18 June 2025

Norway: Heidelberg Materials CEO Dominik von Achten and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway have inaugurated the new carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit at the Brevik cement plant. The event was attended by 320 guests, inxluding Norwegian energy minister Terje Aasland. Von Achten said the producer’s ‘zero-CO₂’ cement, evoZero, is fully sold out for 2025. The Brevik CCS unit will capture 400,000t/yr of CO₂, equivalent to 50% of the plant's emissions. The first CO₂ has already been successfully captured, liquefied and temporarily stored, with injection into subsea reservoirs scheduled for August 2025. 

Von Achten said “Personally, I love the collaboration part of it because this is a masterpiece of global, national, European, in fact, global collaboration. Without the Norwegian government support we would probably not alone have a part in this project. The Norwegian government has significantly de-risked the project for us. That's why we are standing here today and celebrating this important milestone.”

He added “We can’t expect governments to finance these projects for the coming decades – it must work commercially. We have a physical product from Brevik that we will be delivering to Oslo and to other parts of Norway. We also have a virtual product, which will be like a purchase of a renewable energy contract, so that we can virtually allocate evoZero to Paris, to Berlin, to wherever it is needed.”

Von Achten said “The CO₂ concentration in our flue gas – at 20% – is much higher than in the atmosphere, so we have a huge technology and commercial advantage over direct air capture (DAC) approaches. I would say that our evoZero product brings significant commercial advantages to our customers.”

Yara International CEO Svein Tore Holsether said “There will be no green transition with red numbers.”

Energy minister Terje Aasland said Norway has been safely sequestering CO₂ in the Sleipner oil-field since 1996 and that storage is safe and permanent.

Poland/Germany: Cemex will expand its renewable energy portfolio in its Central Europe Materials division by adding new photovoltaic farms at its cement plants in Mysłowice, Warsaw, Lublin, Szczecin, Gdańsk and at the Mirowo quarry, under an agreement with EDP Energia Polska. The company currently operates five photovoltaic farms in the region, four in Germany and one in Pruszków near Warsaw. Nine new farms in Poland will take total photovoltaic capacity above 14MW. Existing installations produce 128MW/month; this will rise to 291MWh/month once the new farms become operational.

Cemex has also signed an eight-year power purchase agreement with Norwegian energy company Statkraft to supply its Polish operations with wind and photovoltaic electricity, covering 30% of Cemex Polska’s energy demand.

Denmark: FLSmidth has entered into a share purchase agreement with Nrep and AG Gruppen to sell its subsidiary Matr. No 2055 A/S, which owns the land and buildings at Vigerslev Allé 77 in Valby, Copenhagen. The company has been based at the Valby site since 1899, with the current buildings built in 1956. In 2022, FLSmidth announced plans to relocate its headquarters to a news site in Havneholmen, Copenhagen in late 2025.

FLSmidth expects net cash proceeds of approximately US$112m upon the closing of the transaction, scheduled for the end of the first quarter of 2026, subject to approval by the Danish Consumer and Competition Authority.

India: The Karatoya cement plant in Rajganj, West Bengal, will suspend operations for two months following the termination of its commercial agreement with a business partner, according to The Siliguri Times. The closure affects around 80 permanent and temporary workers, who staged a protest outside the plant. The company had reportedly been producing cement under contract for a ‘reputed’ cement brand for several years. The plant initially operated independently before transitioning to contract production.

Tapan Dey, president of workers organisation INTTUC Jalpaiguri district, said that plant management must provide at least two months of financial support to affected workers and that the matter would be raised with the Jalpaiguri Deputy Labour Commissioner.