Cement

 

Status: As of 5 October 2022, the Cement Criteria are available for use in certifications. The Climate Bonds Standard Board approved them in August 2022, making them world-first criteria for investments in the cement sector.

Criteria: The Cement Criteria lay out the requirements that cement production assets and activities must meet to be eligible for inclusion in a Certified Climate Bond. They also lay out a credible transition path for cement production companies to issue transition labelled debt. The Criteria apply to the manufacture and production of cement and do not address other stages of the value chain.

The Criteria contain Mitigation Requirements and Adaptation & Resilience Requirements.

Financial instruments linked to these eligible assets, activities and entities will be aligned with the Paris Agreement and the goal of keeping global temperature rises to no more than 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels.

 

Public consultation:

Public consultation began on 22 February 2022 and lasted for 74 days. 

A webinar to launch the consultation took place at 15:00 Brussels / 14:00 London on 22 February. It provided an opportunity for interested parties to learn more about the Criteria and to ask questions. The webinar is available below.

 

Why develop eligibility Criteria for cement investments?

Improved guidance, such as these Criteria, will guide investors to invest in credible transition activity, guide asset owners to upgrade their infrastructure, and guide policy makers to incentivise the transition and can be utilised by governments in setting regulation or recommendations for decarbonising the sector.

The Cement Criteria are one of two of the first sector criteria released under Climate Bonds' Transition Programme. This focus on industrial transition is driven by Climate Bonds' work on Frameworks to Assess Transition.

 

The Technical and Industry Working Groups (TWG and IWG)

To create the Criteria, Climate Bonds convened a Technical Working Group (TWG) and an Industry Working Group (IWG) with representatives from investors, public entities, research institutes and international policy bodies from around the world.  These experts ensure robust pragmatic criteria is developed.

 

The Cement Criteria Technical Working Group Members

 

Lead Consultant University of Cambridge Cyrille Dunant	University of Cape Town Prof. Mark Alexander	University of Antwerp, Belgium Zhi Cao	Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie Germany Georg Holtz	Universidade de São Paulo Prof. Vanderley John
China Building Materials Academy Li Juan	European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Ioanna Kourti	École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne Prof. Karen Scrivener	TNO Kira West	TNO Cassio Xavier	Rocky Mountain Institute  Estefania Marchan*

 

*Sat on the TWG as a liaison on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Insitute.

 

The Cement Criteria Industry Working Group Members**

 

Dr Ma Weiping – West China Cement Ltd	Ravi Chandra Chikatimalla – JSW Cement
Adam Gustafsson – UBS Asset Management	Douglas Farquhar – NN Investment Partners
Leanne Bloch-Jorgensen – National Australia Bank	Daniel Kricheff – Affirmative Investment Management
Asja Hossain – Bayern LB	Giuseppe Cosulich – Credit Suisse
Samuel Mary – Pimco	Kaboo Leung – Pimco
Francesca Fraulo – Sustain Advisory	Zonta Yung – SGS Hong Kong
Diana Via – PCS	Ken Zhong – PWC
Atul Sanghal – Emergent Ventures	Jean Hetzel – NSF
Weitai Gao – CCXGF	Mayur Mukati – Sustainalytics
Marine Durrieu – ISS ESG