Global Cement News

US: Mississippi Lime has appointed Paul Hogan as its president and chief executive officer (CEO). After a transition period he will take up the posts in early 2022 when the current holder, Bill Ayers, retires.

Hogan previously worked as the CEO of the Americas of Italmach Chemicals. In this position, he led their specialty chemical business in the Americas while also serving as the Global Vice President responsible for their oil and gas division. Previously, he held key positions of increasing responsibility with Solvay, Emerald Kalama Chemicals, Dupont Dow Elastomers, Elementis and Dynea. Hogan attained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry with Business Studies from the University of Abertay in Dundee, Scotland and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Durham Business School in England.

Germany: Beumer Group says that Oliver Schopp has been its Director of Sales Logistic Systems since May 2021. He succeeded Thomas Wiesmann, who retired at the end of July 2021. Before joining the company Schopp held management positions at internal logistic automation companies Swisslog, SSI Schäfer and Interroll.

China: Anhui Conch has signed a CO₂ trading agreement with Shanghai Environmental Energy Exchange (SEEE). The deal takes place within the context of Shanghai’s CO₂ trading pilot scheme. Anhui Conch says that it will not only facilitate the promotion of carbon allowance asset scheduling and carbon asset market transactions, but also provide accreditation and CO₂ management system certification. It says that SEEE will help it to better assume the role of a leading enterprise in the ‘dual-carbon’ field of the cement industry.

Anhui Conch says that it is focusing on developing a full-process carbon footprint monitoring system. It has begun researching the utilisation possibilities of captured carbon with academic partners.

France: The Court of Cassation has denied Lafarge’s appeals against the charge of complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria. The court of last resort has reversed the decision by the Paris Court of Appeal in 2019, according to the Agence France Presse. The case has now been referred back to investigating magistrates for reconsideration along with another charge of ‘endangering the lives of others.’ In a statement Lafarge said that the decision by the Court of Cassation did not in any way presume any guilt on its part and that it would continue to cooperate fully.

The legal case relates to the conduct of Lafarge in Syria between 2011 and 2014. Lafarge and Holcim later merged in 2015 becoming LafargeHolcim. LafargeHolcim’s shareholders voted to change the company’s name to Holcim in May 2021.

Mexico: Cemex has launched a sustainability-linked financing framework. It says that it is the ‘most comprehensive’ such framework in the building materials sector. The framework further aligns Cemex’s corporate sustainability commitments to its financing strategy, as part of its ‘Future in Action’ program. It establishes Cemex’s guiding principles when issuing new sustainability-linked financing instruments, including public bonds, private placements, loans, derivatives, working capital solutions and other financing instruments. Sustainalytics, an independent company that specialises in providing environmental, social and corporate governance research, ratings and data to institutional investors and companies, validated the framework’s alignment with the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles, the International Capital Market Association’s Climate Transition Finance Handbook and the Loan Market Association’s Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles.

“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time, and we will continue to address it as a fundamental component of our business strategy,” said Maher Al-Haffar, Cemex's chief financial officer. “Cemex is committed to increasing the role sustainable finance plays in its capital structure by potentially linking the cost of financial instruments to the achievement of targets, directly aligning our corporate finance strategy to sustainability commitments and further contributing to a low-carbon future.”

Cemex has included three key performance indicators in the framework: net CO₂ emissions per tonne of cementitious product, clean electricity consumption and alternative fuels rate. All of them were qualified by Sustainalytics and deemed aligned with the company’s climate action strategy. Cemex currently has a 2030 target of reaching below 475kg/t of CO₂ for cementitious products.