Romania: Finance magazine Capital has named Holcim Romania as its Leader of the Sustainable Transition in the Construction Industry 2022 in recognition of the company’s CO₂ reduction initiatives.

Holcim Romania’s sustainability director Edmund Piess said “We are happy to receive recognition for our effort to build responsibly and sustainably. The Holcim Group has committed to the net-zero emissions target; to achieve this ambitious target, we place sustainability at the heart of our strategy.” Piess concluded “We are aware of the impact of industry and the increase in consumption on climate change, which is why we have launched our ECOncept business model to build sustainably and responsibly.”

Holcim Romania’s ECOncept model comprises ECO Solutions, including 40% reduced-CO₂ ECOPlanet cement, ECO Services and ECO Score impact evaluations.

New Zealand: The Global Cement and Concrete Association has welcomed Fletcher Building’s concrete division as its first member from Oceania. Scoop News has reported that the concrete’s division’s business spans the entire concrete value chain, including 26 limestone and aggregates quarries and 80 ready-mix concrete batching plants. Its cement subsidiary Golden Bay Cement operates the 0.9Mt/yr Portland cement plant in Whangārei, New Zealand.

Fletcher Building concrete division CEO Nick Traber said "Fletcher Building firmly believes we can play a significant part in a carbon zero and circular future. Our Golden Bay EcoSure cement is one of the lowest-carbon cements in the world already, with 13 - 22% less embodied carbon than imported products. We believe having access to the global research and knowledge from the GCCA will help us improve this further and continue to lead Australasia in best practice decarbonisation of the built environment."

Chile: Cement shipments fell by 14% year-on-year during the first nine months of 2022, to 3.2Mt from 3.7Mt. The La Tercera newspaper has reported that a construction slowdown impacted on the cement sales of all three of Chile’s cement producers. Cbb’s despatches fell by 18%, Cementos Melón’s by 15% and Cemento Polpaico’s by 9.5%. At the same time, the producers’ expenses rose due to increased costs across transportation, raw materials, fuels, labour, administration and finance. Meanwhile, imported cement from Asia reportedly presents a cheaper alternative for customers.

Mexico: Cemex Mexico plans to install hydrogen injection systems at four cement plants across Mexico. The producer will use the technology to increase alternative fuel (AF) substitution at the plants by 8 - 10%. A 40% reduction in Scope 3 purchased fuel emissions forms part of Cemex's 2020 - 2030 CO₂ emissions reduction strategy. Through the decarbonisation and circular economy pillars of its Future in Action plan, the group aims to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Cemex Mexico president Ricardo Naya said "Hydrogen is a key technology to accelerate the implementation of our climate action roadmap."

The El Financiero newspaper has reported that Cemex set a new group record AF substitution rate of 34% in September 2022. It uses hydrogen at all of its European cement plants and at one plant in the Dominican Republic.