GCCA and FICEM accelerate Latin American progress towards net zero

21 July 2022

The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and, regional affiliate, FICEM have co-hosted an event on 'Latin American cement and concrete industry – Towards Net Zero' in the Dominican Republic. The meeting highlighted the progress made in decarbonising the industry in the region and future pathways to reaching net zero concrete.

Claude Loréa, executive cement director of the GCCA, commented that the association has attracted 80 per cent of the global cement industry outside of China to its membership but was working to make this 100 per cent, while it also has some members inside China.

Launched nine months ago the GCCA's 2050 Cement and Concrete Industry Roadmap for Net Zero concrete has been well received, but as the UN Secretary General, António Gutteres, said, some three-quarters of the infrastructure we will have in 2050 is yet to be built.

Claude Loréa pointed out that we need credible action and not just plans for reaching net zero. "We need more companies to join us, the whole sector and not just the front runners."

In March 2022 the net zero accelerator programme was launched. This will take the roadmap and bring it to local action and company levels. Colombia is already a phase one country in implementing its commitments on decarbonisation into action in the GCCA's first wave of its accelerator initiative (joining Egypt, Thailand and India), while several Latin American countries are at the phase two stage. The three legs to the accelerator programme are lighthouse projects, action agendas and leadership activation.

Maria José García, executive director of Federación Interamericana del Cemento (FICEM), gave a regional perspective on how decarbonisation was taking place in Latin America. She said the Latin American and Caribbean association operates in a region where there are 600m inhabitants, over 26 countries. The region produces 200Mt of cement and has 77 companies producing cement.

There are 11 national roadmaps in the region to address climate change and in 2021 a climate agenda awareness communication built partnerships towards carbon neutrality and there was an agreement to follow the GCCA’s net zero parameters.

Of 10 cement plants recently analysed in Latin America, 597kg CO₂/t of cementitious material produced was the average compared to a global average of 535 kg CO₂/t of cementitious material produced. Clinker reduction has reached 70 per cent while 18 per cent of co-processing has been achieved, where improvements can still be made.

Individual experiences of regional cement producers implementing decarbonisation strategies followed, including contributions from CEMEX, Cementos Argos, Cemento Progreso, GCC, Votorantim, Pacasmayo, and Unicem along with FICEM members Domicem and Cementos Mélon.