Azerbaijan: Cemex has won the Net-Zero Industries Award for its clinker decarbonisation process using concentrated solar power. The award was presented at COP29 in Baku. Cemex’s solar clinker project is a collaboration with cleantech company Synhelion, which developed the high-temperature solar heat technology it uses. Cemex and Synhelion partnered in 2019 and achieved the first successful production of solar clinker in 2022.

Davide Zampini, vice president of Global R&D at Cemex, said "Together with Synhelion, we are pioneering solar-powered clinker production, a breakthrough process that can contribute to decarbonising cement manufacturing."

Saudi Arabia: Al Jouf Cement Company has signed a power purchase agreement with ENGIE to develop a 22MW solar photovoltaic plant at Al Jouf Cement’s facility in Turaif, Northern Borders Province. The plant will provide on-site power generation and help to decarbonise Al Jouf Cement's operations over the project’s 25-year lifespan. The solar photovoltaic installation will span over 420,000m² and is expected to reduce the plant’s carbon footprint. ENGIE will handle the development, design, construction, ownership and operation of the solar plant.

Zambia: China Zambia De Jin Xin Cement plans to invest US$170m in the Zambian economy to build a cement plant, a power plant, a mine and a high calcium powder plant, according to ZNBC. The construction is expected to begin in November 2025, according to the company's director, Jianbao Zhao. This investment will reportedly create over 1000 jobs during the construction phase and more than 500 permanent positions once operational.

Spain: Cement consumption in Spain has seen a cumulative increase of 1.3% in the first 10 months of 2024, compared to a decline of 0.5% at the end of the third quarter of 2024, according to the latest data from Oficemen. This increase is largely due to 14.5% growth in October 2024 consumption compared to the same month a year earlier, reaching 1.37Mt, the highest since 2019. Despite the domestic gains, cement exports fell by 1% in October 2024 to 0.41Mt, contributing to a 13% decline in the cumulative annual data up to October 2024. Since November 2023, exports have decreased by 16%, totalling 0.47Mt.

Oficemen’s general manager Aniceto Zaragoza said "These positive figures are in line with the forecasts that we made at the beginning of 2024, when we were expecting a moderate recovery in the final stretch of the year."