Belgium: Cembureau, the European Cement Association has welcomed the adoption of the European Parliament reports on the European Union (EU) Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Koen Coppenholle, the chief executive officer of Cembureau, said “Our sector needs a coherent and predictable regulatory framework to deliver on its carbon neutrality ambitions. The texts adopted today offer significant improvements on key issues – such as the reinforcement of CBAM, the inclusion of indirect emissions, the need for a strong export solution for CBAM sectors, the inclusion of waste incineration in the EU ETS and the support for key breakthrough technologies - which we welcome.” He added that the association regretted the compromise reached suggesting delaying the implementation of the CBAM by one year as cement imports into the EU were growing “exponentially”.

Eurostat data cited by Cembureau shows that EU cement imports have increased by 300% in the past five years from 2016 to 2021, with specific spikes when the EU carbon price was at its highest level. The association is lobbying for what it calls a ‘watertight’ CBAM and a ‘realistic’ with the phase-out of free allocation of carbon credits to cement producers.

UK: The World Economic Forum and the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), have released a Mission Possible Partnership Report which identifies the nations that are prioritising green public procurement. These are the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, the UK, and select US states. The report titled ‘Low-Carbon Concrete and Construction - A Review of Green Public Procurement Programmes’ identifies a framework for how these six countries are demonstrating leadership in green public procurement of concrete and construction.

The first component of the framework is the foundation, which includes establishing standards for reporting emissions, databases and tools for tracking emissions and establishes baselines. The second part of the framework, procurement polices, builds upon and reinforces the foundation by setting policies that require environmental disclosures, mandate carbon limits, and incentivise low-carbon design, and use of low-carbon materials.

Approximately 7% of global carbon emissions come from cement, and about half of the cement used globally is procured by the public sector. Governments also spend US$11tn/yr on procurement, about 12% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and regulate the construction industry via building codes. Therefore, governments play a critical role in driving demand to decarbonise the concrete and construction sector to achieve net zero goals.

Matt Rogers, the chief executive officer of the Mission Possible Project said “The demand signals in the market for green industrial products are among the most important opportunities to accelerate the path to net zero across industrial sectors. For material sectors like cement and concrete, government procurement practices will play an especially important role. This report summarises the current best practices in government procurement for green cement across multiple markets. Insights like these provide the government procurement professionals practical tools and technical insights that they can use today to create demand-pull for the most innovative low carbon cement and concrete offerings in the market.”

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has opposed a proposed federal temporary suspension to a petrol tax. PCA president and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Ireland said, “Pausing the federal gas tax is the wrong decision at the wrong moment. Gas tax revenues fund the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to remake American industry and infrastructure with sustainability at its core. Removing the funding from the gas tax will strangle the IIJA before it is even up and running.”

The passage of the IIJA has coincided with PCA's launch of its Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality, which outlines the steps needed to achieve carbon neutrality across the entire cement-concrete-construction value chain by 2050. The PCA says that implementing the changes in its roadmap will require ‘significant’ funding such as those generated from the petrol tax.

US: Sweden-based Bruks Siwertell has commissioned a Siwertell 490 F-type ship unloader at Colonial Group’s Georgia Kaolin Terminals in Savannah, Georgia. The unloader has a rated cement handling capacity of 800t/hr, discharging vessels of up to 55,000dwt.

Austria: RHI Magnesita says it has released CO₂ emissions data for all of its 200,000 products. Technical Data Sheets now include a field ‘Environmental Indicators’ in which the CO₂ equivalent emission of one metric ton of the product is listed. The calculation method for these indicators is developed with and supervised on an on-going basis by an external organisation under the principles of ISO standards. All greenhouse gases ‘cradle-to-gate’, from raw material extraction to production to packaging to gate are considered in these CO₂ footprint calculations.

Chief sustainability officer Gustavo Franco said "This project marks an important milestone towards a green transformation. Thus, one of RHI Magnesita's main targets is to significantly reduce emissions over the next few decades, with the long-term goal of achieving net-zero operations in all areas of the company. It is clear, that a solid basis for sustainable decisions and developments can only be achieved by creating a valid audited database."

World: The total volume of CO₂ emissions released during cement production have more than doubled over the past 20 years, a study has revealed. In 2021 CO₂ emissions from the manufacture of cement came to 2.6Bnt, more than 7% of all emissions, according to Robbie Andrew, a greenhouse gas emissions scientist at the CICERO Center for Climate Research in Norway and the Global Carbon Project. In 2001 the CO₂ emissions from cement production were just 1.2Bnt.

Driven by China, the global cement sector’s CO₂ emissions have now more than tripled in the 30 years since 1992, recently increasing by 2.6% a year. The drivers are not just that more cement is being made, but that the CO₂ intensity of production has risen by 9.2% per tonne, according to the International Energy Agency. This is due to a switch from production in mature markets to developing ones, with China again a dominant factor.

Canada: Holcim subsidiary Lafarge Canada has announced that its Bath cement plant in Kingston, Ontario, is in the process of converting to the production of Holcim’s OneCem product, a low CO₂ Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) alternative. The plant currently makes general use (GU) cement.

"As the leader in the cement industry in eastern Canada, we are committed to developing our green portfolio and advancing towards a sustainable future, with OneCem as a step on the journey," said Andrew Stewart, Vice President for Cement at Lafarge Eastern Canada.

Robert Cumming, Head of Sustainability & Public Affairs for Eastern Canada, said "From 2018 to 2021 we have saved more than 140,000t of CO₂ by converting GU cement to OneCem in our plants across Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia - the equivalent to taking 42,891 cars off the road. With the recent conversion of the Bath Plant's GU production to OneCem, these numbers will continue to grow."

Canada: Lafarge Canada’s Richmond cement plant, one of the largest in British Columbia, has temporarily cut production, exacerbating a cement and concrete shortage in Vancouver, where some building firms have been forced to halt projects. The Richmond plant has been operating at limited capacity since a fire in the pre-heater tower on 31 May 2022.

Local press reported that the Richmond plant was ‘undergoing electric repairs to an isolated area,’ according to an emailed statement from the company. The company added "We expect to resume full production capacity shortly and are leveraging our strong production and supply network in an effort to minimize impact to our customers."

US: Eco Material Technologies, a producer of sustainable cementitious materials, has opened its Kirkland Pozzolan Mine in Yavapai County, Arizona. The 40-hectare site is one of the largest natural pozzolan mines in the US.
"We are excited for the opening of the Kirkland Pozzolan Mine, which will benefit not only Yavapai County but all of Arizona as well as the surrounding region," said Grant Quasha, CEO of Eco Material Technologies. "Without the support of elected officials, including Governor Doug Ducey, Senator Mark Kelly, State Senator Karen Fann and State Representative Quang Nguyen, we would not be celebrating this milestone achievement."

The event also recognised the hard work and dedication of the plant's employees, as well as Eco Material's contributions to the area including bringing wireless internet service to the surrounding community, planting new trees and generating significant tax revenue for the state.

France: Low-CO₂ cement manufacturer Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has signed an exclusive partnership with IBAU Hamburg to build all future Hoffmann Green Cement units.

As the general contractor for the second production site (H2) currently under construction at Bournezeau, France, IBAU Hamburg also will be responsible for the exclusive management and construction of the third production site (H3) in Dunkirk, France. It will also build international sites, to be established at a number of locations in Europe and, subsequently, outside of Europe. IBAU Hamburg will handle the entire construction process for each project, from the design stage to the completion of the unit. All of the units will be built entirely with Hoffmann Green decarbonated and clinker-free cement.