27 November 2023

Chile/Germany: The governments of Chile and Germany are reportedly preparing to launch a so-called ‘climate club’ to help developing nations invest in technologies to decarbonise sectors such as cement and steel production. The partners will set up a platform to connect countries with funding and technical support from governments and the private sector, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. The statement is expected to be published at the United Nations’ Conference of the Parties (COP) 28 event on 1 December 2023 set to take place in Dubai.

"On hard-to-abate sectors, starting with steel and cement, we will advance conducive policy frameworks for accelerating decarbonisation," the statement said. It added that this will include attempting to coordinate international green industry standards, such as counting the emissions in industrial products.

A website for the club lists 33 members including the US, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, the European Union (EU), Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Mozambique, Morocco, Ukraine and the UK. It has been viewed, in part, as an attempt to reconcile countries annoyed by the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which started in October 2023. However, neither China nor India appears to have joined the ‘climate club’ so far.

Algeria: Amouda Cement is preparing to launch an oil well cement production line at its plant at El Beïda in Laghouat province. L'Expression newspaper reports that the product will be targeted at oil and gas companies in the southern region of the country, particularly those near to the RN 1 highway.

Denmark: Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will today inaugurate the ConsenCUS CO₂ capture pilot unit at Aalborg Portland Cement’s Rørdal plant. Kadri Simson, the European Union (EU) Energy Commissioner, and Lars Aagaard, the Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Supply Minister, will also attend the event. A European Commission-run carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) forum will take place in Aalborg at the same time.

Aalborg Portland Cement first established a CCUS pilot project called CORT at its cement plant in 2022 in collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) with support from the EU Innovation Fund. This is now being replaced by the ConsenCUS pilot. The new project will test a more energy-efficient CCS technology that can potentially halve the energy consumption compared to traditional CO₂ capture methods by driving the process exclusively via electricity. The project partners will also investigate converting the captured CO₂ into potassium formate, a valuable resource for the chemical industry. The ConsenCUS project is supported by the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

Ghana: Two managers at Kumasi Cement Ghana have been arrested by officials from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA). Huang Guangshun and Fang Yuan were detained for continuing to operate the company despite being requested to stop, according to the Graphic newspaper. Samuel K Frimpong, the Ashanti Regional Manager of the GSA, said “They claimed to have been asked to keep producing by an unnamed top government official, but we acted per the law and got them arrested.”

Kumasi Cement Ghana, Xin An Safe Cement Ghana and Unicem Cement Ghana had their licences revoked by the GSA in mid-November 2023 for using inferior materials in cement production. The closure of the cement plants is part of a government strategy to stop the production of ‘substandard’ cement in the country.

Officials from Xin An Safe Cement Ghana and Unicem Cement Ghana have signed an agreement at the head office of the GSA to “adhere to specified quality standards in cement manufacturing”. They pledged to “comply with all regulatory standards and requirements governing cement manufacturing in Ghana.” However, the GSA is yet to allow the companies to restart their operations.

Kenya: Bamburi Cement reduced its Scope 1 CO₂ emissions by 3% year-on-year in 2022. Data from its Sustainability Report for 2022 shows that the subsidiary of Holcim also increased its alternative fuels substitution rate by 6%, according to the Standard newspaper. The company’s managing director Mohit Kapoor attributed the drop in emissions to the increased use of alternative fuels, using alternative raw materials to substitute for clinker, using renewable energy sources and optimisation of the cement manufacturing process. In line with Holcim Group the company has committed to becoming net zero by 2050.