Carbon Dioxide Mentions in Cement Company Annual Reports

The following table shows the number of CO2 and carbon dioxide mentions in the annual reports of eight cement companies (the pdf file “fine” application was used to count the mentions):

 

company	CO2 mentions	carbon dioxide mentions	total CO2 and carbon dioxide mentions	2020 revenues billions usd	revenues per CO2-carbon dioxide mentions
cemex	159	0	159	12.97	0.08
buzzi unicem	24	0	24	3.94	0.16
heidelberg	120	1	121	21.5	0.18
lafarge holain	71	0	71	24.64	0.35
eagle materials	0	4	4	1.62	0.41
ultratech	10	0	10	5.94	0.59
summit materials	2	1	3	2.33	0.78
crh	30	0	30	27.6	0.92

                                                                                            average  0.43

The table also shows the 2020 estimated revenues (in billions USD) for each company and a revenue divided by the CO2 plus carbon dioxide total number of mentions ratio.

The number of times CO2 and carbon dioxide appear in cement manufacturers’ annual reports might be a proxy for the companies concerns with respect to their carbon dioxide emissions. Dividing that number ((the annual report number of CO2/carbon dioxide mentions into the company’s revenues (in billions)) gives a revenue per CO2/carbon dioxide mentions ratio. Such a ratio could be useful in evaluating a cement company’s interest in reducing its carbon dioxide emissions, as reflected by how much it writes about CO2 and carbon dioxide in its annual report.

For example, from the above table, Buzzi Unicem and CRH have approximately the same number of CO2/carbon dioxide mentions in their annual reports (24 and 30), but CRH is approximately  seven times larger ($27.6 billion revenues divided by $3.94 billion revenues = 7). As a much larger company, CRH should be trying to emit much less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (with carbon dioxide reduction strategies). But the revenues per CO2/carbon dioxide mentions ratios for the two companies (0.16 for Buzzi Unicem and 0.92 for CRH) does not reflect, based on company size, more concern by CRH about carbon dioxide emissions.

A company’s pursuit and success in meeting sustainability development goals (SDGs) is becoming an important metric by many analysts in evaluating a company for investment and other considerations. Reduced carbon dioxide emissions is a critical SDG goal. Many metrics are used in SDG analysis. Perhaps the revenues per CO2-carbon dioxide mentions ratio, described above, could be useful. Click here to read more about SDG goals.

Cement manufacturing accounts for an estimated 8% of global carbon dioxide annual emissions. Click here for a CarbonBrief report on this. This enormous carbon dioxide emissions by cement manufacturing has been recognized as an important target in order for global carbon dioxide reduction goals to be met. Click here and here for Chemical & Engineering News and Scientific American articles on the various efforts being investigated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during cement manufacturing.