Displaying items by tag: Holcim España

Spain: The Catalonia government has received a court order to close down LafargeHolcim España’s Montcada i Reixac cement plant in Barcelona. The Spanish Collection newspaper has reported that the plant failed to conform to new environmental regulations. LafargeHolcim España has appealed the decision.

The Montcada i Reixac plant currently employs 300 people. A union involved in the issue said that the alleged breach is formal rather than substantive and that an administrative error by the regional government caused the plant to breach the regulations.

Spain: LafargeHolcim España has announced the launch of a joint venture called ECCO2 with Carbon Clean and Sistemas de Calor. The joint venture will develop carbon capture technology for use at the producer’s Carboneras cement plant in Almería. It will then seek to market captured CO₂ from the plant for use as a gas in local agricultural greenhouses. When commissioned in early 2023, the carbon capture system will have the capacity to capture 10% of the Carboneras plant’s CO2 emissions.

Spain: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim España has informed the works council and employees of its Jerez de la Frontera cement plant of possible planned changes to the plant’s production structure. The company intends to convert the cement plant into a grinding-only facility. The reasons for the decision were regional overcapacity, falling export volumes and prices and reduced allocations of EU CO₂ emissions credits. It says that under the plan the new grinding plant would continue to serve the market in the region. The communication constitutes the beginning of a collective dismissal process.

General director Isidoro Miranda said that the company wants “to work with the social partners to reach an agreement that allows the continuity of our activity in the town of Jerez.”

Spain: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim España has announced the launch of the Carbon Challenge, a think tank to promote CO₂ emissions research and reduction. The company says that the plan involves “the formation of various working groups in areas such as reducing process emissions, reducing the emission factor for fuels and changing cement content of concrete and investigating alternative additives.” This is part of its Ecological Transition strategy, in addition to its Euro20m carbon footprint reduction investments announced on 31 December 2019.

Sustainability and Health director Raúl Pérez said, “We have high expectations for this project. It is a laboratory of ideas that will allow us to add and share knowledge that materialises in concrete initiatives applied to our processes, products and solutions, all with a common denominator: anticipating the new European decarbonisation scenario with an established plan to be carbon neutral by 2050.”

Spain: LafargeHolcim’s subsidiary Holcim España invested over Euro2m in its cement plant at Jerez during 2017. The work included environmental improvements, changes to the despatch areas and health and safety upgrades such as fire detection systems in its fuels storage zones. The plant also introduced a sulphate-resistant cement product (CEM IV/A (V) 42,5 R/SR) in May 2017 targeted for marine applications.