Displaying items by tag: LafargeHolcim

The European Union’s (EU) verified CO₂ emissions figures were released earlier this week on 1 April 2019. The good news is that no cement plant is within the top 100 largest emitters. All the top spots are held by power plants, iron and steel producers and the odd airline. Indeed, out of all of the verified emissions, cement clinker or lime production only represents 7% of the total emissions. Of course this is too much if the region wants to meet its climate change commitments but it is worth remembering that other industries have a long way to go as well and they don’t necessarily face the intrinsic process challenges that clinker production has. If the general public or governments are serious about cutting CO₂ emissions then they might consider, for example, taking fewer flights with airlines before picking on the cement industry.

The EU emitted 117Mt of CO₂ from its clinker and lime producers in 2018, a 2.7% year-on-year decrease compared to 120Mt in 2017. This compares to 158Mt in 2008, giving a 26% drop in emissions over the decade to 2018. However, there are two warnings attached to this data. First, there are plants on this list that have closed between 2008 and 2018. Second, there are plants that provided no data in 2018, for example, all the plants in Bulgaria. Climate change think tank Sandbag helpfully pointed out in its analysis of the EU emissions data that industrial emissions have barely decreased since 2012. The implication here being that the drop from 2008 to 2012 was mainly due to the economic recession. Sandbag also made the assertion that 96% of the cement industry’s emissions were covered by free allocations in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) thereby de-incentivising sector willingness to decarbonise.

By country the emissions in 2018 from cement and lime roughly correspond with production capacity, although this comes with the caveat that emissions link to actual production not potential capacity. So, Germany leads followed by Spain, Italy, Poland and France. Of these Poland is a slight outlier, as will be seen below.

Table 1: Top 10 CO₂ emitting plants in the European Union in 2018. Source: European Commission.

Poland leads the count in the top 10 EU CO₂ emitting cement plants in 2018 with five plants. Greece follows with two plants. This list is deceptive as all of these plants are large ones with production capacities of 2Mt/yr and above. As it contains many of the largest plants in the EU no wonder the emissions are the highest. It is also worth considering that there are far larger plants outside of the EU.

In summary, as most readers will already know, the cement industry is a significant minority CO₂ emitter in the EU. Countries with larger cement sectors emit more CO₂ as do larger plants. So far, so obvious. Emissions are down since 2008 but this mostly seems to have stalled since 2012, bar a blip in 2017. The change though has been the rising carbon price in the EU ETS in 2018. Coincidentally the carbon price has been fairly low and stable since 2012. If the mechanism is working properly then changes should start to appear in 2019. Already in 2018 a few European cement producers announced plant closures and blamed the carbon price. Watch this space.

The Global Future Cement Conference & Exhibition on low and zero CO2 cement production will take place in Brussels, Belgium on 22 - 23 May 2019

Canada: Lafarge Canada has appointed David Redfern as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its Eastern Canada operations. Previously Product Line General Manager for Western Canada Aggregates and the Greater Vancouver area, Redfern joined LafargeHolcim in 1999 and has held numerous roles of increasing responsibility throughout Canada and France. He holds more than 25 years of experience in the construction materials business.

Redfern received his Bachelor of Political Science degree from Queen's University in Kingston. He also holds certificates of achievement from Duke University, INSEAD and the University of Toronto. He is a Board member of the National Zero Waste Council and Business Council of British Columbia.

Moldova: The Rybnitsky Cement plant has significantly cut its production costs due to a cheap gas deal. According to Radio Chișinău and the Infotag News Agency, the cement producer is paying four times less for its gas than its local competitor, the LafargeHolcim-owned Rezinsky Cement plant. In 2018 the Moldovan government held off renewing a supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom to see if cheaper options were available elsewhere.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has ordered power monitoring equipment from CMR Philippines for its 2.3Mt/yr Lugait cement plant in Misamis Oriental. It includes the development, delivery, installation, testing and networking of the electrical installation at the unit. Current and voltage transformers are to be supplied as part of a package of engineering support that also sees CMR completing the integration and connection of plant wide power monitoring to Siemens PCS 7 process control technology.

“Winning the Holcim contract reflects the expertise we can bring to successfully delivering complex and technologically advanced industrial projects,” said Rojel Rivera, general manager at CMR Philippines.

CMR Philippines is part of the CMR Group, which designs, manufactures and commissions automation, control system and turnkey project solutions for global industrial and renewable energy sectors, alongside specialist instrumentation for high power diesel engines.

China: Huaxin Cement’s sales revenue rose by 32% year-on-year to US$4.09bn in 2018 from US$3.11bn in 2017. Its net profit grew by nearly 150% to US$772m from US$309m. Its cement sales volumes increased by 3% to 70.7Mt and its ready-mix concrete (RMX) sales increased by 11% to 3.56Mm³. By region is operating revenue grew in all domestic regions, except for Jiangxi.

During 2018 the cement producer completed its acquisition of Chongqing Lafarge Shui On Cantian Cement. Its Tibet Shannan Third Phase 3000t/day and Shigatse Second Phase 3000t/day project were put into operation. In total the group added 4.77Mt/yr of cement production capacity in 2018. In its future risk analysis it said that production capacity reduction in the cement industry is ‘yet to be improved and that the ‘fundamental contradiction’ of the overcapacity has not been solved.

Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim’s runs Huaxin Cement as a joint venture. The company operates almost 200 subsidiaries in nine provinces in China as well units in Tajikistan and Cambodia. It has a cement production capacity of 100Mt/yr, RMX capacity of 23.3Mm³/yr and an aggregate capacity of 25Mt/yr.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines plans to build a new cement plant in Bulacan province have been approved by the Board of Investments. The 2.5Mt/yr Bulacan Line 3 plant is part of the company US$300m investment drive to increase its production capacity by 30% by 2020, according to the Manila Times newspaper. The approval also grants the projects tax incentives covered by the government’s investment code.

France: LafargeHolcim France has started the second phase of a Euro100m upgrade project its Martres-Tolosane cement plant. It is starting the construction phase of a new production line following the completion of site preparation and civil engineering. French company Boccard is coordinating the work. Commissioning of the upgrade is scheduled for mid-2020.

Morocco: LafargeHolcim Morocco’s turnover fell by 2% year-on-year to Euro725m in 2018 from Euro743m in 2017. Its consolidated net profit dropped by 18% to Euro156m from Euro177m. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim said that its sales had fallen less than the 5% that the local cement market suffered. It blamed a drop in operating income on lower revenue and rising petcoke costs. The cement producer said it was ‘confident’ about the fundamentals of the building materials sector. It plans to commission a new cement plant in the Souss region in 2020.

UK: Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, has achieved recommendation for ISO 44001 certification for Collaborative Business Relationship Management Systems, awarded by the British Standards Institute. The certification was awarded company-wide to Aggregate Industries for demonstrating relationship management across a variety of projects, which include a multitude of internal business areas and external partners.

“I am incredibly proud of achieving this certification. ISO 44001 is quickly becoming a prerequisite for highways, infrastructure and major projects which specify requirements for the effective identification, development and management of collaborative business relationships,” said Paddy Murphy, Managing Director of Contracting at Aggregate Industries.

Poland: Lafarge Poland delivered over 0.2Mm³ of ready-mix concrete (RMX) in 2018 for use in various infrastructure initiatives including road expansion projects. In 2019 the company plans to produce 0.32Mm² of concrete surfacing for a motorway extension. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim set up its LH Engineering business in 2017 to help implement infrastructure projects. It offers engineering services and the delivery of building materials, including RMX, aggregates and other products.