Displaying items by tag: target

India: JK Cement has commissioned its latest new grinding plant in Uttar Pradesh. Reuters News has reported that the facility has a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr.

JK Cement is on track to increase its total installed capacity to 23Mt/yr by the end of 2023.

Singapore: Parliament passed the Carbon Pricing (Amendment) Bill earlier in November 2022. Under the act, Singapore will raise the price of carbon credits to US$18.17/t from 2024, and to US$32.71/t from 2026. CNA News has reported that the government said that the new legislation will provide the basis for the realisation of carbon credit prices of over US$36.31/t by 2030, in line with the country's 2050 net zero CO2 emissions commitment.

Polluters which emit over 25,000t/yr of CO₂ currently pay US$3.65/t for carbon credits.

Saudi Arabia: Yanbu Cement was among successful bidders in Saudi Arabia's largest carbon credit auction to date earlier in November 2022. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)’s Voluntary Carbon Market Initiative Auction sold 1.4Mt-worth of carbon credits to 15 different entities, of which Yanbu Cement was the only cement sector representative. The PIF said that the sale will support the country's Saudi Vision 2030 development goal, while also advancing its progress towards net zero CO₂ emissions by 2060.

Greece: Titan Group says that its updated 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as consistent with the levels required to limit a global temperature increase to 1.5°C. With the new targets the cement producer intends to tackle direct (Scope 1) emissions, indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity (Scope 2), and also other indirect emissions from the supply chain (Scope 3).

The company plans to reduce Scope 1 (gross), 2 and 3 (gross) GHG emissions covering in produced and purchased cement and clinker, by 25.1% per tonne of cementitious product sold by 2030, from a 2020 base year. Within this target it intends to reduce Scope 1 GHG emissions (gross) by 22.8% per tonne of cementitious product and to reduce Scope 2 GHG emissions by 58.1% per tonne of cementitious product from a 2020 base year. It also intends to reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from the use of sold fossil fuels by 42% from a 2021 base year. A Global Cement estimate suggests that it aims to reduce its specific net Scope 1 CO₂ emissions to around 520kgCO₂/t of cementitious product in 2030 compared to 654kgCO₂/t in 2021.

Mexico: Cemex says it has validated its 2030 decarbonisation goals through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for alignment under their new 1.5°C scenario. Under the new target the group plans to reduce its Scope 1 (direct) emissions by 47% less of CO₂ per ton of cementitious material and 35% less of carbon content in concrete compared to a 1990 baseline. A Global Cement estimate suggests that Cemex has set its 2030 target to around 425kg CO₂/t of cementitious product compared to 800kg CO₂/t in 1990 and 591kg CO₂/t in 2021.

The group also intends to reduce its Scope 2 (indirect) emissions via a 65% increase in sustainable electricity consumption. It aims to reduce its Scope 3 emissions through a 25% reduction in CO₂ per tonne of purchased clinker and cement, a 30% reduction in transport emissions, a 40% reduction of scope 3 emissions per tonne of purchased fuels and a 42% reduction in absolute scope 3 emissions from the use of traded fuels compared to a 2020 baseline.

Canada: The government and the Cement Association of Canada have published the ‘Roadmap to Net-Zero Carbon Concrete by 2050.’ The document details how cement and concrete producers and legislators could achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions from the cement and concrete sector by 2050. The joint government-industry working group next plans to release an action plan explaining how the sector will reduce its CO₂ emissions by up to 40% by 2030 and a plan for research and development required to meet the 2050 target. The country’s cement and concrete industry says it has committed to reducing over 15Mt of greenhouse gases cumulatively by 2030 and achieving net-zero by 2050.

“Decarbonising concrete is a necessity, and Canada’s cement and concrete industry has demonstrated that it is up to the task. This roadmap demonstrates our industry’s leadership in CO₂ emissions reduction and positions us to achieve our goal of net-zero cement by 2050,” said Marie Glenn, chair of the Cement Association of Canada. Association president and chief executive officer Adam Auer added, “While we are steadfast in our commitment to reduce our emissions by 15MT cumulatively by 2030 and reach true net-zero by 2050, we know we can’t do it alone. Together in collaboration with government we will continue to support the innovation and investment needed on our path to delivering net-zero concrete, while at the same time preserving its properties as a durable, resilient, versatile, and cost-effective material.”

Readers may have noticed the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) is currently taking place at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Many of the cement companies, suppliers and related associations are present at the annual jamboree and getting stuck in. For example, Holcim’s chief sustainability officer Magali Anderson was scheduled on 8 November 2022 to discuss solutions to decarbonise the built environment at the event’s Building Pavilion, Cemex’s chief executive officer Fernando A González took part in the First Movers Coalition (FMC) panel, FLSmidth is down for a number of talks and both the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and World Cement Association are busy too.

Stone cold progress, if any, from the conference is yet to emerge although there is still time given that the event runs until 18 November 2022. No doubt some sort of ‘big message’ style international commitment or plan will emerge from the haggling. However, on the cement sector side, the biggest story so far has been the FMC plan for some of its members to procure at least 10% near-zero cement and concrete for its projects by 2030. Both Holcim and Cemex were founding members of the collation of companies that intend to use their purchasing power to support sustainable technologies in hard to abate sectors. Commitments for the aviation, shipping, steel and trucking sectors were set at COP26 in Glasgow, aluminium and CO₂ removal followed in May 2022 and chemicals and concrete were scheduled for November 2022. The latter has started to happen with the formation of the FMC’s cement and concrete group. Companies involved include ETEX, General Motors, Ørsted, RMZ Corporation and Vattenfall. Of these, Sweden-based energy producer Vattenfall has publicly said it is going for the 10% near-zero cement and concrete target by 2030.

Table 1: Net CO₂ emission intensity (kgCO2/t) for cement production at selected large cement producers.

While we wait for more announcements to escape from Sharm El Sheikh it might be worth reflecting upon one of the targets some of the cement companies have set themselves for 2030. Table 1 above compares the net CO₂ emission intensity for cement production at some of the large cement producers. It doesn’t tell us much, other than that the CO₂ emission intensity for these companies was in the region of 550 - 600kgCO₂/t of cementitious material in 2021. This compares to 580kgCO₂/t in 2020 for the GCCA’s Getting the Numbers Right (GNR) data for the companies it covers. The companies featured in Table 1 are all aiming – or appear to be aiming – for 475 - 525kgCO₂/t by 2030. This may not sound like much but it has and will require hard work, innovation, investment and risk on the part of the cement producers. This is also before carbon capture, utilisation and/or storage (CCUS) units will have been built at most cement plants. Yes, until the CO₂ emission intensity goes to down to zero, if cement production volumes keep rising sufficiently then total gross CO₂ emissions from the cement industry will also increase. Yet, gross CO₂ emissions from cement production are likely to peak sometime between now and 2030 if they haven’t already.

One sobering fact to end with is that 1990 is now further in the past than 2050 is in the future. If you can remember George Bush Sr as US president or you saw the film Goodfellas at the cinema then that’s the amount of time we have left to reach net zero. The global economic shocks of the post-coronavirus period and the war in Ukraine are stressing the world’s climate targets more than ever before. Let’s see how COP27 reacts to this. So far though, serious commitments to using low-carbon cement and concrete from big companies are a useful step to entrenching these products in the market.

North Korea: State media in Pyongyang has stated that the Hysan Cement plant has carried out its yearly plan ahead of schedule and has produced ‘thousands more tonnes’ of cement than forecast. The factory was reported to have implemented dozens of ‘valuable inventions,’ which reportedly allowed it to increase production by 20% so far in 2022 relative to its total production volume for 2021.

Thailand: Siam Cement Group (SCG) recorded revenues of US$11.8bn during the first nine months of 2022, up by 15% year-on-year from US$10.2bn in the corresponding period of 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by 26% to US$1.37bn from US$1.86bn.

SCG recorded nine-month costs growth of 15%, to US$3.29bn from US$2.85bn. The Bangkok Post newspaper has reported that the group says that its monthly energy costs have risen by 50% since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. As such, it is currently focusing its investments on three ‘key’ business areas with smaller energy consumptions than cement. These are smart living, renewable energy and logistics.

SCG renewables subsidiary SCG Cleanergy aims to more than double its renewable power generation capacity to 500MW before 2026 and further increase it to 5GW before 2028. This will consist of wind farms and roof-mounted and floating solar power plants. Meanwhile, SCG Logistics Management secured approval to merge with JWD InfoLogistics on 26 October 2022.

Greece: Titan Group has set new CO₂ reduction targets by adding Scope 3 emissions. Titan Group had previously committed to a 21% Scope 1 emissions reduction and a 42% Scope 2 emissions reduction per tonne of cementitious material between 2020 and 2030. Titan Group reduced its total CO₂ emissions by 20% between 1990 and 2021, and by 5.5% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2022. Its latest targets are currently under review by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Titan Group chair Marcel Cobuz said “The initiatives in our decarbonisation roadmap offer significant business growth opportunities. Our technology and sales teams across all our markets are focused on decarbonising our operations more quickly and offering our customers more and more sustainable and circular solutions.”