Austria: The Austrian Cement Industry Association (VÖZ) has launched a roadmap for carbon neutrality by 2050. The initiative follows the 5C approach of Clinker, Cement, Concrete, Construction and Carbonation as prompted by the European Cement Association, Cembureau. Selected targets from the document include reducing the sector’s average clinker factor to 52% by 2040 from 70% in 2020, using carbon-neutral electricity from 2030 and meeting a recycling rate for concrete and demolition waste of 25% in 2050 from 10% in 2022. Sebastian Spaun, the managing director of VÖZ, highlighted the ‘Carbon2ProductAustria’ (C₂PAT) initiative as a key project where capture CO₂ from Lafarge Zementwerke’s Mannersdorf cement plant will be used with hydrogen to produce synthetic fuels, plastics or other chemicals.

Australia: James Hardie recorded sales of US$3.61bn in its 2022 financial year, up by 24% year-on-year from US$2.91bn in its 2021 financial year. The group’s North American fibre cement sales rose by 25% to US$2.55bn from US$2.04bn. Its Asia Pacific fibre cement sales rose by 22% to US$545m from US$446m, while its Europe building products sales rose by 20% to US$421m from US$351m.

Interim chief executive officer Harold Wiens said, “I am delighted to report that the James Hardie team has continued to deliver strong execution of our global strategy. This is reflected in strong price/mix growth in all three regions, including North America price/mix growth of 12%, Asia Pacific price/mix growth of 11% and Europe price/mix growth of 14%. The global team’s success in delivering high value products is the result of: one - enabling our customers to make more money by selling more James Hardie products; and two - marketing directly to the homeowners to create demand for our high value products through our customers.”

The group reaffirmed its 2023 financial year adjusted net income guidance range of US$740 - 820m.

UK: A team of researchers from six UK universities has filed a patent for a clinkerless cement product called Cambridge Electric Cement. Local press has reported that the project, called UK Fires, saw researchers successfully produce the cement using renewable power from recycled cement powder and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). Following its successes, UK Fires has obtained a further Euro2m in funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to continue its work into the range of concrete wastes suitable for use in Cambridge Electric Cement production.

India: UltraTech Cement has successfully commissioned a second clinker line with a capacity of 2.7Mt/yr at its Hirmi cement plant in Chhattisgarh. The company says that it is on track to also commission a new 1.3Mt/yr grinding unit at the plant in mid-2022.