After a highly successful 25-year career with Cemex, including management roles in several big regional and national building materials markets, José Antonio Cabrera became president of Cemex EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) in April 2025. Aggregates Business spoke to him about his key leadership role and Cemex EMEA’s future trading and sustainability goals.
Never stop learning is a good axiom to live by. It’s also a good one for your working life, with José Antonio Cabrera’s approach to his first year as Cemex EMEA president a great example of its application.
“I left Europe 10 years ago, initially for the Middle East, then to work in Latin America, so on returning, I needed to meet a lot of people, internally and externally. I travelled a lot to learn about what was happening in our EMEA operations, speak with our customers across the region, and assess how different countries’ markets were doing.
“I also noted how much had changed around industry regulations, especially in Europe. There is so much linked to, for example, climate change, with onshore and offshore carbon capture, the CBAM [Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism], and emerging principles such as CfDs [Contracts for Difference].”
CBAM is a carbon pricing policy introduced by the European Union (EU) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a fair, competitive environment between EU-produced goods and imports. It applies to carbon-intensive goods, including cement, electricity, fertilisers, iron, steel, hydrogen and aluminium. Importers who fail to report emissions accurately, underreport emissions, or do not comply with the required standards face fines. The policy is currently in a transitional phase and will become fully effective on 1 January 2026; however, organisations must start preparing now.
Contracts for Difference (CfDs) are long-term contracts that support low-carbon transition by providing a guaranteed revenue stream for the project developer, who receives payments when the market price (or reference price) falls below a pre-agreed ‘strike price.’ In contrast, they pay the difference back when the market price exceeds the strike price.
A Spanish national in his early 50s, Cabrera hails from the Canary Islands and began his career at Cemex in 2000, working at a cement plant in his native Tenerife. He has since been appointed to various positions in strategic planning, operations, and trade. Through these roles, he has supported Cemex’s operations and contributed to the company’s worldwide growth.
Before becoming the Madrid-based Cemex EMEA president, Cabrera spent six years as general director of Cemex Cluster Caribe (Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico). In his new role as president of Cemex EMEA, he is continuing the work begun by previous president Sergio Menéndez to achieve the company’s strategic priorities; fostering a safe and healthy work environment for all employees and contractors; placing customer service at the forefront to enhance satisfaction; and focusing on challenging decarbonisation goals to reduce emissions across the value chain.
“Cemex EMEA is an important potential global growth driver for Cemex. We are a Mexican company that’s evolved into a global company, with a sizeable footprint in EMEA and the US. Those three markets are a key focus for Cemex,” explains Cabrera.
He adds: “This year, we’ve seen the EMEA region as a good [trading] region, but it is one where there are a lot of uncertainties regarding regulations. We are beginning to grow organically and show the region’s potential. Whenever Germany, France, and the UK, the engines of Europe, are growing, it’s good for the rest of the countries in EMEA. We expect growth in Europe over the next five to seven years, and even bigger growth in sales of lower-carbon products.”
Cemex EMEA sales in the first nine months of 2025 were up 9% year-on-year to US$3.79 billion (from $3.34bn in 2024), and rose 11% to $1.37 billion in Q3 2025 (from $1.24bn in 2024). Cemex’s EMEA and US regions achieved record third-quarter margins (EMEA 17.9%, up from 16.2% in Q3 2024).
Cemex’s operations in Europe remain at the forefront of its decarbonisation efforts, already ahead of the European Cement Association’s 2030 CO₂ emissions target on a per tonne of cement equivalent basis, reflecting the company’s leadership in climate action.
Cabrera notes that demand conditions continue to notably improve in the Middle East and Africa, with volumes expanding at “double-digit” rates. Cabrera explains that housing, non-residential projects, and large infrastructure projects are fuelling strong sales volumes.
He adds: “We believe there will soon be greater economic stability in the region, which is good for infrastructure development. Israel has demonstrated its commercial potential over the last decade, and the United Arab Emirates is booming!
“In Africa, Cemex operates in Egypt and is also serving customers in Western Africa, which is one of our largest trading areas. There is constant growth in that market, which will continue for the next decade or so.”
Asked whether Cemex is planning to launch any new products onto the EMEA market before the end of this year and in 2026, Cabrera replies: “Technology and regulations are helping us do more in this area.” He notes that Vertua, a portfolio of more sustainable Cemex products that leverage cutting-edge technology and innovation to help clients meet their construction needs sustainably, continues to be a commercial success in Europe and other parts of EMEA.
“We recently added some new types of cement to our portfolio to ensure that in every product segment, our customers have a lower-carbon alternative for every single use. We are also entering the precast segment with lower-carbon products. In our Aggregates business, we have the technical expertise to produce more custom-made products for customers.”
Cabrera stresses that health and safety “has been and will continue to be Cemex’s number one priority” for its employees, contractors, and anyone else visiting a company site.
“At Cemex, [health and safety] is not just a slogan. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to high-risk situations, like working at height, and a detailed health and safety system that collates results and benchmarks them against KPIs [Key Performance Indicators]. We have things we can improve, but have reduced the number of incidents, some of this with the help of cameras, sensors and AI.”
On taking up his coveted EMEA leadership role, Cabrera stressed his keenness to champion innovation, leveraging Cemex’s knowledge and resources to achieve breakthrough advancements towards carbon neutrality, while also supporting financial growth by advancing the sustainability agenda through smart financial tactics and maintaining the region’s strategic position as a key part of the business’s portfolio.
“I think over the last five or six years, we have created the right culture within the company to promote both incremental and disruptive innovation,” says Cabrera. He cites, as a good example of incremental innovation, that around 80% of recurring customer orders are now placed via Cemex Go, which, according to Cemex, was the construction industry’s first end-to-end digital platform. The app-based tool helps customers work faster and smarter by viewing the status of their jobs, while also enabling them to place and track orders, access records, pay invoices and more.
The global cement industry is estimated to be responsible for as much as 8% of global CO2 emissions. The challenge for cement producers, such as Cemex, which has a presence in more than 50 countries globally, is to reduce these emissions whilst meeting growing demand for cement to support infrastructure needs, particularly in developing economies.
Cemex’s Future in Action strategy is a climate action plan to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 by focusing on key pillars of Smart & Profitable Decarbonisation and Water/Biodiversity supported by innovation, advocacy programmes and circular economy initiatives with strong business cases. The strategy includes specific 2030 goals, such as reducing CO2 emissions by 47% per tonne of cementitious material (relative to a 1990 baseline), lowering the carbon content of concrete, and increasing clean energy consumption to 55%. Cemex is also one of the first cement producers to have its 2030 and 2050 net-zero targets validated against the Science-Based Targets initiative’s (SBTi) 1.5°C scenario methodology.
“In Europe, Cemex is already operating its sites at the company’s 2030 net-zero target,” emphasises Cabrera. “We are using all available levers to reduce our CO2 emissions, including developing, [in partnership with Linde], a large-scale carbon capture plant at our Rüdersdorf cement plant in Germany.” Cemex aims to achieve carbon neutrality at the plant by the early 2030s via the capture of 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The captured CO2 will be compressed, liquefied, and permanently stored in the North Sea. Unlike most of our peers, we also have our own admixtures business. We are developing patented admixtures to reduce the [carbon emissions] impact of our new SCMs [Supplementary Cementitious Materials] and enhance the attributes of our [cement and concrete] products.”
Cabrera continues: “We are also very proud of our conservation efforts and the partnerships that we have, which are delivering extensive priority habitats [restored areas at Cemex quarry sites, which have been transformed through a long-term partnership with the RSPB to create thriving ecosystems] and getting the company to be nature positive [reversing and halting biodiversity loss by 2030].”
Commenting on Cemex’s use of new technologies, including advances in commercial artificial intelligence, Cabrera says: “These advancements have led to a net increase in jobs, but some of the types of jobs and skills we need are changing. Our approach in this area is more global. For example, Cemex Go is used by our customers everywhere. We are running some small AI-based pilots, including ones focused on inventory management, at a few of our sites in Europe and the US. If they go well, we can scale them up. The pilots are partnerships with some tech companies that Cemex Ventures [the Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) and open innovation unit of Cemex] has invested in.”
Cemex Ventures is among those supporting Construction Startup Competition 2025, the 9th edition of the leading global platform and network for startups revolutionising the construction industry. This year, Cemex Ventures is joined by Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti, VINCI Group’s Leonard, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble, and Zacua Ventures in inviting the world’s most innovative startups to participate.
The focus is on driving real-world impact across four key areas: Green Construction (sustainable), Enhanced Productivity (efficient), Construction Supply Chain (on time), and Future of Construction (disruptive). Selected startups may gain exposure to global industries, strategic capital, pilot opportunities, and invaluable industry connections. The journey culminates at ‘Pitch Day’ at the Trimble Dimensions User Conference (10-12 November 2025 at The Venetian Resort, Las Vegas, USA), where the winning startups will pitch live and compete for cash prizes.
Over the past eight years, the Construction Startup Competition has supported startup growth by facilitating exposure to funding and increasing industry visibility. To date, 44 winners (startups that advanced to the Pitch Day event) have been selected, together raising over US$448 million in investment.
Asked about how his experience as general director of Cemex Cluster Caribe and what he gained in his many other previous roles within Cemex is helping guide his work as Cemex EMEA president, Cabrera says: “Living in the Caribbean, in the Dominican Republic, was very nice. I was responsible not only for the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, but also for Haiti. There were many differences between those markets. There were many political factors to consider, such as Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States. We positioned our Dominican Republic operation as one of Cemex’s top five global EBITDA generators. After the USA, Mexico and the UK, it was fourth. That was amazing! We also worked hard to change the culture around health and safety positively.
“I started in cement operations and worked in operations for many years, including as a production manager and a project director. After I obtained an MBA [Master of Business Administration], and during the global financial crisis of 2008, I was running Cemex’s largest Spanish cement plant. It was not easy, given what had happened. It was a very intense period, including coping with stopping one line or another for a month at a time, given the changing market. I then went into the commercial side of the business, managing our Aggregates and Readymix business in different markets.”
Cabrera says he “leverages a lot” of his knowledge, strengths and experience in building materials production and commercial operations to provide a rounded perspective when making key decisions as president of Cemex EMEA. “I think my experiences give me a lot of empathy with my colleagues. As I said before, I also work hard to fill any knowledge gaps, like when I, in effect, ‘Got a Master’s’ in European building material regulations in two months after becoming Cemex EMEA president. It’s in every single conversation and business case.”
How does Cabrera describe his leadership style? “I tend to be more collaborative and like being close to our people. I am not bureaucratic at all. I do not like that part of my work. If I see something that I do not think is adding value, I say, ‘Let’s try to get rid of that.’ Sometimes, like in our European business, leadership has to be transformative. I can be pragmatic, but also like to challenge paradigms. I think instinct is very important, especially when dealing with emerging threats. It is not something that AI can replace in leadership. Overall, I hope to ensure that everyone is feeling motivated and is enjoying the journey.”
Madrid is a great base for Cabrera. His wife is from the city, and the couple and their three children enjoy everything one of Europe’s biggest and most culturally significant cities has to offer. During well-earned time off from his key leadership role at Cemex EMEA, Cabrera enjoys playing basketball and following the mostly positive fortunes of his beloved football team, Barcelona.
The interview with Aggregates Business concludes with a question about what in the global building materials industry Cabrera most enjoys, and a follow-up on what he wants his legacy to be after completing his tenure as Cemex EMEA president.
“I am in love with this sector. It is so much more than people outside it can see,” he explains. “To be a quarry manager and extend the life of a quarry, the processes of production, the chance to restore a site so beautifully to nature, and the huge positive impact that we can have on the lives of people in local communities. The materials we produce are everywhere: in housing, in industries, in mobility, in the new economies, including artificial intelligence. Our sector is also part of the climate change solution with our work on research and development into decarbonisation.
“I feel very proud of what our team has done in my first few months as president, and I want to position Cemex EMEA as one of the key drivers for growth for Cemex. We can be a major part of the ongoing Cemex story.”
