Displaying items by tag: Sustainability

Germany: Data from HeidelbergCement’s Sustainability Report 2020 reveals that it reduced its specific net CO₂ emissions by 2% year-on-year to 576kg/t of cementious material in 2020 from 589 kg/t in 2019. This represents a 23% reduction since 1990. The company has a target of 30% by 2025. It has a number of carbon capture and utilisation/storage (CCU/S) projects in various stages of development to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Other data shows that its alternative fuels substitution rate rose to 25.7% from 24% and its clinker ratio fell slightly to 74.3%.

During the reporting year, the group joined the climate lobbying group Foundation 2° and achieving a CDP climate protection rating of A. For water security it secured the second-highest rating of A-. The group’s specific water consumption for cement rose by 5% in 2020 to 271.9l/t of cement from 260l/t in 2019. However the company says it is continuing to improve water consumption reporting at its sites until 2025.

Greece: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary Heracles Group has established a Direction for Sustainable Development. The producer said that Charalampos Kouris will head the Direction, with the aim of building a more sustainable present for a better future. It will realise this by pursuing four pillars: climate, circular economy, nature and local communities. Regarding the first of these, it will follow the EU Green Deal climate neutrality roadmap.

Chief executive officer Dimitris Hanis said “We are pleased with the appointment of Mr Kouris as the first head of sustainable development and welcome him to the group's executive committee. The establishment of the new Direction will further reinforce our effort to ensure a healthy and safe workplace for our people while at the same time fighting our own battle against our climate change impact."

UK: SigmaRoc intends to offer a cement-free alternative for every product in its precast concrete portfolio from January 2022. The producer claims it is the only company to do this. The change will effect products made by its Product Group including Allen Concrete, CCP Building Products and Poundfield Precast. The move follows the launch of its Ordinary Portland Cement free Greenbloc product in February 2021.

Managing director Michael Roddy said, “Greenbloc sets the bar for bringing a cement-free alternative to a traditional building material into mainstream use, but it was only ever the start of our low-carbon journey.” He added “The benefits of using cement as a building material are undisputed from an application perspective, however the carbon required in the manufacturing process cannot be ignored. Our aim is simple. The market is changing and understands the need to acknowledge, address and action a tangible approach to decarbonisation. We want to give architects, contractors and specifiers the choice of using an ultra-low carbon cement-free alternative to precast cementitious products.”

EU: The Concrete Initiative (TCI) has announced its official partnership with European Green Deal-driven sustainable construction initiative New European Bauhaus (NEB). The partnership’s first undertaking will be to draft a concrete sector manifesto around the NEB objectives of beauty, sustainability and affordability.

The TCI said, “We look forward to working together with the construction value chain and citizens living in the built environment to rethink the way we live and connect people through beautiful, green, innovative and inclusive design.”

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has celebrated World Ocean Day 2021 by joining the World Ocean Council (WOC). The organisation brings together companies from different sectors to work towards sustainable ocean stewardship. Membership continues LafargeHolcim’s efforts towards the protection of coastal ecosystems, such as its deployment of bioactive concrete for habitat restoration. The company has collaborated on 30 sustainable port projects. It is also helping to tackle plastic pollution through its waste management subsidiary Geocycle.

Chief sustainability and innovation officer Magali Anderson said, “I am extremely proud to formalise our commitment to sustainable ocean stewardship by joining the World Ocean Council. Working with the Council’s members, we expect to scale up our actions to preserve our oceans.”

EU: The European Commission is reportedly planning to introduce its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) for cement imports from 2023. Reporting by Bloomberg has revealed that a ‘simplified’ system could be used in a transition period from 2023 with the full mechanism due to start in 2026. Under the new system, cement importers would have to buy certificates at a price linked to the European Union (EU) emissions trading system (ETS). Details on the CBAM and wider environmental plans are due to be made public in mid-July 2021. However, full legal acceptance of the scheme will require approval by the European Parliament and member states.

In a previous response to a report on the CBAM in February 2021, Koen Coppenholle, the head of the European Cement Association (Cembureau), said that a CBAM was a useful tool to address the imports of products not subject to similar carbon constraints in the European Union. He added, “The Environment Committee’s report highlights some key points in this respect, notably that a CBAM should result in EU and non-EU suppliers competing on the same CO2 costs basis; that the scope of CBAM should be wide to avoid market distortions, and that both direct and indirect emissions should be included.”

In May 2021 the EU ETS reached a price of Euro50/t following a significant rise from late 2020 onwards.

Greece: Heracles Group, part of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim, has obtained environmental product declarations (EPDs) for all cements produced at its Volos and Milaki cement plants. The company says that the declarations cover both bagged and bulk products.

Chief executive officer Dimitris Chanis said, “For 110 years, at Heracles Group we have learned to always push the limits of the seemingly possible, pioneer and constantly move forward. Driven by our unwavering priority of sustainable development and our vision regarding the green transformation of the construction sector, we strategically design and develop policies and initiatives that promote a climate neutral and circular economy. EPDs are expected to play a key part in our group's effort to move towards more sustainable construction for a greener and better world for all.”

UK: Cemex UK, part of Mexico-based Cemex, has renewed its 100% renewable electricity supply contract with France-based Engie until mid-2024. The supply will cover nearly 200 of its UK sites including its integrated cement plant at Rugby and its grinding plant at Tilbury.

Cemex’s Europe regional head of carbon, legacy landfill and special projects Martin Hills said, “Cemex has a dedicated Climate Action Plan for its global operations which outlines the company’s vision to advance towards a carbon-neutral economy and to address society’s increasing demands more efficiently. The use of renewable electricity at our sites plays an important part in this and we are pleased to have renewed our partnership with Engie for a further three years.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has appointed René Aldach as its group chief financial officer (CFO) and it has created two new positions on its managing board. Nicola Kimm will become the new board member for sustainability and Dennis Lentz will become the new board member for digitalisation. All changes will become effective from the start of September 2021.

Aldach, aged 42 years, will succeed Lorenz Näger in the post of CFO following Näger’s retirement at the end of August 2021. Näger has been HeidelbergCement’s CFO since 2004. Aldach currently works as Director Group Reporting, Controlling & Consolidation for HeidelbergCement. He joined the company in 2004 and has worked in Germany, Africa and Australia, including holding the position of CFO for Hanson Australia.

Kimm, aged 51 years, will become the group’s Chief Sustainability Officer responsible for environment social governance, global research & development and new technologies. She currently works as an executive committee member and chief sustainability officer for Signify, the lighting business that was formerly part of Philips. As a trained ecologist and chemical engineer, and with a PhD in business engineering, she holds almost 25 years of international professional experience. Kimm has also held sustainability roles with BASF, Corbion/CSM and Philips and worked in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Lentz, aged 39 years, will become the group’s Chief Digital Officer. Since 2010, he has held management positions as Head of Group Energy Purchasing, Director Logistics and Group CIO at HeidelbergCement. Before joining the company, he worked as a management consultant in the building materials and mining industry with a strong focus on process optimisation.

Sweden: Germany-based HeidelbergCement subsidiary Cementa plans to upgrade its Slite unit in Gotland to become the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant. This will be achieved through modification of the plant’s fuel system to ‘significantly raise’ biobased fuel substitution, as well as 100% carbon capture and storage (CCS) via a 1.8Mt/yr CCS installation. Full-scale capturing of the plant’s CO₂ emissions is scheduled by 2030.

Chair Dominik von Achten said, “HeidelbergCement will be the leader in the global cement industry on its transformation path towards climate neutrality. The key for decarbonising our industry is to find, apply and scale technical solutions for carbon capture and utilisation or storage (CCU/S). After having gained valuable experience with CCU/S technologies in Norway and other countries, we are now excited to make the next step with a completely carbon-neutral cement plant in Sweden.”