The Voluntary Agreement with the Generalitat confirms that in 2022 the Catalan cement companies reached, for another year, the emissions targets

At the last meeting of the Monitoring Commission of the Voluntary Agreement for the efficiency in the use of resources, and the transition towards a Circular Economy of the Catalan cement industry, it was reported that in 2022 the Catalan cement industry invested €4.4 M in environmental improvements, a figure that has had an increasing trend since 2016. These historic investments justify that all the installations in the sector in Catalonia have met 100%, one more year, of the environmental objectives of their emissions into the atmosphere and therefore adapt to the determinations of the EU Commission’s Implementing Decision 2013/163/EU and do not exceed the emission levels associated with the use of the best available techniques established by the European Union.

These are some of the data collected by the Monitoring Commission of the Voluntary Agreement between Ciment Català and the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Generalitat in the meeting they held last June 8, during which they approved the results of the 2022 Aggregate Report. This Agreement, under different names, has been in force without a continuity solution since 2002.

The summary document shows that the main investments in 2022 have been dedicated to the valorization of waste, with savings in natural raw materials and CO2 emissions, to improving energy efficiency and reducing visual impact.

On the other hand, the level of energy substitution continues to increase, reaching 45.82% in 2022. For its part, the material valorization has also increased, and has meant that the avoided tonnes of exploitation of natural waste have increased significantly.

During the meeting, Ciment Català provided a brief presentation of the current state of the cement industry, both for what it represents in figures within the Catalan economic sphere, and for the cement production processes and the sector’s involvement in achieving neutrality climate in 2050.

The Commission, which was headed by the Government’s General Director of Environmental Quality and Climate Change, Mireia Boya, and Salvador Fernández, president of Ciment Català, also had the participation of other representatives of the Generalitat involved in the fight against climate change and companies in the cement sector.