06 September 2022

Belgium: Cembureau, the European Cement Association, has called for urgent action to be taken to support cement production due to large increases in the cost of electricity. It said that, if no measures were taken at both the European and national level, the current energy prices would lead to widespread plant closures across the European Union (EU). This in turn could create a crisis in the construction supply chain. It explained that one tonne of cement normally takes around 110kWh of electricity to produce. Therefore, with electricity prices now between Euro700 - 1000mWh, as observed in several EU member states, electricity costs amount to Euro70 – 110/t of cement, tripling the total cost of production.

The association has called for: all available sources of electricity generation to be used to boost power supplies; the immediate introduction of emergency measures, such as price caps; that the EU temporary state aid framework adopted in late March 2022 should allow all energy-intensive industries to have access to state aid covering 70 - 80% of eligible costs; and that co-processing in cement kilns should be actively encouraged and promoted at EU, state and local levels.

It added that further measures should also be considered, including: the electricity market design rules, including the marginal price setting mechanism, should be changed to prevent further electricity price hikes in the future; the cement sector should be made eligible for financial compensation under the EU emission trading scheme indirect state aid guidelines and that indirect emissions should be included in the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM); the large-scale deployment of renewable energy should be supported across the EU; and that the pace of the EU climate agenda ('Fit for 55') should be maintained, and the CBAM should be implemented in a timely manner.

Poland: Lafarge Poland says that it has started one of its decarbonisation goals by removing the first of its ordinary portland cement (OPC) products from the market. From the start of September 2022 the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim has stopped producing its bagged CEM I 42.5 R Special cement product. In late 2021 it said it was planning to stop production CEM I OPC by the end of 2025. As it does so it will switch to products in the group’s ECOPlanet range instead.

Romania: Holcim Romania has published four new environmental product declarations (EPD) for its products, including ECOPlanet cement and ECOPact concrete. It says it is the first construction materials manufacturer in the country to do so. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim first started makings its EPDs available in 2014 for cement, concrete and aggregate products. These were revalidated in 2019 and again in 2022.

Sweden: The Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) and the county administrative board of Gotland have both recommended rejecting Cementa’s application to extend its operating permit for its integrated Slite cement plant by four years. At present the current temporary permit will expire at the end of 2022, according to the Dagens Industri newspaper. The county administrative board has requested more information and Naturvårdsverket has found issues in the application with groundwater and nature protection area issues.

Cementa says that it submitted it application to the Land and Environment Court in April 2022 and that it was deemed complete by the court, which announced the application. In July 2022, opinions were received from around 10 authorities and associations, such as the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), Naturvårdsverket and the Norwegian Sea and Water Authority. Cementa added that it has now responded to this feedback.

“There are and must be high requirements for permit applications, so it is natural that there will be many views and questions in this type of examination,” said Karin Comstedt Webb, vice president of HeidelbergCement Sweden. “We have now clarified the application further and are now looking forward to the main hearing in October 2022. We are confident that our application is complete and we have been keen to show even more clearly that the business can be conducted in coexistence with nearby residents, and surrounding environmental and natural values. We see good conditions for the timetable announced by the court to be kept, which is crucial for the Swedish cement supply not to be jeopardised in the coming years.”

Further views on the application will be submitted in September 2022. The Land and Environment Court will then hold a hearing in October 2022 and a final decision is expected the end of 2022.

Finland: Advancetec has changed its name to Schmersal Finland. The company was originally founded in 1993 in Helsinki as a sales company for automation technology. Germany-based Schmersal Group entered into a sales cooperation with Advancetec in the 1990s and eventually fully acquired the company in 2019.

Schmersal Finland sells products from the Schmersal portfolio and the safety services of Schmersal’s services division under the brand name tec.nicum, primarily in Finland and Estonia. Customers include well-known companies from the sectors paper manufacturing, food processing, robotics, marine industry and heavy industry.

Jukka Harmoinen, the managing director of Schmersal Finland, said “The new name will make it easier for us to increase the visibility of the Schmersal brand in Finland. In the future we would like to expand our product range and to develop new projects in cooperation with engineering and consulting companies.”