Lafarge Egypt, a member of Holcim Group, arranges a press conference titled “Cement Industry & Sustainable Development”, in cooperation with Dcode Economic & Financial Consulting (EFC) to reinforce environmental sustainability, and prevent climate change aligning with Egypt vision 2030, Invest-Gate reports.
Lafarge Egypt contributes to lowering CO2 emissions by more than 20%, compared to baseline for 2018, and contributes to Holcim goals, which joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
The SBTi has approved Holcim’s commitment to reduce scope 1 GHG emissions by 10% per ton of cementitious materials by 2030 from a 2018 base year.
Holcim also commits to reduce scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity by 65% within the same time frame and embraces the goal of “Cement Industry Ambition for 1.5°C by 2050”.
During the conference, Dcode Economic & Financial Consulting (EFC) Chairman and CEO Mohamed Abdel Aziz reviews Egypt’s strategy and efforts to address climate change, along with cement industry’s challenges and actions. He emphasizes that the private sector plays a pivotal role towards low carbon future, through investment in research and development into breakthrough solutions, utilizing recycled materials and adopting renewable energy sources.
Abdel Aziz also indicates that Lafarge Egypt sets an example for the private sector’s contributions to solving climate change problem towards achieving SDGs.
For his part, Solomon Baumgartner Aviles, Lafarge Egypt CEO, highlights how Lafarge Egypt employs innovation to manufacture green products, such as Pozzolanic cement, with lower clinker & CO2 emission, in addition to EcoPlanet and EcoPlanet Prime, which utilize recycled slag and lower Co2 emissions by 50% and 60%, respectively.
Baumgartner adds that the company is also keen on achieving growth complying with Egypt vision 2030. He confirms that paving the way to cement producers to export requires governmental support, which would enable Lafarge Egypt to actualize its plans to open new export markets.
It is worth noting that Lafarge Egypt’s operations at Ain Al-Sokhna is one of the largest cement plants in the MENA region, distinguished with an annual capacity of 9.5 MT. The company has annual capacity to produce 2 million cubic meters of Ready-Mix concrete.