The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has unveiled a new initiative and membership category to support the sector’s net zero objectives.
The Net Zero Value Chain Partners (NZVCP) initiative has been developed to incorporate members from the wider building value chain, including equipment suppliers, industrial partners for carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and other solutions providers, along with cement and concrete manufacturers.
According to the GCCA, the initiative will enable all building value chain partners to ‘share expertise, innovation and ideas, and key engagement to help decarbonise the industry’.
‘Essential material’
“Concrete is seen as the essential material because it is used all across the world in buildings, houses and key infrastructure, underpinning our modern world,” commented Thomas Guillot, GCCA chief executive.
“It makes great sense to engage more deeply with those who provide our industry equipment, services and solutions for the manufacture and use of our material.”
Inaugural members of the NZVCP initiative include CDE, KHD, Master Builders Solutions, Saint-Gobain, Schneider Electric and Sinoma International, who will collaborate with GCCA’s existing 50 member producers on programmes to accelerate innovation, reduce emissions and foster greater cross-sector collaboration.
“Our industry is fully committed to reaching Net Zero, and we are working hard to drive progress,” added Dominik von Achten, GGCA President and chairman of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials.
“However, we know we cannot achieve it alone and need the support, expertise, and partnerships across our value chain. That’s why we have created a new engagement structure to work closer with organisations who are also committed to building a net-zero future.”
Collective action
Of the new members, Maxime Ramael, global business development manager, green cement, Schneider Electric, cited the role of digitalisation and energy management in optimising operations, saying “The road to decarbonisation demands not only ambition but also collective action, and we believe technology is the catalyst that turns vision into reality.”
Elsewhere, Gustavo Blazquez, specialty construction chemicals business line director, Saint-Gobain, outlined the firm’s work with additives and admixtures to reduce cement and concrete’s carbon footprint.
“By engaging in this collective effort, we aim to accelerate progress across the value chain and help build a more sustainable future, in line with Saint-Gobain’s purpose: ‘Making the world a better home’,” he said. Read more here.
