Together with Christina Altides, a member of the 2024 Elections Secretariat and advisor to the Director General for Communication in the European Parliament, we delve into the significance of the upcoming ⁠European elections⁠ and explore how businesses and industry associations can foster democratic engagement. Discover how industry leaders can leverage their influence to promote voter participation and combat disinformation, ensuring a well-informed electorate.

Industry's Role in the 2024 European Elections: Fostering Democratic Engagement

In this episode of "Cementing Europe’s Future," CEMBUREAU Public Affairs Director Emmanuel Brutin reveals the newly updated Net Zero Roadmap. We elaborate on the main changes, including updates to decarbonisation levers like CCUS, alternative fuels, and clinker-to-cement ratios. Tune in to understand the roadmap’s CO2 reduction ambitions for 2030, 2040, and 2050, and the crucial policy demands needed to achieve these projections.

CEMBUREAU's Updated Net Zero Roadmap: What's New? What's Next?

In this episode of "Cementing Europe’s Future," Dr. Fragkoulis Kanavaris from Arup discusses how the European cement industry can reduce embodied carbon in buildings, focusing on innovative design strategies and optimised concrete mixes. Arup's recent study provides key insights into achieving significant carbon reductions while maintaining concrete's essential benefits such as durability and energy efficiency.

Arup Study Findings: Reducing Embodied Carbon and Concrete's Footprint

In this episode of "Cementing Europe’s Future," we explore how concrete carbonation is reshaping CO2 emission reporting. Tomas Gustafsson from the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute provides insights into the challenges and opportunities of incorporating carbonation into guidelines and national emissions inventories, and the broader implications of these developments. Tune in to discover how carbonation could influence future greenhouse gas reporting standards and lead to more accurate reporting.

Concrete Carbonation: Shaping the Future of Carbon Removal and Emission Reporting

In this episode of Cementing Europe’s Future, we talk about the groundbreaking FastCarb project, which transforms demolition waste into valuable carbon sinks. Our guest, Xavier Guillot, Standardisation Director at Holcim, explains how FastCarb accelerates CO₂ uptake in recycled concrete, turning a common by-product of construction and demolition into a tool for carbon reduction. Discover the science behind natural carbonation, the project’s innovative techniques for enhancing CO₂ absorption, and its implications for sustainable construction.

Transforming Demolition Waste into Carbon Sinks: Inside the FastCarb Project

In this episode of Cementing Europe’s Future, we dive into the much-anticipated Clean Industrial Deal and its potential to drive industrial decarbonisation and competitiveness. CEMBUREAU CEO Koen Coppenholle joins us to discuss what this initiative could mean for the cement sector—from securing investment in breakthrough technologies to ensuring regulatory certainty, CO₂ infrastructure, and lead markets for low-carbon products.

With over 100 decarbonisation projects already underway, the cement industry is ready to scale up. But what key policy enablers are needed to make it happen? And how can the Clean Industrial Deal help unlock a sustainable business case for deep decarbonisation?

The Clean Industrial Deal: How Can It Enable The Net Zero Transition?

In this episode of Cementing Europe’s Future, we focus on one of the most critical technologies for decarbonising cement: carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Our guest, Juanita Gallego, Sustainability Specialist at Aalborg Portland, shares her experience moving from CCS research to real-world implementation. Drawing on her PhD and her work on a full-scale CCS project in Denmark, Juanita explores the environmental, economic and policy dimensions of scaling CCS in cement, from early-stage pilots to industrial deployment.

Scaling Up CCS in the Cement Industry: From Pilots to Deployment

In this joint episode of the World Cement magazine and Cementing Europe’s Future, Koen Coppenholle, CEO of CEMBUREAU, discusses the European Commission’s Clean Industrial Deal (CID) and its implications for the European cement sector.

The conversation explores the CID’s approach to financing industrial decarbonisation, the role of state aid, the importance of a watertight Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and the urgent need to scale up CO2 infrastructure. It also touches on challenges around energy prices, market creation for low-carbon products, and the regulatory clarity needed to move from ambition to delivery.

With policy proposals still in motion, this episode offers a timely look at what’s at stake for one of Europe’s most energy-intensive industries.

Getting a Feel of the Clean Industrial Deal

In this episode of Cementing Europe’s Future, we speak with Stany Vaes, Director Sustainability & Corporate Affairs at Holcim Belgium, about the GO4ZERO project — a major initiative aiming to produce carbon-neutral cement in Belgium by 2029.

We explore what it takes to turn industrial climate ambition into real-world transformation: from building a new state-of-the-art kiln and deploying carbon capture technologies, to navigating complex EU and national policy frameworks, securing investment, and creating demand for low-carbon products.

The GO4ZERO project reflects both the scale of the challenge and the momentum building in Europe’s cement sector. But to succeed, it will require the right policy signals, long-term support, and cross-sector collaboration.

GO4ZERO Project in Focus: How to Decarbonise Cement with Policy, Investment and Vision

In this episode of Cementing Europe’s Future, we turn our attention to carbon capture, utilisation and storage — or CCUS — a critical technology in the cement industry’s decarbonisation pathway.

With unavoidable process emissions, CCUS is not just an option for the cement sector — it’s a necessity. But what does it take to move from ambition to implementation? What are the regulatory, financial, and technical foundations that must be laid to scale up CCUS across Europe?

Joining us to explore these questions are Roze Wesby, Vice President for CCUS at Holcim, and Julija Skora, Sustainability Manager at Holcim Croatia. Together, they bring insights from both the strategic and plant-level perspective, shedding light on how CCUS projects are developing in practice and what still needs to be done.