Displaying items by tag: Protest

France: Extinction Rebellion activists forced operations to stop temporarily at LafargeHolcim’s Port de Javel ready-mixed concrete plant in Paris on 30 June 2021. Members of the climate activist group trespassed on the site to denounce what they called the company’s firm's environmentally damaging pursuit of profit, according to Reuters. The building materials producer was forced to divert its trucks to another site during the chaos. Earlier in the week protestors from Extinction Rebellion and the non-government organisation Soulevements de la Terre targeted another LafargeHolcim site near Paris.

In late 2020 the council of Paris voted to withdraw permissions for a planned expansion to LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge France’s Bercy concrete plant after protesters captured footage of a slurry spill that the company called ‘exceptional.’

LafargeHolcim currently has a target to reduce its CO₂ intensity in cement to 475kg net CO₂/t by 2030. The group says it hopes to become ‘net zero’ in the future. It is currently working with the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to define a roadmap to 2050 to, “reduce scope one CO₂ emissions to a target consistent with a net zero pathway endorsed by SBTi.”

Ghana: Residents of the McCarthy Hill district in Accra have launched a protest against China-based Empire Cement’s planned McCarthy Hill cement plant. The Daily Guide newspaper has reported that protestors allege that the proposed plant would contaminate water which flows through active salt mines. They have also complained about potential dust emissions from the site. So far the company has broken ground on the project and three silos are in place.

Switzerland: Police have cleared 150 squatters from the site of a planned expansions to LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim Schweiz’s Mormont quarry in Vaud. Reuters News has reported that officers made 34 arrests. The squatters claimed to be protesting in the interests of biodiversity protection and CO₂ emissions reduction.

Bangladesh: Protesters in Chhatak, Sunamganj District have accused LafargeHolcim Bangladesh of selling limestone illegally. The New Nation newspaper has reported that protesters allege that the company sold imported Indian limestone on the open market. They allege that the limestone was imported exclusively for use as a raw material in cement production under Bangladeshi tax law.

India: Residents of Haridaspur in Jajpur District, Odisha, launched a protest on 20 January 2020 outside Ramco Cement’s 0.9Mt/yr Haridaspur grinding plant. The New Indian Express has reported that the people allege that the company has fail to delivered promised local jobs. They also accuse it of failing to provide concrete roads, drinking water, healthcare and lighting. The company said that it has yet to receive a memorandum of the protestors’ request.

Ramco Cements commissioned the Haridaspur grinding plant in late 2020.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement truck drivers have used their vehicles to block entries to the company’s Obajana cement plant and a public road in protest to alleged illegal employment practices. The Daily Independent newspaper has listed the drivers’ alleged grievances as: salary deductions, including for damage to cement bags; arrests for no reason; and the sacking of 6000 drivers since 2016. The drivers are demanding the removal of National Director Transportation Juan Carlos Rincos and his deputy Babadinga Mohammed.

In response to the situation Dangote Cement said that, “the issues have been resolved.”

Ireland: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has postponed a four-day hearing over Irish Cement’s alternative fuel (AF) licence application, scheduled for May 2020, to an as yet unspecified date due to the coronavirus. Under the terms of the proposed licence, Irish Cement will be able co-process a maximum of 90,000t/yr of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), including tyres, in the single dry line of its 1.0Mt/yr Mungret plant in County Limerick. The EPA said that emissions from operations under the terms of the licence ‘will meet all required environmental protection standards.’

Irish Cement received its preliminary licence to burn refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in September 2019. The move attracted local resistance, with 4500 people participating in a protest on 5 October 2019.

The EPA has said that it will give all relevant parties notice ‘well in advance’ of the date of the rescheduled hearing, which will take place after the government lifts the country’s coronavirus lockdown. On 14 April 2020 County Limerick had 234 coronavirus cases out of an Irish total of 10,647.

India: Demonstrations are underway at the gates of Uma Cement Industries’ Udhampur plant. Early Times has reported the cause as the alleged laying off of drivers without legal cause or notice. Drivers’ union president Rakesh Raina alleged harassment by Uma Cement Industries as well as irresponsible practices in forcing employees to drive overloaded vehicles.

Pakistan: The Peshawar High Court has rejected a petition by local residents to prevent the construction of a US$245m cement plant in Haripur by the military Frontier Works Organisation. The Balochistan Times has reported that the project will entail the relocation of people from an area of 0.66km2 and the felling of ‘thousands of trees.’ The Supreme Court gave a preliminary hearing to the case on 2 December 2019, giving the Attorney General, Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Defence Ministry until 9 December 2019 to submit their replies.

Russia: The government of the Republic of Turva has announced its approval of a 2Mt/yr integrated cement plant near the extensive limestone and clay reserves around Shagonar in the Republic of Turva. Local investors will undertake the development, scheduled for completion in late 2020, at an estimated cost of US$5.48m. The announcement has attracted uproar from residents of the area for the proximity of the intended site to the sacred mountain Haiyrakan, where the most significant limestone deposits are located.