Leading building solutions provider Holcim Philippines, Inc. has announced that it is going to invest P1 billion to achieve its goal of decarbonizing the production of its cement products in its plants in the country.

In a media conference on Monday, Holcim Philippines President and CEO Horia Adrian said the investment is targeted at sustainability and efficiency to improve the output of all its plants in the archipelago, namely in Davao, La Union, Misamis Oriental, and Bulacan.

"The P1 B investment in the pipeline will be evenly distributed across the four plants paced in three years," Adrian said.

For his part, Holcim Philippines Chief Sustainability Officer Samuel Manlosa, Jr. said that another P1 billion investment will be released by 2025 in terms of renewable energy, electric vehicles, and cleaner fuel.

Manlosa stressed that these projects in the pipeline will also produce thousands of jobs in the coming years.

Cement imports not contributing to the goal

However, Adrian maintained that as the Philippines continues to import from other countries, particularly cement, it is not contributing to the goal of the government to reduce carbon emissions in the coming years.

"Holcim is perfectly aligned with the government's goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 75% in 2030, which I think is perfectly possible. However, if you look from the outside, the Philippines is a net importer of CO2. Every good that comes from abroad involves CO2. And I think the cement imports are not contributing to the goal," Adrian said.

He said that cement import alone contributed five to seven million tons of CO2 in the country in 2023.

Adrian maintained that Holcim Philippines is a proud partner of the progress of its host communities and the country.

Aside from providing quality building materials, he said Holcim Philippines contributes to economic development through tax payments, job creation, and social investments.

"However, the company's positive contribution is being eroded by a challenging business environment, particularly the flood of imported cement. Aside from preventing the company from growing cement volumes, cheap imported cement has kept prices low even as production costs have surged," he said.

Further, he said that the company's positive contribution to decarbonizing construction and waste climate in the country is also affected by the availability of cheap imported ordinary Portland cement, slowing the transition to low-carbon blended cement.

"Holcim Philippines is well-equipped to provide reliable and high-quality cement to the country and introduce more innovative and sustainable construction solutions for better building in the country," Adrian maintained.

With this, he said Holcim Philippines is accelerating initiatives to improve the competitiveness of its business.

Key projects are ongoing to raise operational efficiency, accelerate the shift to green energy, and expand its portfolio of building solutions that provide greater value to users.

Holcim Philippines welcomes the Tatak Pinoy Act's thrust to support domestic manufacturers by providing preferential treatment to locally produced goods in government projects.

This policy can help strengthen local producers so they can continue positively contributing to national development.

The company is engaging key government stakeholders and sectoral partners to highlight the benefits of working with Holcim Philippines to continue building progress in the country.

Earlier, Holcim Philippines said they have reused over a million tons of qualified wastes into alternative fuels and raw materials for cement production in 2023 to further accelerate decarbonization and circularity of operations.

The company's plants co-processed over a million tons of waste as alternative fuels and raw materials, a 9 percent increase from 2022 to lessen the consumption of virgin natural resources and high-carbon traditional fuels in operations.

The initiative is aligned with the company's sustainability commitment to produce essential building materials with fewer natural resources and lower carbon emissions by reusing waste from industries and communities.

The company's waste management unit Geocycle led efforts to grow partners looking for a sustainable solution to meet their Zero Waste goals.

Geocycle finished 2023 with 50 city and municipal government partners across the country from 35 the previous year as more communities sought ways to reduce waste sent to landfills.

Geocycle also welcomed more industrial partners in 2023 as manufacturers sought to find solutions for their plastic wastes in compliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law.

In addition, Geocycle participated in several public engagements to highlight its commitment to advance a circular economy including the LOOPForward campaign of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the United Nations Development Program promoting the EPR.

Holcim Philippines is among the pioneers of co-processing, a government-approved and globally recognized waste management technology that repurposes qualified discarded materials into alternative low-carbon fuels and raw materials in making cement.