Receptiveness of the Industry Directorate General to the needs of the sector

The need to extend the catalogue and the quantities of alternative fuels for cement factories, the path to achieve climate neutrality in 2050 or the Generalitat’s drive for building the infrastructure that the country needs are the themes that focused the working session that a representation of the Ciment Català held on 28 June with Natàlia Mas, the Director-General of Industry. The exhibition of the sectoral delegation – led by the president of the entity, Salvador Fernández Capo – gained a high degree of receptiveness from Mas, who also recognised the industry’s commitment to the improvement and protection of the environment. This is a clear commitment to the more than EUR 160 million invested in this area in the 21st century, and to the actions foreseeing the implementation of the Roadmap to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The delegation from Ciment Català presented to the Generalitat a summary of the situation in the sector at the present juncture, marked by an exorbitant increase in electricity prices and the price of CO₂ emission allowances, which have increased production costs with the consequent loss of competitiveness. The delay in meeting the energy-value targets for cement factories foreseen in the Voluntary Agreement was also recalled (60 % fossil fuel substitution had to be achieved by 2020, but not yet 50%).

The meeting also served to analyse the effects that various legislative initiatives currently underway could have for the cement industry. On the one hand, the eleventh final provision of Law 16/2017 concerning the creation of a new tax on emissions trading and at risk of carbon leakage, which could lead to a relocation of productive activities which, in turn, can mean increases in emissions (activity and transport), apart from the destruction of the industrial fabric of its own and associated jobs. On the other hand, the preliminary draft waste prevention and management and efficient use law and the moratorium on new incineration plants.

In all cases, Generalitat and Ciment Català agreed on the need to implement measures to help restore normality to a sector, that of cement, of centuries-old tradition in Catalonia but which today has become a leader in Catalan industry for achieving maximum energy efficiency, offering high-quality jobs with an indefinite contract and being one of the most proactive in the implementation of the principles of the Circular Economy.