CEMEX sets "most ambitious" decarbonisation goals in the industry

CEMEX has a “promising medium term outlook”, according to Fernando A González, chief executive officer. Speaking at the company’s 2022 CEMEX Day on 16 November, Mr González said the markets in which the company operates are seeing strong demographics and urbanisation trends, along with “pressing needs for more resilient and sustainable infrastructure, buildings and homes”.

With 10Mta of cement capacity additions in the pipeline, 4.4Mta of which is being rolled out in 2022-23 in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Poland and the USA, he believes CEMEX is well positioned to accelerate growth. Future plans include the development of additional grinding capacity in the USA and Europe, along with approximately 900Mt in additional aggregates reserves and ongoing expansion of its Urbanization Solutions business.

He also outlined the company’s decarbonisation goals, describing them as “the most ambitious goals in the industry.” Not only is the company aiming for less than 430kg of CO₂/t of cementitious materials by 2030, marking a 47 per cent reduction in emissions against the 1990 baseline, it is also hoping to reach 65 per cent clean electricity by 2030, up from 55 per cent. According to Mr González, five of the company’s plants are already below the new Scope 1 target of <430kg/t, while CO₂ emissions have seen an 8.6 per cent reduction since 2020.

The company has also increased its use of alternative fuels (AFs) to 34 per cent, up nine percentage points since 2020, and is now utilising hydrogen injection in half of its facilities. In terms of municipal waste, the company has achieved its 34 per cent AF substitution through the use of high biomass content, reducing landfill and avoiding 1.6Mt of CO₂ emissions. It has set a target for 2030 of increasing its managed waste by 80 per cent to 41Mt, compared to 23Mt in 2021, according to Juan Carlos Herrera, head of Global Urbanization Solutions, also speaking at the event.

By 2030 the company aims to double its use of municipal and industrial waste, achieving 50 per cent of fossil fuel substitution, recycle 14Mt of construction and demolition waste each year, and increase its use of alternative raw materials and byproducts by 30 per cent, eliminating 13Mta of extracted materials.