Latest news with #DominikvonAchten
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Heidelberg sells out of net-zero cement from Norway plant, CEO says
Brevik: Germany's Heidelberg Materials has pre-sold all the cement it will produce this year from a Norwegian production line upgraded with zero-emissions technology, its CEO said on Wednesday, as builders seek to reduce their carbon footprint. Traditional cement production is responsible for around 8 per cent of global CO2, generating huge emissions volumes not only from the coal used to heat kilns, but also during the critical process of converting limestone into clinker. It is considered a "hard to abate" sector, meaning mitigating emissions is particularly difficult. The CO2 capture facility at Heidelberg's factory in Brevik, southern Norway, will capture around 400,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. That represents 50 per cent of the plant's emissions, allowing for the production of a net-zero product dubbed evoZero, Heidelberg CEO Dominik von Achten told Reuters at the facility's official opening. The Brevik plant has annual production capacity of just over one million tons of cement, around half of which will be produced under the evoZero brand. "We are not going to produce the full amount this year as the plant is ramping up. But we are sold out for 2025 and we continue to fill the order book," he said. Though more expensive than regular cement, von Achten said evoZero offers benefits to customers looking to decarbonise their construction projects. The facility is part of Norway's heavily subsidised Longship carbon capture and storage project aimed at commercialising the emissions reduction technology. If widely adopted, Norwegian policymakers say the technology would help the world reach the Paris climate agreement's targets and curb global warming. The government is paying two-thirds of Longship's estimated cost of around 30 billion crowns ($3 billion), which includes CO2 capture at a waste plant in Oslo and storage deep below the seabed at the Northern Lights site in western Norway. "What the Norwegian government did is to de-risk the project for the parties involved," von Achten said, adding that, without it, the project would not have been possible. The CO2 removed at Brevik will be loaded onto purpose-built carriers and shipped to the Northern Lights facility, which opened last year and is co-owned by Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies. "We know that the hard to abate sectors and the difficult industrial sectors that have no alternative need CO2 capture and storage as part of the solution," Norway's Energy Minister Terje Aasland told Reuters.
Business Recorder
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
First carbon capture cement facility opens in Norway
BREVIK (Norway): Norway on Wednesday inaugurated the first large-scale facility for capturing carbon dioxide emissions at a cement plant, making it possible to manufacture the world's first 'carbon free' cement. The Heidelberg Materials plant in Brevik in southeastern Norway can now capture up to 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year — 50 percent of its emissions — thanks to amino-based solvents. Through a 'book and claim' system, the company, one of the world's biggest cement producers and more than a century old, will be able to virtually redistribute the gain to its other cement plants and thereby offer clients partially or fully decarbonised products. 'This cement product will be near zero (emissions),' Heidelberg Materials chief executive Dominik von Achten told AFP. Once transformed into the final product concrete, which absorbs small quantities of CO2 throughout its life cycle, 'it will be net zero', he said. The volume of decarbonised cement sold will depend on the amount of CO2 actually captured at Brevik, and the type of cement sold, as the amount of carbon varies from product to product. But according to Heidelberg Materials, it will be around several hundreds of thousands of tonnes — a fraction of the annual global cement production of 4.2 billion tonnes. Cement production alone accounts for seven percent of global greenhouse gases, according to the Global Cement and Concrete Association. The partial decarbonisation of the cement plant in Brevik is part of the Longship project, backed by the Norwegian state, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Launched on Tuesday, Longship will capture carbon dioxide emitted from industrial sites — the Heidelberg cement plant and, in a later stage, an incineration plant — and transport it by ship to a terminal on Norway's west coast, where it will be injected and stored beneath the seabed. The Norwegian state will cover 22 billion kroner ($2.2 billion) of the total estimated cost of 34 billion kroner for the installation and operation over the first 10 years. It is 'an incredibly important technology to (enable us to) respect our (climate) commitments under the Paris Agreement', Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland told AFP. 'If we want to meet the climate challenges we are facing, we have to capture CO2, especially in the industries where there are no alternatives,' he added, citing cement production as an example. Carbon capture and storage is backed by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a way of reducing the carbon footprint of industries hard to decarbonise, such as cement and steel. But the technology remains complex and expensive. Without financial assistance, it is currently more profitable for industries to purchase 'pollution permits' on the European carbon market than to pay for capturing, transporting and storing their CO2.
Reuters
18-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Heidelberg sells out of net-zero cement from Norway plant, CEO says
BREVIK, Norway, June 18 (Reuters) - Germany's Heidelberg Materials ( opens new tab has pre-sold all the cement it will produce this year from a Norwegian production line upgraded with zero-emissions technology, its CEO said on Wednesday, as builders seek to reduce their carbon footprint. Traditional cement production is responsible for around 8% of global CO2, generating huge emissions volumes not only from the coal used to heat kilns, but also during the critical process of converting limestone into clinker. It is considered a "hard to abate" sector, meaning mitigating emissions is particularly difficult. The CO2 capture facility at Heidelberg's factory in Brevik, southern Norway, will capture around 400,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. That represents 50% of the plant's emissions, allowing for the production of a net-zero product dubbed evoZero, Heidelberg CEO Dominik von Achten told Reuters at the facility's official opening. The Brevik plant has annual production capacity of just over one million tons of cement, around half of which will be produced under the evoZero brand. "We are not going to produce the full amount this year as the plant is ramping up. But we are sold out for 2025 and we continue to fill the order book," he said. Though more expensive than regular cement, von Achten said evoZero offers benefits to customers looking to decarbonise their construction projects. The facility is part of Norway's heavily subsidised Longship carbon capture and storage project aimed at commercialising the emissions reduction technology. If widely adopted, Norwegian policymakers say the technology would help the world reach the Paris climate agreement's targets and curb global warming. The government is paying two-thirds of Longship's estimated cost of around 30 billion crowns ($3 billion), which includes CO2 capture at a waste plant in Oslo and storage deep below the seabed at the Northern Lights site in western Norway. "What the Norwegian government did is to de-risk the project for the parties involved," von Achten said, adding that, without it, the project would not have been possible. The CO2 removed at Brevik will be loaded onto purpose-built carriers and shipped to the Northern Lights facility, which opened last year and is co-owned by Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab, Equinor ( opens new tab and TotalEnergies ( opens new tab. "We know that the hard to abate sectors and the difficult industrial sectors that have no alternative need CO2 capture and storage as part of the solution," Norway's Energy Minister Terje Aasland told Reuters. It is not currently clear how long the government will subsidise the construction of new CCS projects. The industry will need to build a viable business case and commercialise the products CCS makes possible, both Aasland and von Achten said. ($1 = 9.9540 Norwegian crowns)
Reuters
28-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Heidelberg Materials expects infrastructure boom to fuel profit growth by 2030
FRANKFURT, May 28 (Reuters) - Heidelberg Materials, the world's second-biggest cement maker, said on Wednesday it expects operating profit growth in the medium-term to 2030 to be driven by five megatrends, including higher defence spending and a growing demand for data centres. The group's result from current operations (RCO) is expected to grow 7-10% on average a year until 2030, the German company said at its capital markets day held at its carbon capture and storage site in Brevik, Norway. Return on invested capital is forecast to rise to around 12% by 2030, from an expected 10% in 2025, the group said, adding its net capital expenditure target would be raised to an average 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) a year, from 1.1 billion previously. Heidelberg Materials CEO Dominik von Achten said that apart from defence and data centre construction, profit growth was also expected to be driven by the global energy transition, infrastructure needs as well as forecast housing boom globally. "These are five decisive waves from which we as a company are benefiting across the board. The demand that is coming in is enormous," he told Reuters, adding the company would continue to focus on heavy building materials such as cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete and asphalt. Shares in the German construction company have soared by more than half year-to-date, giving it a market value of around 33 billion euros, as investors bank on the group's ability to tap a planned 500-billion-euro investment push by the German government. Von Achten also said there would be a second round of capacity adjustments in Europe by 2030 following a current effort to close five clinker plants on the continent by the end of the year. "The aim is to make a significant leap in margins in Europe. We are removing capacity where production is particularly cost- and CO2-intensive, namely in clinker," von Achten said, adding the group could continue to grow in cement by adding mills to its plant network. ($1 = 0.8835 euros)
Reuters
25-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Heidelberg Materials forecasts profit rise as core markets stabilise
FRANKFURT, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Heidelberg Materials ( opens new tab, the world's second-largest cement maker, expects its operating profit to rise further this year after a record 2024, it said on Tuesday, citing a stabilisation in its core markets. The group's result from current operations is forecast to rise to 3.25 billion euros to 3.55 billion euros ($3.72 billion to $3.40 billion) in 2025, up from 3.2 billion in 2024, which was up 6% year on year. "Thanks to our broad geographic footprint as well as our focus on cost and price management, we managed to more than compensate for declining demand in certain regions," CEO Dominik von Achten said in a statement. The group said that while the construction sector remained volatile in some regions, the company's core markets - which includes North America and Australia among others - continued to stabilise. ($1 = 0.9547 euros) Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.
