Displaying items by tag: Government
UltraTech Cement to invest US$120m in Bihar
14 December 2023India: UltraTech Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Bihar for the investment of US$120m in the state.
Press Trust of India News has reported that the Bihar government has asked the government of India to grant the state special status in order to advance its industrial development.
NI Capital to sell Misr Cement Qena stake
11 December 2023Egypt: NI Capital, the investment arm of Egypt’s National Investment Bank, plans to sell its 10% stake in Misr Cement Qena. The Al Borsa newspaper has reported that the company is preparing to tender for a financial advisor for the intended sale. The divestment would form part of a US$5bn International Monetary Fund (IMF)-mandated privatisation programme, due to conclude before June 2024.
UAE/UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has welcomed the launch of the Canada/UAE co-led Cement Breakthrough Initiative at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on 6 December 2023. Prior to the launch of the initiative, the GCCA hosted a roundtable for representatives of the cement industry and governments.
GCCA chief executive officer Thomas Guillot said "We support and welcome the launch of the Cement Breakthrough Initiative. Cement and concrete are essential for so much of our modern world and will also be needed for meeting the challenges ahead. They will play a key role in providing resilient and sustainable infrastructure and safely housing communities around our planet. Our member companies are fully committed to a net zero future – and it will take the combined efforts of industry and government to deliver on this commitment. This is the decade to deliver, and we are delighted to work with the Cement Breakthrough Initiative and the government of Canada to accelerate the transition."
Belarus: The US government sanctioned the management company of Belarusian Cement Company on 6 December 2023. PrimePress News has reported that 10 other Belarus-based companies and eight individuals were also added to the US sanctions list. This is the latest group of additions since the US and its allies began sanctioning Belarusian entities in connection to election rigging, human rights abuses and complicity in the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Update on cement at COP28
06 December 2023The Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA) has been cheerleading at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai this week with the release of a progress report on the sector’s work towards reaching net zero by 2050. The headline figures are that net CO2 emissions per tonne of cementitious material fell by 23% in 2021 compared to 1990 based on Getting the Numbers Right (GNR) data. Energy efficiency improved by 19% and the fossil fuel component used by the cement sector has fallen to 80% from 98% in 1990. The GCCA has described 2020 - 2030 as the “decade to make it happen” and has set some targets to back this up. Its members intend to reduce CO2 emissions per tonne of cement by 20% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels and concrete CO2 emissions per m3 by 25% over the same time-frame.
The new developments for the cement sector at COP28 so far have been the launch of separate but apparently similar initiatives to help decarbonisation through coordination between nations. The Cement Breakthrough Agenda, backed by the government of Canada and other partners, follows the creation of the Breakthrough Agenda at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) whereby designated governments lead so-called ‘Priority Actions’ to decarbonise various sectors. The idea is to collaborate on measures such as policies, regulations and technologies to help reduce the cost of future investment in decarbonisation. The priority actions will be developed in 2023, worked towards in 2024 and then revised on a regular basis thereafter. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also launched the so-called ‘Climate Club’ on 1 December 2023 to help developing nations invest in technologies to decarbonise sectors such as cement and steel production. The intention is to set up the technical groundwork for a standardised calculation of CO2 intensity in selected products, such as cement and steel, set definitions on what net zero is for these sectors and then set up a platform to connect countries with funding and technical support from governments and the private sector. Neither the Cement Breakthrough Agenda nor the Climate Club has mentioned funding though.
Additionally, Holcim announced that it had become a founding member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s SMI Circularity Task Force. The group aims to promote the circular economy to the private and public sector. Holcim was keen to point out that it is already recycling nearly 7Mt/yr of construction and demolition waste, with a target of 10Mt/yr pencilled in by 2025.
Other groups are not as upbeat as the GCCA though. The Global Carbon Project, for example, has estimated in its annual Global Carbon Budget that global fossil CO2 emissions are set to rise by 1.4% year-on-year to 36.8Bnt in 2023. This figure includes both the CO2 released by cement production and the CO2 uptake from cement carbonation. Ongoing research by Robbie Andrew, a greenhouse gas emissions scientist at the CICERO Center for Climate Research in Norway and the Global Carbon Project, found that process emissions by the cement sector fell for the first time since 2015 in 2022, to reach 1.61Bnt. This decrease was most likely due to China’s falling cement production in 2022, stemming from a downturn in the local real estate sector. However, both the data from GCCA and the Global Carbon Project may be right simultaneously as they look at the emissions of the cement sector in different ways.
The GCCA’s job is to advocate for the cement and concrete sector and it is presenting itself well at COP28. Since its formation, it has set up roadmaps, encouraged collaboration and innovation, and is now reporting back on its progress. Net zero remains the goal by 2050, but the GCCA is being upfront about the role carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is expected to play after 2030 and the lack of any full-scale CCUS units so far. Yet it is tracking what has happened so far through the Green Cement Technology Tracker in conjunction with Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT).
As for the rest of COP28, various reports have been aired in the international press about whether the conference will call for a formal phase out of fossil fuels in some form or another. Whether it actually happens is another matter entirely, especially considering that the president of COP28 is the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and any eventual language would likely be vague. Yet the work by the GGCA and others has started to make the unthinkable a little more thinkable.
Australia: Western Australia’s environment minister Reece Whitby has questioned the efficacy of tests submitted by Cockburn Cement in relation to its Munster lime plant in May 2023. The tests showed successes in odour reduction during sand feeding at the plant’s Kiln 6. Business News Western Australia has reported that the government and an independent expert have raised ‘areas of concern’ as to whether the trial represents normal operating conditions for the kiln.
David Scaife, who represents Cockburn District in the Western Australia Legislative Assembly, said "My gripe is not with the workers, it is with the senior management and the directors of Cockburn Cement and its owner, Adbri, who have refused to do the right thing either by moving the lime manufacturing operations to its Kwinana facility or at least making the investments necessary to eliminate the odour."
Bolivian Attorney General ready to negotiate over historic nationalisation of Fábrica Nacional de Cementos stake
30 November 2023Bolivia: The Bolivian Attorney General’s Office says that is open to meeting representatives of Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (SOBOCE) in order to negotiate a ‘better arrangement’ following Bolivia’s nationalisation of a stake in SOBOCE subsidiary Fábrica Nacional de Cementos (FANCESA) by supreme decree in 2010. SOBOCE owes FANCESA US$108m in damages for unfair competition since that time.
SOBOCE said "SOBOCE, together with its shareholders of Grupo Gloria del Peru, will continue to resort to judicial and/or arbitration channels (national or international) for the recognition of their rights. We believe in justice and in the legitimate right that we have, since the Bolivian Constitution guarantees the payment of compensation in case of expropriation."
Bolivian court ‘without jurisdiction’ to rule on cement companies’ claim against government over FANCESA stake
29 November 2023Bolivia: The Permanent Court of Arbitration has found itself ‘without jurisdiction’ to resolve a claim by Consorcio Cementero del Sur, Grupo de Inversiones Gloria Bolivia, SOBOCE and Yura Inversiones Bolivia against the Bolivian government over the nationalisation of a stake in FANCESA. Local press has reported that Bolivian Attorney General’s Office welcomed the finding as a ‘resolution of the case in favour of the Bolivian state.’
Vietnamese 11-month cement production declines by 4.5% in 2023
29 November 2023Vietnam: Cement plants produced 110Mt of cement during the 11-month period up to the end of November 2023, Việt Nam News has reported. The government’s General Statistics Office recorded a 4.5% year-on-year drop in national production volumes of cement in the year to date.
Canada: The Cement Association of Canada (CAC) says that provisions for investments and supportive measures in the government’s Fall Economic Statement 2023 will help to ensure the successful roll-out of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) for industrial decarbonisation. The statement commits the government to advancing a CCUS Investment Tax Credits (ITC) scheme.
CAC president and CEO Adam Auer said “We commend the government’s recognition of the importance of CCUS in achieving our climate objectives. The cement industry is committed to reducing its carbon footprint, and these investments will facilitate the deployment of innovative technologies that are essential for achieving our Concrete Zero sustainability action plan objectives.”