At its Capital Markets Day earlier this month, FLSmidth launched MissionZero, a new sustainability program aimed at significantly reducing emissions across the global cement and mining industries by 2030.
Thomas Schulz, FLSmidth chief executive officer, said: “With economic growth, urbanization and growing populations comes the demand for infrastructure, such as housing, schools, hospitals and roads. Added to this, modern conveniences such as air conditioning, appliances and smartphones are high in demand, and renewable energy options such as electric cars, wind and solar energy are looked to as the future. All of that requires cement and minerals, and demand will only continue to rise. Today, we launch MissionZero to seize the opportunity to increase production and at the same time drive emissions toward zero.”
Central to MissionZero is FLSmidth’s focus on enabling its customers in cement and mining to move toward zero emissions in 2030. The company will do so by leveraging the development of digital and innovative solutions tied to sustainable productivity, offering its customers the required technological solutions to:
- Operate zero emissions cement plants by 2030.
- Manage zero emissions mining processes, with specific focus on water management, by 2030.
FLSmidth estimates that it can reduce the CO2 emissions per kilogram of cement by approximately 70% by 2030 by leveraging opportunities within existing pioneering technologies, innovation projects and early-stage R&D. To achieve this, FLSmidth is developing solutions such as blending clinker with alternative materials, exploring the use of new types of cements, and providing solutions to cement producers to operate 100% alternative fueled cement plants including waste-to-energy solutions.
In addition, the company will accelerate solutions to close the remaining gap (30%). As these solutions do not exist today, FLSmidth will actively seek knowledge partnerships with other companies and suppliers to co-create solutions.
The company has also set a goal to offer its mining customers solutions that support zero water waste by 2030, building on the success of recent developments, such as its dry-stack tailings solution (DST). Utilizing DST can recover up to 95% of process water while being economically competitive with alternative water management options such as desalination, even for high tonnages.
“With MissionZero, we commit to our most ambitious goals to date. We are doing it because it is necessary, because it is sound business, and because it provides us with a competitive edge,” said Schulz. “We are the go-to-partner for sustainable productivity, and are perfectly positioned to address the challenges our customers face such as rising costs, tighter regulations and increased societal expectations. MissionZero goes beyond what is feasible today, and requires a paradigm shift in how industry players collaborate and innovate. As a leader in the cement and mining industries, we have a responsibility to accelerate the adoption of sustainable solutions.”
