On Thursday, integrated energy major bp and Mexico’s building materials giant CEMEX jointly announced that they will partner on initiatives to speed the rollout of net zero carbon emitting concrete on a global scale. The companies have reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop methods of decarbonizing cement production and transportation, potentially including low carbon power and transportation, energy efficiency, natural carbon offsets, as well as carbon capture, storage and utilization technologies.
The companies have also agreed to work together on urbanization solutions to decarbonize global cities. Both CEMEX and bp have aligned ambitions of achieving net zero emissions no later than 2050.
“Concrete plays an integral role in society, and there are no substitutes for its key attributes, strength, and resilience. We believe it will continue to have a critical role in a low carbon economy, and the challenge for the industry is to find solutions to the manufacturing process emissions,” said Juan Romero, executive vice president sustainability, commercial, and operations development of CEMEX. “This initiative with bp is another example of the work we are doing with partners across industries, academia, and start-ups to tap into the latest innovation and disruptive technology to achieve our ambition of delivering net zero CO2 concrete globally to all of our customers.”
William Lin, bp’s Executive Vice President of Regions, Cities & Solutions (RC&S), said: “At bp, we want to help ‘greening companies’ meet their sustainability aims just as we are trying to do in our own company. We know that 70 percent of global emissions come from transport, industry and energy and that cement making is energy intensive. Teaming up with progressive companies like CEMEX, that share a net-zero ambition and have complementary capabilities, will help speed up the decarbonization of the industry and the energy system. Now is the time to work together on the path to net-zero and along the way generate mutual value.”
Angélica Ruiz, bp’s head of country for Mexico and senior vice president for Latin America, said: “We’re proud to collaborate with a global company that shares our goal to transition to a more sustainable future. CEMEX is taking a leading role in decarbonizing the global cement industry, setting a fast pace of progress in all regions, including Mexico and Latin America. Our collaboration with CEMEX is another step towards our ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world to get to net zero.”
CEMEX in Europe
News of its global cities and cement partnership with bp follows a number of sustainability-related announcements from CEMEX in recent months. In March, the company announced the formation of a Carbon Neutral Alliance in Germany to test and accelerate carbon neutral technologies, including green hydrogen production, waste heat recovery, carbon capture and transformation into building materials, and synthetic fuels, at its Rüdersdorf plant.
Also in March, CEMEX pledged $25 million to a new green hydrogen-powered system that will ultimately replace fossil fuels at its cement plant in Rugby, U.K. Both initiatives were part of CEMEX’s “Future in Action” program in Europe, where CEMEX reports that it uses 60 percent alternative fuels across its continental operations, along with 100 percent renewable energy in its UK operations, significantly higher than the industry average.
