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Cement production took an unnecessarily harsh rap from the latest assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The cause? Misleading wording.

In its summary for policymakers from Working Group I contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (WGI AR5), every time CO₂ emissions were mentioned, cement was also mentioned. Typically this was along the lines of: "annual CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production". Energy supply or transport industries were not mentioned. Only cement was. Subsequently in some general press reports covering the IPCC report, cement was duly parroted as the major industrial source of CO₂ emissions.

Digging into the data revealed that this particular wording derived from one of the data sources that the IPCC used that examined global CO₂ emissions from fossil-fuel burning, cement manufacture and gas flaring from 1751 - 2008 from the US Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center. Here cement production was grouped along with different type of fossil fuels, such as gas, liquids and solids, and gas flaring. Deeper into the IPCC draft report it was revealed (using this research) that total cumulative emissions between 1750 and 2011 amounted to 365 ± 30 PgC (1 PgC = 10¹⁵ grams of carbon), of which only 8 PgC (2%) came from the production of cement.

Undoubtedly the cement industry's carbon emissions are huge but ambiguous wording in a release targeted for policymakers is not helpful.

Thankfully at about the same time as the IPCC made headlines last week European Cement Association, Cembureau, followed the UK's Mineral Products Association (MPA) in releasing its own lobbying document for the industry. This consisted of five parallel routes to lowering emissions related to cement production. Unfortunately Cembureau's press release didn't receive the global media coverage that the IPCC did.

The bottom line is this: cement is essential for modern industrial societies.

With or without climate change caused by human behaviour, we will all need somewhere to live and work. For the moment such structures will be built from cement and concrete. Organisations like Cembureau offer a way forward. Global policymakers should pay attention.

Pakistan: Muhammad Ali Tabba of Lucky Cement Company has been unanimously elected Chairman of the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) for the 2013 – 2014 term. Sayeed Tariq Saigol of Maple Leaf Cement and Babar Bashir Nawaz of Attock Cement Pakistan were also unanimously elected as Senior Vice Chairman and Vice Chairmen of the association respectively.

Muhammad Raza Mansha of DG Khan Cement, Azam Farooque of Cherat Cement, Major General Rehmat Khan (retired) of Lafarge Cement Pakistan, Lieutenant General Muhammad Sabir (retired) of Fauji Cement, Lieutenant General Taufiq Rafiq (retired) of Askari Cement, Syed Asif Shah of Bestway Cement, Aizaz Mansoor Sheikh of Kohat Cement, Mazhar Iqbal of Pioneer Cement and Muhammad Tousif Paracha of Gharibwal Cement were elected as members of the executive committee.

Bahrain: Falcon Cement Company (FCC), the first Bahrain-based fully integrated cement producer, has announced that it has been approved for ISO 9001 Quality Management System Certification by Bureau Veritas.

"We are delighted to have received this prestigious certification," said executive director Salah Sharif.

FCC, which started production in 2009, currently produces 1000t/day of cement with expansion planned for the next year to grow it to above 2500t/day. This represents up to 60% of the current cement requirements of the Bahraini market.

Tajikistan: The first coal-fired rotary kiln at the Dushanbe cement plant is about to start operation, according to the Tajik Ministry of Energy and Industry (MoEI). Chinese contractor Beijing Uni-Construction Group has installed the 600t/day cement kiln.

The Dushanbe cement plant has four large rotary kilns with capacity of 600t/day each and two small rotary kilns with capacity of 300t/day each. The 1.2Mt/yr plant has not been in operation since the beginning of 2013 due to a lack of natural gas.

Pakistan provides the majority of cement imports to Tajikistan, supplying 1.7Mt/yr.

Bangladesh: Loesche has been thanked by the Charity: Water non-government organisation for its donation towards a clean water project in the community of Lutarupara-Molliktola, Char region in Bangladesh. Thanks to the funding, the village has received a tube-well and now has access to clean water and sanitation.

Due to Loesche's donation in late 2011, 347 people in Lutarupara-Molliktola now have access to safe and clean drinking water. In December 2012 Loesche donated again to Charity: Water to help a community in Malawi that will be completed un 2014.

Charity: Water is a non-profit organisation that provides clean and safe drinking water in developing countries. In addition to helping communities access clear water the organisation trains beneficiaries on best sanitation and hygienic practices, safe water storage and water point management.

Trinidad: An appeal by Trinidad Cement to challenge an injunction by minority shareholders to block its annual general meeting has been postponed, according to Radio Jamaica News. The hearing was originally scheduled for Monday 30 September 2013.

Trinidad Cement 's annual general meeting on 12 July 2013 was stopped by a high court injunction with just one hour's notice. The injunction was part of legal action by a group of shareholders holding 5.68% of the company who want to nominate five directors to the cement producer's board.

United Arab Emirates: Turkish cement producer Adana Cement has won an award for safety performance improvement at the 11th Annual DuPont Safety and Sustainability Awards, which took place in Dubai on 24 September 2013. Six award recipients were selected by an independent jury comprised of leading experts in occupational safety and sustainability.

Adana Cement was chosen for its efforts to create a safe work environment. In 2005 the company established an integrated OHSAS 18001-certified Safety Management System, before implementing further processes and improvements in 2008 after recognition that 96% of accidents were caused by dangerous behaviour, rather than conditions.

Together, these initiatives have had a profound effect in shaping a positive safety culture among employees. In particular, a multi-faceted approach, including behaviour-oriented site visits, accident information meetings, reward and sanction practices and a schedule of continuous training programmes, has resulted in a dramatic decrease in employee and sub-contractor accidents since 2008, based on statistics collected since 2003. A new record of 243 uninterrupted days without an accident was achieved in 2012, in a period when expanding production objectives were successfully met.

Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement has announced in a bourse filing it had signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia's largest Islamic bank, Al Rajhi Bank, for a US$107m loan to partially finance the construction of a second production line. The loan is to be repaid by June 2019.

Al Jouf Cement has a cement production capacity of 1.75Mt/yr or 5000t/day. The company's products include Ordinary Portland Cement and sulphate resisting cement.

South Korea: Tong Yang Cement, a subsidiary of Tong Yang Group, has filed for court receivership. The receivership with the Chuncheon District Court was lodged in an official note, as reported by the Korean Broadcasting System. Sister-companies Tongyang Incorporated, Tongyang International, Tongyang Leisure and Tongyang Networks have also filed for court receivership in recent days.

Tongyang Group will have to repay debts of more than US$1bn.

India: Indian Railways has raised a freight tariff of 15% on all commodities, including cement, from 1 October 2013. Designated a busy season charge in a railway notification, the tariff is due to run until June 2014. The charge precedes a review of the fuel adjustment component (FAC), applicable after every six months to adjust fuel prices, that was also due on 1 October 2013.