Building a better future through more sustainable products

A global building and construction materials provider which has a strong presence in the Midlands is aiming to build a better future through more sustainable products and solutions.

Cemex boasts a proud heritage in the UK, particularly across the Midlands region with around 600 of its 2,000 UK employees working within Warwickshire and the West Midlands.

It has its UK Head Office in Coventry and one of the largest cement plants in the UK based in Rugby, Warwickshire – a site which can trace its operations back to 1826 when a small family business owned by Thomas Walker and his son George Walker started producing lime mortar.

The Cemex global Headquarters is based in Mexico and it has operations spanning North and South America, and across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Now, Cemex offers cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and urbanisation solutions in over 100 markets around the world, and the materials produced by Cemex are the very foundation of society, helping to provide new homes, schools, hospitals, leisure facilities and other vital infrastructure across the UK and beyond. Today, Cemex is committed to achieving carbon neutrality through relentless innovation and industry-leading research and development.

This is driven by its global Future in Action programme with the ultimate aim of becoming a carbon net zero business by 2050.

This is a multi-layered programme in response to tackling climate change and focuses on providing more sustainable products, decarbonising its operations, enhancing biodiversity and promoting a circular economy.

Cemex’s Vertua product range is a portfolio that encompasses building materials such as cement, concrete, mortar and asphalt among others, and demonstrates either a lower carbon embodiment, the use of recycled materials, improved thermal efficiency or increased water conservation and design optimisation.

At its Rugby cement plant, Cemex is using an alternative fuel made from non-recyclable waste to help produce more sustainable cements.

By using this innovative and pioneering Climafuel® solution, it has significantly reduced the use of traditional fossil fuels in cement production, which has contributed to a reduction of 47 per cent in carbon emissions across its European operations since 1990.

Cemex is also at the forefront of the circular economy in the construction value chain, and through its Regenera sites is increasing the use of recycled construction waste to produce concretes with recycled aggregates in order to reduce the impact of single-use materials.

Martin Casey, Director of Public Affairs, Communications and Social Impact at Cemex EMEA, said: “Due to being large landowners and leaseholders, Cemex is uniquely placed to benefit nature and we take our duty as responsible stewards of the land we quarry extremely seriously.

“Our longstanding partnership with the RSPB has seen us develop over 1,500 hectares of land as part of restoration work at our quarry sites which aims to enhance biodiversity, allowing plants and animals to flourish as we seek to leave a positive lasting legacy on our world.

“In Mexico, our El Carmen project includes the preservation of the biodiversity of 55 thousand hectares of land, where around 12 million tons of CO2 are stored.

“We have also reintroduced the American bison to the area as a critical species in ecosystems which favour the restoration of grasslands to generate greater CO2 capture.

“Alongside our efforts to tackle climate change, Cemex supports businesses small and large, from independent professional builders working on home renovations through to industrial construction and civil engineering infrastructure projects.

“Encompassing the homes we live in, to the facilities we use for recreation and leisure, and the infrastructure that gets us from A to B, we aim to help improve quality of life and build a better future through the provision of more sustainable building and construction materials across the UK and beyond.”

For more about Cemex, visit https://www.cemex.com/