Germany: HeidelbergCement has signed the Science-Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment and joined the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change Race to Zero campaign. The former entails a commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5°C and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Race to Zero membership entails a positive commitment to beginning the transition to a decarbonised economy before the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in November 2021.

Chair Dominik von Achten said “As one of the world's leading building materials producers, we are continuously increasing our efforts in the global fight against climate change. We are working on all levels to reach climate neutrality – within our operations as well as through associations and initiatives such as the Race To Zero campaign. Every effort brings us closer to our goal.”

India: ACC’s net sales rose by 35% year-on-year to US$1.08bn in the first half of 2021 from US$799m in the same period in 2020.Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 56% to US$232m from US$149m. Sales volumes of cement and ready-mixed concrete grew by 31% to 14.8Mt and by 32% to 1.41Mm³ respectively.

“I am proud of the way team ACC has recorded very good performance this quarter. With a strong focus on supply chain efficiencies and cost optimisation, the company has emerged stronger and more resilient. Waste heat recovery system projects at various sites are progressing well. The large cement capacity expansion project at Ametha in Madhya Pradesh has commenced,” said ACC’s managing director and chief executive officer, Sridhar Balakrishnan.

The subsidiary of Holcim Group added that it “believed strongly” in the resilience of the Indian economy following the coronavirus crisis. It expects cement demand to grow due to increased government spending on large scale infrastructure projects.

UK: Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary Cemex UK has launched ‘Concrete – Focus on Sustainability,’ a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) accredited continuing professional development (CPD) course for specifiers. The course tackles the key issues for accomplishing building projects’ sustainability goals when using concrete. It covers various industry initiatives and technologies designed to aid these goals.

National product support and CPD coordinator Mat Saunders said “The conversation around sustainability is currently at the forefront of the minds of everyone globally, and as an organisation we have a responsibility to contribute to that discourse in a positive manner. This is why we felt that educating industry professionals on what cement and concrete technology can do to help specifiers, clients and contractors meet their sustainability targets, while still using concrete to build safe, efficient, beautiful structures that we all live and work in, was paramount. Even at this early stage the course has been wildly popular, and we anticipate a significant uptake over the rest of 2021 and beyond.”

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales have revived following a coronavirus-related lockdown in the second quarter in 2020. It attributed the rebound to sales of bagged cement to the self-construction sector and public sector reconstruction demand. It also noted that sales revenue and volumes in the second quarter of 2021 were ahead of comparable figures in the same period in 2019 before the pandemic started. Its sales revenue more than doubled to US$229m in the first half of 2021 from US$105m in the same period in 2020. Its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) nearly tripled to US$49.4m from US$16.9m. Production volumes at the cement producer’s plants grew to 1.79Mt from 0.79Mt.