European cement association CEMBUREAU has announced that its 2021 annual summit - Cementing Europe's Future: Action Through Policy - will take place on 12 October.
The ‘hybrid’ event will be held at Sofitel Brussels Europe and also live-streamed. Attendees can registerhere.
CEMBUREAU says that, following the success of its first annual conference last year – Cementing Europe’s Future: Building the Green Deal – the 2021 event aims to highlight the key role the cement industry has to play towards Europe’s 2050 ambitions and how this can be accelerated through policy.
The association comments: “2020 was a defining moment for the European cement industry with the publication of its Carbon Neutrality Roadmap. The journey towards 2050 has begun. Now is the time to start putting our plans and ambitions into motion, in which the EU and the cement industry collaborate together towards mutual end goals – Cementing Europe’s Future: Action Through Policy.”
It adds that the October summit takes place at a crucial time, right after the publication of the European Commission’s ‘Fit for 55%’ package and ahead of new EU policy initiatives on the sustainable built environment.
CEMBUREAU says the event will serve as a communication and discussion platform to delve deeper into the sector’s plans for carbon neutrality along its value chain by 2050, through its ‘5C’ approach covering clinker-cement-concrete-construction-carbonation. The event will also discuss how policy frameworks will be instrumental in supporting this industrial transformation towards carbon neutrality.
To start the day’s discussions, CEMBUREAU president Isidoro Miranda will make the opening remarks. This will be followed by two high-level panel sessions, the first of which will feature a keynote speech from Frans Timmermans, executive vice president of the European Green Deal.
The first session is entitled A Cement Industry ‘Fit for 55%’? and will focus on the legislative package that the EC is expected to publish in June 2021 – which will contain key proposals on the review of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM). The cement industry’s efforts to CO2 emission reduction in the manufacturing of clinker and cement, the first two “Cs” of our decarbonisation strategy, will also be considered in the session. As the legislative process on the overall package starts, the panel will discuss the key policies which can allow an acceleration of CO2 cuts in the cement industry and beyond – this will include a number of key policy issues such as access to CBAM, ETS, and industrial decarbonisation.
The speakers for this session will be drawn from a variety of backgrounds and will include senior representatives from the European Commission, European Parliament, academia/think-tank, and the cement industry. So far, speakers for this session include: Clara De la Torre, deputy director-general, DG CLIMA, European Commission, and Tomas Wyns, project researcher environment & sustainable development, VUB.
The second session is entitled A Carbon Neutral Built Environment & the Role of Concrete, and will centre on the EU’s agenda to decarbonise European buildings. It will focus on the downstream market from cement and thus on the other three ‘Cs’ concrete-construction-carbonation. This session will discuss policy initiatives to create a sustainable built environment in Europe, as well as the contribution from the cement and concrete industry in this respect. It will look at upcoming legislation under the Green Deal with a specific link to existing and planned policy initiatives such as sustainable product policy, Construction Product Regulation, sustainable built environment, embedded carbon, energy use in buildings, New European Bauhaus.
The session will include a range of panelists from the EU institutions (European Commission and MEPs), expert architects and representatives in the field of sustainable construction, as well as a representative from the cement industry. So far, speakers for this session include Florika Fink-Hooijer, director general, DG ENV, European Commission, and Pernille Weiss MEP.
To wrap up the day’s discussions, CEMBUREAU’s president will make some closing remarks and invite all participants for a networking lunch.
