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Editorial comment

Another year, another COP. COP29, unofficially known as the ‘climate finance COP’ concluded just a couple of weeks ago with the headline result being an agreement to triple the financing available for developing countries.


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The agreement, known formally as the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), is designed to make US$300 billion available annually for developing countries by 2035, and will be essential for these nations to decarbonise their economies and adapt to a changing climate.

Commenting on the NCQG, Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change stated: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country. But like any insurance policy – it only works – if premiums are paid in full, and on time. Promises must be kept, to protect billions of lives. It will keep the clean energy boom growing, helping all countries to share in its huge benefits: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all.”

Another major development at this year’s COP, and one much more closely tied to cement production, was the GCCA’s launch of international definitions for low carbon cement and concrete in partnership with Robert Habek, Vice Chancellor of Germany. With an increasing number of ‘green’ products becoming available in markets around the world, the new definitions are designed to provide a crucial reference point for customers looking to buy green cement and concrete products, increase trust and transparency in the marketplace, and promote demand for such products.

The GCCA definitions have been developed with both public and private procurement in mind (using the IEA’s 2022 work for the G7 on cement production as a starting point), and are designed to be used with local benchmarks and targets to reflect regional challenges and circumstances.

Speaking of the launch, Robert Habek stated: “This is a big step forward towards delivering a greener built environment and a greener global economy. Lead markets for low carbon basic materials are an important component of the policy landscape to support decarbonisation of sectors such as cement and concrete. During the German G7 Presidency the Energy and Climate Ministers agreed on the IEA definitions being a robust starting point for the work internationally. We are delighted that this work has been built upon by the GCCA to publish low carbon and near zero definitions for concrete products.”

COP30 is due to be held in Belém, Brazil, in November next year, but you won’t have to wait that long for the latest developments in cement decarbonisation because World Cement’s EnviroTech is taking place on 9 – 12 March, in Athens, Greece. With the support of our sustainability partners (Treeapp and TRACE by isla), EnviroTech will bring cement industry leaders and technical experts together from across the world to share insights and expertise into the challenge of decarbonisation. Book your tickets and secure your place today: www.worldcement.com/envirotech

 


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