiyo Cement said in June 2025 that it was expanding a hub in Saiki to export blended cements rather than using them domestically. On other issues, a current lower AF substitution rate compared to Europe offers one pathway for emissions reduction. The impending ETS may also galvanise action and investment. Expect plenty more sustainability news in the coming weeks ahead of the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP), which is set to take place in mid-November 2025 in Belém, Brazil.

The 1st CemFuels Asia Conference & Exhibition will take place on 2 – 3 February 2026 in Bangkok

Switzerland: The first nine months of 2025 yielded a 2% year-on-year decline in sales for Holcim, from US$15.3bn to US$15bn. Nonetheless, the company succeeded in raising its recurring earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) by 2% to US$2.86bn. It recorded year-on-year organic growth of 3% in sales and 11% in EBIT. Holcim noted the centrality of sustainability in its growth in the period. Its sales of ECOPlanet reduced-CO₂ cement rose from 32% to 35% of total cement sales, while its sales of ECOPact reduced-CO₂ concrete sales from 26% to 31% of total ready-mix concrete sales. Its use of construction-demolition materials (CDM) in production rose by 20% year-on-year.

During the period, Holcim continued its on-going diversification through the acquisition of Germany-based walling systems producer Xella. At the same time, the company’s cementitious division continued to target ‘profitable growth in highly attractive markets,’ as exemplified through its Australia-based joint venture Cement Australia’s acquisition of BCG Cement. Across all divisions, Holcim closed 14 value-accretive transactions in the period. It spun off Holcim North America and sold its Nigerian cement business and Iraq-based Karbala Cement Manufacturing.

CEO Miljan Gutovic thanked Holcim’s 45,000 employees, saying "We are delivering on Holcim's vision to be the leading partner for sustainable construction. With accelerating net sales growth in the third quarter of 2025, we delivered strong profitable growth for the first nine months of the year, with a 10% increase in recurring EBIT in local currency and an industry-leading margin of 19%. Margin expansion was driven by our high-value strategy, scaling up our sustainable offering to meet customer demand, and accelerating decarbonisation and circular construction for profitable growth.” Gutovic confirmed Holcim’s full-year guidance for 2025, namely: recurring EBIT growth of 6 – 10% in local currency, with a margin of above 18% and free cash flow before leases of US$2.51bn.

Sri Lanka: Siam City Cement subsidiary INSEE Cement has secured EcoLabel certification for its products, in recognition of their environmental performance. Key initiatives included energy efficiency upgrades, raw materials optimisation, increased alternative fuels substitution, clinker factor reduction and emissions monitoring and control. Daily FT News has reported that EcoLabel Sri Lanka and the National Cleaner Production Centre awarded the label, the first of its kind for any cement producer in Sri Lanka.

Asia: Three national sustainability certification providers have signed a tripartite mutual recognition agreement for harmonised green label criteria for cement products. Ecolabel Sri Lanka, the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme and Thai Green Label agreed to the mutual recognition of each other’s certification of cement. Through the collaboration, the bodies aim to enhance market access to environmentally preferable products across South and South East Asia, Daily FT News has reported.

Europe: Germany-based Heidelberg Materials has begun deliveries of EvoZero carbon-captured cement to customers across Europe. Subsidiary Heidelberg Materials Northern Europe produces EvoZero cement at its net-zero Brevik cement plant in Norway. Early adopters to purchase the product include Sweden-based Skanska for its construction of the Skøyen metro station in Oslo, Norway.

Heidelberg Materials launched a 400,000t/yr, 50% carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant at the Brevik plant on 18 June 2025. The plant’s capture and storage data are verified by certification organisation DNV Business Assurance Germany and digitally recorded in Heidelberg Materials' proprietary Carbon Bank.

CEO Dr Dominik von Achten said "I am proud and pleased that the entire process chain is now in place and that our CCS plant in Brevik is now directly contributing to the reduction of CO₂ emissions in construction. EvoZero is proof of our commitment to driving real measurable decarbonisation and leading the transformation of the construction industry."

Japan: The Renewable Energy Institute (REI) has published The Decarbonisation Pathway for Japan's Cement Industry, a report on strategies to ensure cement industry decarbonisation in line with a global 1.5°C climate change limit. The report found that the calcination of limestone gives rise to 60% of process CO₂ emissions from Japanese cement production. The report reviews possibilities for tackling emissions both from calcination and from other sources. In the former category, it noted scope for clinker factor reduction. Japan Cement Association members recorded an average clinker factor of 0.8 and Scope 1 emissions of 680kg/t of cementitious product in 2024. REI contrasted this with India-based Dalmia Bharat, which had a clinker factor of 0.6 and Scope 1 emissions of 467kg/t.

Germany/Norway: Heidelberg Materials will supply its EvoBuild 3D printing concrete for use in property developer KrausGruppe’s DreiHaus residential construction project in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg. PERI 3D Construction and Korte-Hoffmann Gebäudedruck will execute the project, which consists of three three-storey tower blocks.

Heidelberg Materials says that it will supply a concrete blend featuring its EvoZero carbon-captured cement for the third tower block, the first application of the product in Germany. Subsidiary Heidelberg Materials Northern Europe produces EvoZero cement at its net-zero Brevik cement plant in Norway.