Displaying items by tag: United Nations

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.”

Mexico: Cemex has published its 2021 Integrated Report. Under the report’s Climate Action section, Cemex recorded a 4.7% year-on-year decrease in its CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious material. Alternative fuel (AF) substitution rose to 29%, while its products’ average clinker factor fell to 75%. It was the first company to complete a global roll-out of its reduced-CO₂ cement and concrete range (Vertua). It established Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)-verified well below 2°C 2030 climate action goals and joined the UN’s Race to Zero and the Business Ambition for 1.5°C coalition. It also became a founding member of the World Economic Forum’s First Movers Coalition for zero-carbon economic development.

The year also brought major Sustainability and Circular Economy milestones, including managing 57 times the volume of waste it sent to landfill, positively impacting 25m lives through its Social Impact Strategy and processing 61% of global sales through its Cemex Go digital sales platform. For the second consecutive year, its Net Promotor Score was 68, ‘substantially above’ the construction and engineering industry average.

Australia: Boral says that its emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) as being consistent with the levels required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Boral released its targets in August 2021 when it said it intends to reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050. It subsequently joined the SBTi’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Race to Zero campaign.

The Australia-based building materials company plans to reduce its Scope One and Two emissions by 46% by 2030. It also plans to decrease its relevant Scope Three emissions per tonne of cementitious materials by 22%. It intends to do this by: transitioning to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 and increasing alternative fuels usage at its Berrima plant kiln; growing the proportion of revenue from its lower carbon concrete product range and optimising the efficiency of its cement plant; reducing transport emissions in its own and contractor fleet; prioritising lower carbon intensity suppliers; and exploring and testing emerging carbon capture use and storage technologies.

Boral’s Chief Finance and Strategy Officer, Tino La Spina, said “Boral is determined to become a leading innovator in sustainability through decarbonisation of cement and concrete and increasing our contribution to a more circular economy” He added “We continue to support our customers in their transition to net zero, broadening our range of high performing lower carbon concrete products to cater for all building and infrastructure applications, and offering Climate Active−certified net carbon neutral concrete.”

Mexico: Cemex has joined the United Nations (UN) Global Compact’s Chief CFO Taskforce for the Sustainable Development Goals. The taskforce engages global chief finance officers (CFOs) in integrating the UN’s 10 sustainable development goals (SDG) into strategy, financing and investor relations in order to create a broad sustainable finance market. Its aims include providing the global development community with a modern view of how capital markets can contribute to financing the SDGs at scale, developing innovative financial instruments and contributing to a broad market of diversified investment opportunities, supporting companies in securing financial capital to transform their business and production models, connecting companies’ SDG investments with increasingly impact-orientated investors, developing internal tools and resources to embed sustainability in corporate finance, promoting partnerships between chief executive officers and CFOs and helping to translate sustainability strategies into financial language for investors and rating agencies.

Cemex’s CFO Maher Al-Haffar said “Climate change is perhaps the biggest challenge of our times, affecting lives and disrupting economies. Only by aligning our financial and climate action strategies will we be able to overcome this challenge.” He added “At Cemex, we share the beliefs embodied in the CFO principles and are honoured to join the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce for the SDGs, through which we will actively contribute to the innovation of corporate finance that will enable the building of a more resilient future for all.”

Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) plans to spend US$2bn towards meeting its CO₂ reduction target by 2030. The industrial group and cement producer intends to reduce its emissions by 20% by the end of the decade, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper. Chief executive officer Roongrote Rangsiyopash, said that the investment will be made from 2022 to 2030 and that it follows the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Thai government's bio, circular and green (BCG) economic model and environmental, social and governance standards (ESG). After 2030 the group has a net zero goal for 2050.

In cement production the SCG wants to increase its rate of alternative fuels such as biomass and refuse-derived fuel. It also wants to invest in carbon capture utilisation and storage, use electric vehicles and use artificial intelligence systems in energy management. The group plans to reduce coal usage at its cement plants in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia by 50% in 2022. It also plans to use more electricity generated by renewable energy for its factories.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg memorably summarised the outcome of the 2021 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26) as “blah, blah, blah” but what did it mean for the cement and concrete industries?

Making sense of the diplomatic language the UN uses is a full time job due to its impenetrable jargon. This is partly why climate activists and others may have become jaded about the outcome of the world’s biggest climate change jamboree. The conference of the parties (COP) tried desperately to hang on to the 1.5°C warming aim set at the Paris event (COP21) in 2015. This is dependent though on countries sticking to their 2030 targets and becoming net-zero by 2050 or earlier. Unfortunately, both China and India, two of the world’s current top three CO₂ emitters, have announced net-zero dates of after 2050. Those two countries also drew fire in the western press for weakening the language used in the COP’s outcome document about the ‘phasing out’ or ‘phasing down’ of coal use. However, simply getting coal written on the final agreement has been viewed as a result. Other positive outcomes from the event included commitments for countries to review their 2030 targets in 2022, progress towards coordinating carbon trading markets around the world and work on adaptation finance from developed countries to developing ones.

The headline results from COP26 carry mixed implications for the building materials sector. The Paris agreement (COP21) has already achieved an effect in the run-up to COP26 by prompting the cement and concrete industries to release a roadmap from the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) in October 2021. Now it’s down to whether individual governments actually follow the targets and how they enforce it if they do. If they don’t, then the response from building material producers is likely to be mixed at best.

What may have a more tangible effect is the work on carbon markets at COP26. Countries were finally able to complete technical negotiations on the ‘Paris Agreement Rulebook,’ notably including work on Article 6, the section that helps to govern international carbon markets and allows for a global carbon offsetting mechanism. The European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has shown over the last year how a high carbon price may be able to stimulate companies to invest in mitigation measures such as upping alternative fuels substitution rates and developing carbon capture and storage/utilisation projects. Critics would argue that it may simply be offshoring cement production and closing local plants unnecessarily. Making a more global carbon trading scheme work amplifies both these gains and risks. Either way though, having an international framework to build upon is a major development. Finally, work on adaptation finance could have an effect for cement producers if the money actually makes it to its destination. The big example of this announced at COP26 was a US$8.5bn fund to help South Africa reduce its use of coal. It is mainly targeted at power generation but local cement producers, as a major secondary user of coal, are likely to be affected too.

Alongside the big announcements from COP26 lots of countries and companies, including ones in the cement sector, announced many sustainability plans. One of these included the launch of the Industrial Deep Decarbonisation Initiative (IDDI) during COP26 by the governments of the UK, India, Germany, Canada and the UAE. This scheme intends to create new markets for low carbon concrete and steel to help decarbonise heavy industry. To do this it will disclose the embodied carbon of major public construction projects by 2025, aim to reach net zero in major public construction steel and concrete by 2050, and work on an emissions reduction target for 2030 which will be announced in 2022. Other goals include setting up reporting standards, product standards, procurement guidelines and a free or low-cost certification service by 2023.

All of this suggests that the pressure remains on for the cement and concrete sector to decarbonise, provided that the governments stick to their targets and pledges, and back it up with action. If they do, then the industry will remind legislators of the necessity of essential infrastructure and then continue to ask for financial aid to support the development and uptake of low carbon cements, carbon capture and whatever else. Further adoption of carbon markets around the world and global rules on carbon leakage could help to accelerate this process, as could adaptation finance and global standards for low carbon concrete. The next year will be critical to see if the 1.5°C target survives and the next decade will be crucial to see if global gross cement-related CO₂ emissions will actually peak. If they do then it will be a case of ‘hip hip hurrah’ rather than ‘blah blah blah’.

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.

Greece: Titan Cement has signed the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge. In so doing, it joins the UN’s Race to Zero campaign for collaboration towards a global zero-CO₂ future. The Group’s decarbonisation plans consist of an increased reliance on alternative fuel (AF), accelerated energy efficiency improvement efforts and a shift to low-carbon products and processes.

Titan Cement said “Through the participation in European and international consortia, as well as through collaborations in research and development projects, Titan will continue to develop low-carbon cementitious products and pilot carbon capture technologies in its plants, actively contributing to the industry’s ambition for a carbon-neutral future.”

It’s been a good week for carbon capture in cement production with new projects announced in France and Poland.

The first one is a carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) collaboration between Vicat and Hynamics, a subsidiary of energy-provider Groupe EDF. The Hynovi project will see an integrated unit for capturing CO₂ and producing methanol installed at Vicat’s Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant in 2025. It aims to capture 40% of the CO₂ from the kiln exhaust stack at the plant by using an oxy-fuel method and installing a 330MW electrolyser to split water into oxygen and hydrogen for different parts of the process. The CO₂ will then be combined with hydrogen to produce methanol with potential markets in transport, chemicals and construction. The setup is planning to manufacture over 0.2Mt/yr of methanol or about a quarter of France’s national requirement. The project was put forward under a call for proposals by the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) program. Pre-notification of its participation in the program has been received from the French government and it is currently being evaluated by the European Commission. Vicat’s decision to choose its Montalieu-Vercieu plant for this project is also interesting since it started using a CO₂ntainer system supplied by UK-based Carbon8 Systems there on an industrial scale in November 2020. This system uses captured CO₂ from the plant’s flue gas emissions to carbonate cement-plant dust and produce aggregate.

The second new project is a pilot carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot by HeidelbergCement at its Górażdże cement plant in Poland. This project is part of the wider Project ACCSESS, a consortium led by Sintef Energi in Norway that aims to cut carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) costs and to link CO₂-emitters from mainland Europe to storage fields in the North Sea. The cement plant part in Poland will test an enzyme-based capture method using waste heat at the plant. Another part of the project will look at how the captured CO₂ can then be transported to the Northern Lights storage facility in Norway including the regulatory aspects of cross-border CO₂ transport. ACCSESS started in May 2021 and is scheduled to end in April 2025. It has a budget of around Euro18m with Euro15m contributed by the European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 fund.

HeidelbergCement also says that the second stage of its LEILAC (Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement) project at the Hannover cement plant is part of ACCSESS, with both testing of the larger-scale Calix technology to capture CO₂ and the connected transport logistics and bureaucracy to actually get it to below the North Sea. That last point about Calix is timely given that US-based Carbon Direct purchased a 7% stake in Calix in mid-September 2021 for around US$18m. Whilst on the topic of carbon capture and HeidelbergCement don’t forget that the group’s first full-scale carbon capture unit at Norcem’s Brevik cement plant, using Aker Solution’s amine solvent capture technology, is scheduled for commissioning in September 2024. Another carbon capture unit is planned for Cementa’s Slite plant in 2030 but the proposed capture method has not been announced.

Other recent developments in carbon capture at cement plants include Aalborg Portland Cement’s plan to capture and store CO₂ as part of the Project Greensand consortium. The overall plan here is to explore the technical and commercial feasibility of sequestering CO₂ in depleted oil and gas reservoirs in the Danish North Sea, starting with the Nini West Field. The project is still securing funding though, with an Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program application to the Danish government pending. However, the Danish Parliament decided in December 2021 to set aside a special funding pool to support a CO₂ storage pilot project so this initiative seems to be making progress. If the application is successful, the consortium wants to start work by the end 2021 and then proceed with an offshore injection pilot from late 2022. How and when Aalborg Portland Cement fits in is mostly unknown but a 0.45Mt/yr capture unit at its Rørdal cement plant is tentatively planned for 2027. There’s also no information on the capture method although Aker Carbon Capture is also part of the Project Greensand consortium. Finally, also in September 2021, Chart Industries subsidiary Sustainable Energy Solutions announced that it had selected FLSmidth to help adapt and commercialise its Cryogenic Carbon Capture carbon capture and storage (CCS) system for the global cement industry.

All of this tells the cynics in the audience that a large international climate change meeting is coming up very soon. Most cement companies will likely want some good news to show off when the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) dominates the media agenda in November 2021. Other observations to point out include that none of the projects above are full-scale industrial carbon capture installations, most of them are consortiums of one sort of another and that they are all subsidised or want to be. While hydrogen and CO₂ networks get built this seems inevitable. Yet, we’re not at the stage where cement companies just order carbon capture units from a supplier, like they might a new clinker cooler or silo, without the need for long lists of partners. When this changes then carbon capture looks set to flourish.

On a final note, the UK is currently experiencing a shortage of commercially-used CO₂. The reasons for this have nothing to do with the cement industry. Yet consider the constant doom-and-gloom about record global CO₂ emissions and the sheer amount of effort going into reducing this by the projects mentioned above and others. Life has a sense of humour at times.

For a view on the CO₂ sequestration permitting process in the US look out for the an article by Ralph E Davis Associates, in the forthcoming October 2021 issue of Global Cement Magazine

Mexico: Cemex has signed the Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment led by the We Mean Business Coalition in partnership with the Science Based Targets initiative and the United Nations (UN) Global Compact. With this commitment in place the company has also joined the Race to Zero campaign of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. All members of the Race to Zero coalition pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, in line with global efforts in limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Cemex says that these objectives align with its Future in Action programme to reduce its carbon footprint by delivering net-zero concrete globally by 2050.

“Cemex’s commitment to Climate Action runs deep and we are excited to partner with prominent global organisations to deliver on this challenge. Implementing climate solutions require active collaboration between industry, governments, non-governmental organisations and multilateral agencies, and we intend to continue to play an active role in these efforts. We encourage others to join us in this important challenge”, said Fernando A. González, the chief executive officer of Cemex.

In addition, Cemex has submitted its new 2030 target of below 475Kg CO₂/t of cementitious product for validation to the Science-Based Targets initiative as part of its commitment to fulfil its ambition of carbon neutrality by 2050.