UK: Cemex UK has announced that it will begin to use hydrogen on an industrial scale at its Rugby cement plant in Warwickshire. It will do so via HiiROC, a UK-based start-up that has received backing from Cemex Ventures. HiiROC produces carbon-neutral hydrogen using its proprietary Thermal Plasma Electrolysis (TPE) process, which requires just 20% of the electrical energy used in water electrolysis and captures carbon as a solid byproduct, avoiding CO₂ emissions. HiiROC’s modular solution can be deployed as single units to full-scale industrial plants. The hydrogen produced can be used as an alternative energy source to fuel clinker production processes, helping Cemex to achieve its decarbonisation goals.

"Our investment in this innovative project alongside HiiROC reinforces Cemex's commitment to transform the industry by working hand in hand with disruptive startups and new technologies," said Gonzalo Galindo, the head of Cemex Ventures. "Hydrogen as an alternative energy source has the ability to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions in our operations, aligning with our 2050 goal of becoming a net-zero CO₂ company and a leader in the industrial use of hydrogen."

Kenya: Amsons Group, a Tanzanian business conglomerate with interests in power, construction, cement and concrete, has received regulatory approval from Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa’s (Comesa) Competition Commission for its proposed acquisition of up to 100% of Bamburi Cement. The commission confirmed that the proposed acquisition falls within its ambit and does not pose a competition risk within the common market, with a statement saying “It is unlikely that the proposed merger will lead to the creation of a dominant position that would enable the parties to engage in unilateral conduct in the market.”

In July 2024 Amsons Group issued a binding offer to acquire up to a 100% stake in Bamburi Cement through its Kenyan subsidiary and investment vehicle, Amsons Industries (K) Ltd.

Speaking as he welcomed the Comesa Competition Commission’s approval, Amsons Group CEO Edha Nahdi said that the transaction is part of the group’s strategy to expand its footprint to the Kenyan market and trade across East Africa, saying “The approval is a significant boost to our offer as we continue to engage investors of Bamburi Cement. We remain confident that our acquisition bid will be successful as it presents a win-win scenario for the investors and our two countries.”

Iraq: Sinoma International Engineering, China's largest provider of cement engineering services, has secured a US$351.5m engineering procurement contract to build a 1000MW solar power plant in Iraq for Mass Renewable Energy Production, part of the Mass Group which also operates a 6Mt/yr cement plant in Bazian, Iraq.

The turnkey contract, to be built in Al-Kut, will take 21 months to build, leading to completion by the third quarter of 2026.

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has unveiled a Mathematics Masterclass for Senior Secondary School students from both public and private schools across Ewekoro and Sagamu Local Government Areas, where the company’s manufacturing plants are located. The company explained that the initiative, which was part of its corporate social responsibility efforts, aimed to address the high failure rates in mathematics and science subjects among students in its host communities.

At events held separately in Sagamu and Ewekoro, Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, CEO of Lafarge Africa, emphasised the importance of mathematics as a key subject, stating “Mathematics is a fundamental subject that unites science and humanities. This is a major reason for why Lafarge is investing in it. We want to help students to improve in this subject and to better equip them for the future.”

Chile: Cementos Bío Bío (Cbb) will likely have new owners soon, as the US group Mississippi Lime Company has offered to acquire 100% of the company for nearly US$400m and shareholders are now negotiating its sale. The producer’s board authorised a due diligence process in May 2024, which has now been substantially concluded. A shareholder of Cbb, Peru's Yura, launched an offer in November 2024 for 20% of the Chilean cement company, thus reaching 40% of the shares. Yura bought 20% of Cbb for US$50m in 2019.

Belgium: Holcim has selected the joint venture between BESIX and DENYS as the main contractor for the civil works of the upgrade at its Obour, Mons, plant. The GO4ZERO project will produce nearly 2.3Mt/yr of carbon-neutral cementitious materials by 2029. In a separate contract, BESIX’s subsidiary Franki Foundations is handling the deep foundations. Work began in August 2024 and will conclude in February 2025.

Brazil: InterCement, the indirect controlling shareholder of Loma Negra, has extended its exclusivity agreement with Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional for a potential acquisition of its entire share capital until 16 December 2024. This extension is part of a broader non-judicial collection process and does not impose any binding obligations on InterCement or its shareholders. This follows a previous extension of the exclusivity period in July 2024.

Azerbaijan: Cemex has won the Net-Zero Industries Award for its clinker decarbonisation process using concentrated solar power. The award was presented at COP29 in Baku. Cemex’s solar clinker project is a collaboration with cleantech company Synhelion, which developed the high-temperature solar heat technology it uses. Cemex and Synhelion partnered in 2019 and achieved the first successful production of solar clinker in 2022.

Davide Zampini, vice president of Global R&D at Cemex, said "Together with Synhelion, we are pioneering solar-powered clinker production, a breakthrough process that can contribute to decarbonising cement manufacturing."

The mood music for this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan has been poor. Despite this though the decarbonisation prospects for the cement sector are looking rosier than other industries.

First, the negatives. People are starting to question whether the COPs are fit for purpose. Donald Trump’s election as President-Elect in the US before the event started pretty much set the tone given that he intends to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Again. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev described his country’s natural gas resources as a “gift from God” following reports that, once again, COP national delegates had been caught promoting fossil fuel deals. France and Argentina also withdrew their lead negotiators for differing political reasons. Meanwhile, there has been increasing lobbying against carbon capture from the environmental sector. In short the view is growing that carbon capture is a delaying tactic by fossil fuel companies rather than a viable solution. This poses a threat to the cement sector because its current net zero roadmaps require carbon capture.

The World Cement Association’s CEO Ian Riley asked in a statement whether there might be “...a shift toward negotiations driven by the major emitters - China, the US, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.” However he observed that none of these countries yet seem ready to lead on the climate agenda globally.

Now, the positives. Cement CO₂ sector emissions may have continued to fall in 2023. The Global Carbon Project published its Global Carbon Budget 2024 in mid-November 2024. It predicts that global fossil CO₂ emissions will rise by 0.8% year-on-year in 2024 with emissions from coal, oil and gas still mounting. However, emissions from cement producers are expected to fall by 0.8%. This trend started in 2022. It appears to be due to declines in China, the US and the EU but, notably, not in India. It’s worth commenting here that this decline may be principally down to the parlous state of the real estate market in China, but there is also a lot of decarbonisation work happening. We’ll take a win where we can.

Next, the Global Cement and Concrete Association’s two big announcements at COP29 have been the publication of its Cement Industry Net Zero Progress Report 2024/25 and the launch of international definitions for low carbon cement and concrete. The progress report proffers a nifty update on how well it’s going. Short version: 23% reduction in emissions intensity since 1990; lots going on; plenty more to do.

One of those issues that require attention is low-carbon procurement. Hence those international definitions. This may seem like an abjectly boring topic but never underestimate the power of standards upon building materials. This should help support governments, policy makers and the private sector to set low carbon procurement rules. Since governments are among the biggest buyers of building materials worldwide, both directly and indirectly, this is intended to start speeding up decarbonisation by driving demand for existing lower carbon cement and concrete products. Whether this is the tool that cracks the global adoption of low carbon building materials remains to be seen. Yet the long lead time it took the Portland Cement Association (PCA) in the US, for example, to promote the use of Portland Limestone Cement is both instructive and inspirational. It can be done and it can deliver results.

COP29 has been described as the ‘finance COP’ because the representatives are hoping to set a new global climate finance target. This target, or new collective quantified goal (NCQG), is seen as one of the summit's main outcomes. It is intended to replace the existing US$100bn goal that is due to expire in 2025. However, the question of how much each country pays has predictably caused disagreements between developed, developing and those countries in between. All of this is well above the ‘paygrade’ of the cement sector but is crucial to what happens next, because it’s going to get expensive. Establishing regional carbon capture infrastructure requires serious funding. Time will tell whether COP29 can actually further this aim. The arguing continues.

Germany: The European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) has elected Eric Bourdon as the chair of its Technical Advisory Committee. Hendrik Möller, Schwenk Deutschland and Samir Cairae, Titan Cement have also joined the organisation’s board of directors

Bourdon is the Deputy CEO, the Head of Industry and the Chief Climate Officer of Vicat. He joined the group in 2002 after working for thyssenkrupp Polysius. He is a graduate in engineering from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers in Paris.

ECRA was founded in 2003. It supports and shares research by the cement sector in Europe. It is steered by its technical committee. Bourdon will work with ECRA managing director Martin Schneider on strengthening its work in strategic areas, including CO₂ capture and related technologies, as well as grinding and kiln technologies.