Our carbon capture vision

Carbon capture technologies, that effectively collect CO₂ from industrial processes, offer promising opportunities to combat climate change. We are exploring their potential across over 20 pilot projects worldwide, repurposing CO₂ from our plants for use in vertical farming in Spain all the way to alternative fuel in Germany.

Our expanding range of carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) projects is designed to give us maximum flexibility in applying these technologies across our global footprint so that the best solutions in terms of technology and cost-efficiency can be replicated in other plants in selected regions, advancing our CO₂ reduction journey and adding value in the form of CO₂-related materials, thereby creating new growth opportunities for the company.

Carbon capture is a must

Reaching net zero in cement manufacturing which will require the deployment of carbon capture and usage or storage (CCUS) technologies at scale. The European Commission considers CCUS as one of the seven strategic pillars in their “A clean planet for all” strategy, and the IEA Roadmap for the cement sector projects CCUS to begin at scale from 2030 onwards.

Taking action today

Beyond its 2030 targets, LafargeHolcim is preparing the future today by piloting more than twenty CCUS projects in Europe and North America. Working with other multinationals as well as start-ups, the pilots are evaluated in terms of cost, technical feasibility, compatibility with CO₂ usage opportunities, and other aspects of viability and scalability. Overall these ongoing CCUS projects could save approximately 4 million tons of CO₂ per year. – Our objective is to develop a handful of solutions for use and storage that can be combined in different ways and environments. However, no single solution will be perfectly scalable as different environments present different conditions, from local partners to geological conditions that are favorable for storage.

CO₂ from the LafargeHolcim Lägerdorf plant in Germany will be transformed into a synthetic fuel that can be used at nearby airports. This nine-company consortium, based in Germany, is focused on the creation of low-carbon solutions and the development of end-to-end sustainable business practices across industries to avoid waste in all sectors.

The CO2MENT project in Canada is testing an innovative end-of-pipe solution for CO₂ removal and reuse from a cement plant with partners Total and Svante. Total and Svante are also partners -- together with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC(a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental) -- on a joint study of a commercial-scale carbon-capture facility at the Holcim Portland Cement Plant in Florence, Colorado (US) to permanently sequester CO2 underground.

In Carbon2ProductAustria (C2PAT) LafargeHolcim, OMV, Verbund and Borealis are planning to build a CCU plant, with the aim of capturing CO₂ during the production of cement and using it for the manufacture of high-quality plastics, olefins and green fuels. To this end, the parties plan to build a plant on an industrial scale at the Mannersdorf cement plant site in Lower Austria by 2030.

Other potential solutions look to capture CO₂ for subsequent use as chemicals, mineralization and biomass production. This is the case of Solidia, a reduced CO₂ cement with up to 70% lower carbon footprint than traditional Ordinary Portland Cement systems.

lafargeholcim carbon capture pilots map final

Plants of Tomorrow

A key enabler for reducing CO₂ footprint and preparing for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration solutions As a key enabler of CCUS solutions, the “Plants of Tomorrow” initiative will upgrade our production fleet and reconfigure the infrastructure of our sites and contribute to furthering the circular economy through the use of industry 4.0 innovations such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, recycling of materials and the production of green cement. By future-proofing our industrial network, the "Plants of Tomorrow” will create connected, smart, carbon neutral and energy efficient sites. Addressing climate change will require the adoption of state-of-the art, innovative approaches that include digital solutions to maximize clinker reactivity while using alternative materials and fuels and predict product quality. Digital innovations relevant to our climate and energy ambitions include (amongst others).

Smart online digital control solutions
CemQ

Near-infrared spectroscopy, a digital online control technology, can be used to analyze alternative fuel properties during feeding and compensate for quality variations in real-time using an optimal fuel mix. This solution increases the use of alternative fuels and therefore reduces CO₂ emissions.

Predictive quality models use machine learning algorithms to correlate the quality of each production batch with the relevant production parameters while minimizing clinker factor. This helps us achieve CO₂ reductions and energy savings.