Displaying items by tag: initiatives

Pakistan: On 18 April 2024, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and the Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED) launched two studies focusing on the decarbonisation of Pakistan's cement sector. The initiative focuses on collaboration and technology sharing to reduce the industry's carbon footprint.

Professor Muhammad Fahim Khokhar from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) said "The global CO₂ emissions released from the cement sector are 37.4Gt, which is rising at 1.1% per year."

The study by PRIED and NUST showed a 30% increase in cement sector CO₂ emissions in 2020 relative to 1990-2000, reaching 49.6Mt/yr. The study proposed strategies for cement sector decarbonisation, such as alternative fuels, clinker substitution, renewable energy, process electrification, energy efficiency and carbon capture technologies.

According to researcher Saleha Qureshi, the major challenge for decarbonisation is that cement industries in Pakistan rely on over 65% coal in the calcination process. Other challenges identified were lack of regulatory and policy support, absence of performance-based standards, high transition cost and limited incentive available for the transition.

North America: A new coalition for the scaling and deployment of low-carbon building materials, the creation of new clean cement and concrete jobs and the promotion of environmental justice launched earlier in January 2024. Called the Decarbonized Cement and Concrete Alliance (DC2), it comprises alternative cement developers Biomason, Brimstone, Chement, Fortera and Terra CO₂, sequestration company Blue Planet Systems, circular concrete producer CarbonBuilt, biogenic limestone producer Minus Materials, hydrothermal processing technology developer Queens Carbon and electrified cement production technology developer Sublime Systems. DC2’s areas of engagement in policy will include tax credits, standards, ecolabeling and subsidisation, in line with the US Department of Energy’s Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Low-Carbon Cement strategy.

CarbonBuilt’s government and community affairs manager Sal Brzozowski said “DC2’s platform of robust policy, standards and incentives to scale innovative solutions will not only accelerate deep decarbonisation, but also transform the concrete industry from one of the world’s largest CO₂ emitters to one of the world’s largest carbon sinks.”

Germany: Heidelberg Materials has celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding with a ceremony under the slogan 150 Years of Progress. Throughout its existence to date, the company has grown from 35 employees in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, to 51,000 employees across 50 countries.

CEO Dominik von Achten said “150 years of progress, innovation and expertise are both an incentive and an obligation to help shape a more sustainable future for generations to come.” He added “We also want to make this a tangible experience here in Heidelberg where our company is based. That is why today marks the start of our anniversary campaign New Meeting Points of Innovation for Heidelberg. In the coming weeks and months, meeting places will be created in the Heidelberg city area to encourage exchange and innovative discussions. For this purpose, we want to set up a total of 150 benches made of sustainable building materials, and plant trees.”

Germany: HeidelbergCement has joined EPEA’s Heidelberg Circular City Building Material Registry pilot project. The initiative uses EMEA’s Urban Mining Screening digital registry, which is able to estimate the composition of buildings based on building data. HeidelbergCement says that it will enable it to source construction and demolition waste for circular economic use in building materials production. This will support its ReConcrete 360° recycled concrete CO₂ reincorporation project, among other projects. The initiative will turn Heidelberg into Europe’s first Circular City.

“Full circular economy and sustainable construction are central elements of our climate strategy,” said HeidelbergCement chair Dominik von Achten. “We are focusing on the life cycle assessment of our product concrete, including the processing of demolished concrete, and returning it to the construction cycle. By 2030, we want to offer circular alternatives for half of our concrete products.” Von Achten concluded “Together with the city of Heidelberg, also a pioneer in the area of climate protection, we want to use the Circular City project to demonstrate the enormous potential of concrete recycling for future urban construction.” 


Europe: The European cement industry association Cembureau has published its 2030 Biodiversity Roadmap. The roadmap sets out the association’s strategy for becoming nature positive by 2030. This consists of four focus areas, namely participation in the European Union (EU) Pollinators Initiative, control of invasive species, support for protected species and ecosystem rehabilitation efforts.

Chief executive officer Koen Coppenholle said “The European cement industry is committed to achieving the goals set in the EU Green Deal. In addition to climate change, one of the key priorities of our industry is to protect and preserve the rich ecosystems thriving in and around our quarries and to make a strong contribution to biodiversity across the EU.”

India: ACC has launched Holcim’s Houses of Tomorrow sustainable homebuilding initiative with the construction of a low CO₂ home in Puducherry called Gratitude Villa. Projects Today News has reported that architect Trupti Doshi selected building materials to reduce CO₂ emissions by 40% by comparison to conventional materials such as ordinary Portland cement (OPC). She opted for ACC’s Suraksha brand cement, fly ash bricks and ECOPact green concrete.

Spain: Cementos Cosmos plans to install a new screw compressor in the cement discharge system at its Ourense grinding plant in Galicia. The producer says that the new equipment will improve the energy efficiency of the process of discharging cement from railway tanks to storage silos. The cost of the work is Euro23,500, towards which Cementos Cosmos has received a Euro8140 grant from the European Reagional Development Fund (ERDF) under its A New Way to Build Europe programme.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton has extended its lease over its Sellicks Hill quarry in South Australia until 2090. The Advertiser newspaper has reported that the signing of the lease, which secures the company’s local supply of limestone, “coincides with a rise in local cement consumption due to the government’s South Australia HomeBuilder building and renovation subsidy scheme,” according to the company. In August 2020 Adelaide Brighton signed supply contracts with BHP and OZ Minerals for infrastructure projects in the state.

Colombia: Cementos Argos’ first quarter profit was US$1.00m, down by 73% year-on-year from US$3.76m in the corresponding period of 2019. Sales fell by 0.2% to US$545m from US$547m. The volume of cement it sold fell by 6.1% to 3.62Mt from 3.86Mt in the corresponding period of 2019. The company launched RESET, a savings initiative in response to the coronavirus outbreak, which aims to save between US$75.0 and US$90.0m in 2020.

Cementos Argos’ CEO Juan Esteban Calle said, “Given the US$154m-strong cash position of the company, the saving initiatives within RESET, the support from our stakeholders, and the passionate commitment of our more than 7000 employees, we firmly believe that Argos is fully prepared to face the current market conditions.”

Colombia’s coronavirus lockdown ended on 13 April 2020 for infrastructure projects and on 27 April 2020 for cement production and residential and commercial construction. On 5 May 2020 Cementos Argos said that domestic demand was at 50% of pre-lockdown levels.

Ireland/UK: Quinn Building Products has launched ‘Self Build with Quinn,’ an initiative aimed at promoting thermal efficiency and sustainability in self-builders’ product choices with a range of bundles and discounts on Quinn building products and technical support with dedicated account management. Quinn Building Products Product and Specification Manager Jason Martin said, “Self Build with Quinn can help self builders achieve the balance between their hopes for a high-performance home which is better for the environment and provides comfortable, economical living with their budget.”