HeidelbergCement underline focus on CCU/S
Company’s chief executive officer joins German Federal President on state visit to Norway
THE chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement, Dr Dominik von Achten, was part of the official delegation that accompanied German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on his state visit to Norway from 4–5 November.
HeidelbergCement are currently building the world’s first full-scale carbon capture facility at their Norwegian subsidiary Norcem’s Brevik cement plant. The facility will be operational in 2024 and will capture 400,000 tonnes annually or 50% of the plant’s emissions.
As part of the state visit, Dr von Achten participated in a roundtable event at the Norwegian classification society DNV on the theme ‘Energy Transition – From Fossil Fuels to Renewables’, which was opened by Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marte Mjøs Persen.
Dr von Achten underlined HeidelbergCement’s strategic focus on carbon capture and utilization or storage (CCU/S), and the ambition to decarbonize the company by 2050 at the latest. ‘We are excited to be part of this pioneering project together with the Norwegian Government. It enables us to further progress on our path towards carbon neutrality, thus reducing the carbon footprint of the building materials industry,’ he said.
Dr von Achten also had a separate meeting with Minister Mjøs Persen about the Norwegian Longship programme, in which the Brevik cement plant plays a central role. Brevik is one of several cement plants where HeidelbergCement are currently testing different technologies and solutions to substantially reduce CO2 emissions.
‘The experience from Norway will be highly important as we look to implement carbon capture at a large scale in other cement plants,’ said Dr von Achten. ‘We are targeting CO2 reductions of up to 10 million tonnes with several CCU/S projects that will be under way by 2030. One example is the CCS project at the Slite cement plant on the Swedish island of Gotland, announced in June 2021, which we are eager to drive forward.’
The Slite plant of HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Cementa could potentially capture 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 and become the world’s first climate-neutral cement plant.
Dr von Achten also expressed his views on energy transition in the cement industry: ‘We are focusing on a number of activities to reach our goals. They include further increasing the use of alternative fuels, improving energy efficiency, continuing to promote our CCU/S activities, strengthening the circular economy, and developing innovative products.
‘To realize our ambitious climate targets, we also need fast, decisive political action, clear framework conditions, and streamlined funding procedures. With regard to Germany, stronger co-operation with Norway is essential. Fast provision of infrastructure for CO2 transport is a good example of an important step going forward.’
