Displaying items by tag: Sustainability

Switzerland: Holcim says it wants to reach at least 40% of sustainable financing by 2024. It intends to put climate action, water preservation and safety at the heart of its strategy to do this. The company has linked this commitment with the completion of two new sustainability-linked financing transactions worth above Euro2.8bn. It has also joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Taskforce alongside 60 companies representing a combined US$1.7Tn in market capitalisation. The UNGC CFO Taskforce aligns members’ finance strategies with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Holcim’s CFO Géraldine Picaud said, “Sustainability is at the core of what we do. That's why we set ourselves some of the most ambitious goals in our industry. Walking the talk, we are putting climate, water and safety at the heart of our financing strategy. To make a bigger impact, I am delighted to be a member of the UNGC CFO Taskforce to move this agenda forward with my peers.”

In August 2021, Holcim refinanced a Euro3bn syndicated credit line linking it to climate and safety in line with the UN SDGs. The cost of the credit facility will depend on the company’s achievement of its annual targets in these areas. In September 2021, Holcim placed a new 10-year US$100m sustainability-linked bond, based on its 2030 CO₂ reduction target. This issue represents its first private placement of a US Dollar medium-term note linked to climate action. The investor will be entitled to a higher coupon should the company not meet its climate objective. These actions follow the company’s Euro850m sustainability-linked bond issued in November 2020.

India: Finland-based Betolar has launched a partnership with sustainable housing company Tara. The arrangement is intended to enhance India’s ‘green’ construction sector by encouraging the use Betolar’s pre-cast concrete products. These use waste inputs to create a low-carbon alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement. Betolar has been working with Tara since around 2019 to bring its commercial products to the local market.

Betolar's Head of Asia said, "There is a tremendous appetite for sustainable construction materials in India which we are tapped into through our work with Tara and its mission to develop alternative and sustainable models for rural development, democratizing construction from the bottom up."

Switzerland: Holcim Schweiz has partnered with Sweden-based Volvo Autonomous Solutions to test and develop automated electric dumpsters at its Gabenchopf quarry in the Siggenthal. The companies aim to develop a safe, efficient and sustainable dumpster for use in the cement industry.

CEO Simon Kronenberg said “We are very excited to be working with Volvo on this project. For us, this project means a further step towards realising our sustainability goals: in order to make a contribution to a sustainably built future, we continuously invest in measures to reduce our ecological footprint and look for solutions that are both innovative and sustainable."

Germany: Cementos Molins has concluded its acquisition of calcium aluminate cement producer Calucem following all regulatory approvals. Calucem operates the Pula grinding plant in Istria, Croatia and a bauxite quarry in Turkey. The new acquisition positions Cementos Molins as the world's second largest calcium aluminate cement producer. The company said that it expands and enhances its innovative and sustainable product range in line with its sustainable growth strategy.

CEO Julio Rodríguez said “I warmly welcome the Calucem team into the Cementos Molins family. Today marks a new and exciting milestone in the history of Calucem and Cementos Molins and, with this integration, we have excellent business development opportunities for a new step forward to our strategy of profitable and sustainable growth.”

Calucem CEO Yuri Bouwhuis said “We are excited about the integration into Cementos Molins, where we will accelerate our development and create together more value for all our stakeholders.”

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement says it will raise the price of its cement from February 2022 due to rising coal and heavy fuel oil costs. It said that these mounting input prices were leading to ‘significant’ manufacturing and logistical overheads. The cement producer expects that these energy prices will remain high in the foreseeable future. It added that maintenance, labour and carbon neutrality goal costs were also growing.

India: Dalmia Bharat’s consolidated cement sales in the first half of the 2022 financial year were 5.1Mt, up by 6.2% year-on-year from 4.8Mt in the first half of the 2021 financial year. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 1.6% to US$178m from US$176m. The company recorded a net profit of US$67.1m during the period, up by 19% from US$56.3m. During the second quarter of the year, which ended on 30 September 2021, Dalmia Bharat commissioned a second line at its Cuttack, Odisha, cement plant and began trial production at its newly acquired Murli cement plant in Maharashtra.

The Orissa Diary newspaper has reported that managing director Puneet Dalmia said "We are pleased with our performance during the quarter. In spite of unprecedented costs related headwinds across all regions, our razor sharp focus on operational efficiencies and execution has helped us contain our costs and deliver an industry-leading performance. We have made considerable progress on our immediate priorities, including expanding our capacity, driving organisational transformation, reinforcing our brand and redefining our corporate governance framework. Looking ahead, we remain focused on further strengthening our momentum to drive sustainable and profitable growth and generate top-tier returns for our stakeholders.” He continued “As India's economy continues to rebound from the lows of last year, we expect the demand and pricing environment for the sector to improve for the rest of the 2022 financial year."

World: A Systems Change Lab report on the state of climate change action has warned that the global cement industry is making insufficient progress towards its 2030 climate change targets and that a step-change in action is required. It recorded the carbon intensity of global cement production at 635kgCO₂/t in 2018 with the 2030 target of no more than 370kgCO₂/t. The rate of change over the previous five years was reported as being 2.9% but an annual rate of change of 22.5% would now be required to meet the 2030 target.

It also noted that emissions intensity from the cement industry had actually increased slightly in recent years. It reached this conclusion by using a different methodology from the Getting the Numbers Right (GNR) project. Instead it estimated the global emissions intensity by using global data on process emissions and energy data from the International Energy Agency and the GNR.

The report said that the cement sector would need to go beyond traditional mitigation options such as improving energy efficiency and switching fuels to meet its climate commitments. However, carbon capture utilisation and/or storage (CCUS) and novel cements were described as costly and immature. In its view, “Decarbonisation in the long term thus will depend on significant investments in research, development, and demonstration, alongside efforts to create a demand for low-carbon cements and policies to support investment in decarbonisation technologies.” It described both strategies as, “not yet fully mature in terms of technology development, costs and scaling.” The ‘critical enablers’ it identified to help the cement sector meet its target included stricter regulations, increased demand for low-carbon cement and investment in pilot and industrial scale projects looking at novel cements.

Overall, the report said that change towards averting climate change across 40 key areas in power generation, buildings, industry, transport, land use, coastal zone management and agriculture was not happening fast enough and that none were on track to meet their respective 2030 targets. Change was happening but not at the required pace. Systems Change Lab is a collaboration between the High-Level Climate Champions, Climate Action Tracker, ClimateWorks Foundation, the Bezos Earth Fund and World Resources Institute.

UK: Cemex has joined its subsidiary Cemex Ventures and Taronga Ventures in investing in construction logistics digital platform developer Voyage Control. The group said that the supplier’s product can reduce delays, waste and cost overruns through optimised delivery scheduling, and provide an overview of all transactions in real time. It currently helps to coordinate 6 million deliveries annually at 200 sites across North America, Europe and Asia.

Cemex Ventures director Gonzalo Galindo said “Cemex Ventures seeks to integrate Voyage Control with Cemex's digital assets, which will allow us to provide a better and more complete service to our clients. Now, we can collect more information, continue to promote operational efficiency and sustainable reporting and improve our health and safety criteria to reduce risks.”

Colombia: Cementos Argos has announced its new commitment to reduce the CO₂ emissionsfrom its cement operations by 29% over a period ending in 2030. The company has additionally committed to producing all of its concrete CO₂-neutrally by 2050. It said that its strategy will comprise several carbon mitigation techniques, including maximised alternative fuel (AF) substitution, clinker factor reduction, energy optimisation, clean technology upgrades and a diversification of its range of its cement range to include more sustainable products.

Chief executive officer Juan Calle said "We are determined to face this important challenge and we are convinced that we can build the future we have planned and achieve a more prosperous, inclusive and low-carbon world if we work together with determination to accelerate this transition." He added "We will continue to strive to implement tangible actions, achieve measurable progress each year and deliver information about out opportunities and progress transparently."

Brazil: Votorantim Energia and Canada-based CPP Investments have announced the consolidation of their Brazilian energy assets in a new jointly owned renewable energy platform called VTRM. The new company's assets will reach 3.3GW in capacity by October 2022, consisting of 2.3GW in hydroelectric power and 1.0GW in wind power. Its planned projects, including hydroelectric, solar and hybrid power plants, will increase its capacity by 58% to 5.2GW.Its existing assets sold 2.6GW of electricity in 2020. The partners said that the new company will also be well-positioned for future growth, including the acquisition of operational assets and those in planning or under construction. CPP Investment will inject and additional US$269m into the venture following the conclusion of the deal.

As part of the restructuring, Votorantim Energia will cease to manage Votorantim's cement subsidiary Votorantim Cimentos' dedicated energy assets. The cement producer will then incorporate these into its own operations. This will enable Votorantim Energia to focus on energy generation for sale.

Group president João Schmidt said that the consolidation reflects the major role that energy business will play in the company's future. He said "Globally, there is a growing urgency around renewable energy and the energy transition. Alongside a partner like CPP Investments, which has shared our long-term views on energy since 2017, we are ready to accelerate our role in the sector." He added "Through the assets consolidation into a single platform, Votorantim and CPP Investments will share in a new cycle of growth and value generation together."