Spain: Cemex España has received €200m in funding under the PERTE Industrial Decarbonisation Program (Line 1), earmarked for the development of SOMZERO, its carbon capture project at the Alcanar plant in Tarragona. The news was first reported by Diari de Tarragona on 29 May 2026, and the company’s press release now reveals more details. The project will reportedly allow the plant to achieve carbon neutrality and produce cement with zero CO₂ emissions. SOMZERO aims to capture more than 0.5Mt/yr of CO₂. It was announced previously that the total investment will amount to €450m.

France: NeoCem has announced the completion of a fundraising round with Crédit Mutuel to accelerate the deployment of its low-carbon binder technology. The company has begun large-scale industrialisation, with a first production unit already operational in St-Maximin near Paris, and starting a gradual ramp-up towards a target capacity of 0.2Mt/yr. It began production in November 2025.

The company develops cementitious materials based on calcined clay, which it says reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 90% compared to traditional clinker, while guaranteeing technical performance in line with market standards. The technology relies on the valorisation of clays derived from waste or industrial byproducts that are readily available across Europe. NeoCem said that it has already identified several partners both in France and internationally, with whom ‘advanced discussions’ are underway for the creation of new production units.

Armenia: Armenia’s State Revenue Committee has reportedly uncovered ‘large-scale’ tax violations in the construction materials sector, alleging millions of dollars in losses to the state budget, according to Panorama news. Investigators said that they have received intelligence suggesting that cement and concrete producers were underreporting sales, issuing false invoices and using fake transactions to reduce tax liabilities. Official secretly tracked trucks leaving a cement plant in Ararat province and compared delivery routes with company tax filings. Authorities reported that on one day, 101 trucks left the plant, but 35 shipments worth about US$117,891 were not recorded in tax documents. This omission allegedly deprived the state of US$19,648 in value-added tax. Further analysis raised suspicions that the company had also documented US$3.2m in diesel purchases using ‘potentially fictitious’ invoices, reducing both VAT and profit tax obligations.

Investigators also examined a concrete producer operating in Yerevan and Kotayk province. Officials said that the company failed to declare US$199,214 in sales, causing a US$62,766 shortfall in taxes. Preliminary investigations are underway, and the committee said that it would continue to pursue tax evasion schemes ‘aggressively,’ using surveillance and data analysis to protect state revenues.

Nigeria: HBM Nigeria, formerly Lafarge Africa, says it is expanding production capacity with an additional 4.5Mt/yr to ensure a steady supply of cement across the country and meet rising demand. Group managing director Lolu Alade-Akinyemi said that the company is making progress on the expansion of its Sagamu plant in Ogun and Ashaka plant in Gombe, with both facilities planned to be inaugurated in January 2027.

“We are breaking a record because we’re adding this new capacity within one year. Traditionally, when you are building a new plant, it takes about three years. This is one of the benefits of belonging to the Huaxin Group,” said Alade-Akinyemi.