“We are at the beginning of a new era and we aim to do our part”
This was the message from General Manager Giv Brantenberg on February 24 at the event Advancing green and resilient industrial value chains, arranged by the 'Mission of Norway to the EU' who represents the Norwegian Goverment in Brussels.
The event was hosted by the Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre, and Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. On the speaker list were amongst others Espen Barth-Eide, Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment, and Marte Mjøs Persen, Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy.
Giv Brantenberg were part of a panel discussion together with representatives from other major industrial actors in Norway like Equinor and Hydro.
“We are at the beginning of a new era of transforming industry, transportation and energy sectors. Carbon capture and storage is regarded as a cornerstone in decarbonizing our built societies. As we speak, the building of the world’s first carbon capture facility at industrial scale is well underway at HeidelbergCement’s plant in Brevik,” Brantenberg said.
Only 6 months into the building of the project in Norway, HeidelbergCement announced last June the ambition to roll out CCS to the cement plant in Slite, on Gotland Sweden, enabling the world’s first carbon neutral cement plant and offering the possibility to create negative emissions”
In the absolute forefront
“These projects are globally in the absolute forefront of large-scale industrial transformation. A key success factor has been, and will continue to be, joint efforts between governments, authorities and industry.The Norwegian government‘s priorities to support the development of an industrial-scale full CCS value-chain has been key not only to the Brevik project but also to initiate the spark for the scaling up of CCS in Europe,” said Giv Brantenberg.
He further stated that HeidelbergCement have a responsibility throughout the value chain – from the efficient use of resources to the built environment – from our suppliers to our customers.
Transportation of heavy building materials to the construction site is a key part of the business but it also constitutes one of the challenges to fully decarbonize the value chain.
Hydrogen will play a central role when cutting our transport related emissions. As an example, HeidelbergCement has entered into an agreement with the Norwegian grain cooperative Felleskjøpet and shipowners Ulvan to build the world’s first zero-emissions bulk carrier fueled by hydrogen. The ship will go from the west coast to the east coast of Norway carrying our stone material products in one direction and grain in the other.
In his closing remarks, Brantenberg underlined that HeidelbergCement will continue to lead the way in the sector and take responsibility towards the Paris 1.5 degree target.
