Brazil: Steelmaker CSN is set to start receiving binding offers for its cement unit, CSN Cimentos, in just ‘a few weeks,’ according to the company's chief financial officer Marco Rabello. "The binding phase should begin in just over a month, shortly after the receipt of non-binding offers and the selection of the institutions that will advance to the next round," he said, although he did not disclose values or the names of potential buyers. Local sources have previously linked Votorantim Cimentos, Huaxin Cement, Anhui Conch Cement, Sinoma International and J&F, which owns a meat packing company, as potential buyers. The process is expected to be highly competitive and may also include contenders from Italy and Mexico, according to sources quoted by Reuters.

Rabello said that the closing and disbursement of funds related to the cement unit sale could be reached by the end of 2026, but that the transaction would need to be approved by the Brazilian competition regulator, and the timeline could vary depending on the buyer.

Australia: Residents close to Adbri’s Birkenhead cement plant near Adelaide, South Australia, have expressed concern about a potential increase in the amount of plastic being burned as an alternative fuel (AF) at the plant. City of Port Adelaide Enfield Councillor Peter McGregor has also announced his opposition.

"Adbri has used refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in the past. It currently contains 20% plastic. What they're proposing now is to use more RDF and increase the plastic in a separate part of their plant," said McGregor, who claimed that a new permit would allow the plant to use up to 50% plastic in its RDF. This has not been confirmed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In a statement, Adbri said the company has hosted information sessions and has encouraged the local community ‘to provide feedback on proposed trials to further reduce fossil fuel usage’ at its Birkenhead facility. Adbri said that the RDF it uses is made from construction and demolition waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill and that the trial would take place in full compliance with EPA regulations.

Switzerland: Companies on the Swiss Market Index (SMI) reportedly made little progress in climate protection in 2025, according to a data analysis by news agency AWP. Overall, the operational (Scope 1 & 2) CO₂ emissions of SMI companies fell by approximately 3% in 2025. However, greenhouse gas emissions from the upstream and downstream value chain (Scope 3), which typically account for the largest share of the CO2 footprint and include emissions from suppliers, rose by almost 6%.

With 55Mt of operational CO₂ emissions globally, cement producer Holcim was by far the largest emitter on the SMI, followed by Amrize (15.6Mt), which split off from Holcim in 2025, and food giant Nestlé (3Mt).

In 2025, Holcim reduced its operational greenhouse gas emissions by 1.8%, partly through reduced use of clinker and alternative fuels (AF). However, emissions along the supply chain increased by around 6%, mainly due to ‘higher emissions from subsidiaries and purchased clinker and cement.’

Amrize reduced its own emissions by around 4%. The group does not yet report any Scope 3 emissions but will do so for 2026.

France/Syria: A court in Paris has found Lafarge, now part of Holcim, guilty of charges that its Syrian subsidiary financed terrorism and breached EU sanctions to keep a cement plant operating in northern Syria during the country's civil war.

The case was the first time a company has been tried for – and found guilty of - financing terrorism in France. ECCHR and Sherpa, the two organisations that filed the initial lawsuit, called it “A historic decision in the fight against multinational corporations' impunity.”

A total of eight former Lafarge employees were found guilty. They include its former CEO Bruno Lafont, who has been sentenced to six years in jail. His lawyer said that he would appeal, as did the lawyer for Christian Herrault, Lafarge’s former deputy managing director, who was sentenced to five years. Firas Tlass, a Syrian ex-member of staff who made the payments to the jihadist groups, was sentenced to seven years in jail in absentia. It was not immediately clear whether Tlass and the other former employees found guilty would also appeal.

Judges determined that Lafarge in total paid €5.59m to extremist ⁠groups, including ISIS and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, both designated as terrorists by the European Union, between 2013 and September 2014. Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, the Presiding Judge, said that the payments made by Lafarge helped to strengthen extremist groups that carried out deadly attacks in Syria and beyond. "It is clear to the court that the sole purpose of the funding of a terrorist organisation was to keep the Syrian plant running for economic reasons. Payments to terrorist entities enabled Lafarge to continue its operations," Prevost-Desprez said. "These ⁠payments took the form of a genuine commercial partnership with the ISIS.”

Lafarge has been ordered to pay a €1.125m fine, the maximum penalty available for a company, as prosecutors had requested. "Lafarge SA acknowledges the court's finding, which concerns a legacy matter involving conduct that occurred more than a decade ago and was in flagrant violation of Lafarge's Code of Conduct," the company said in a statement. "The decision is an important milestone in Lafarge SA’s actions to address this legacy matter responsibly and the company is reviewing the court’s reasoning." Holcim did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Jalabiya ⁠plant, located in northern ⁠Syria and bought by Lafarge in 2008 for US$680m, began operating in 2010, just a few months before the beginning of the Syrian uprising in early 2011. The court found more than €800,000 was paid to secure safe passage for employees over the Euphrates River, while €1.6m was used to buy raw materials from quarries that were under ISIS control.

In a separate case in the US in 2022, Lafarge admitted that its Syrian subsidiary paid US$6m to ISIS and the Nusra Front to allow employees, customers and suppliers to pass through checkpoints after civil conflict broke out in Syria. The group has already paid US$778m in forfeiture and fines as part of its US plea agreement. Lafarge is also under investigation in France for complicity in crimes against humanity over how the company kept its factory running in Syria.