CARIBBEAN Cement Company Limited (CCCL) is targeting a February date to launch its newly co-branded Vertua-certified cement as part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent come 2030.

The Vertua seal on Carib Cement packaging is an indication that the company has achieved its parent company’s global standard of reducing carbon emission between 15 per cent and 40 per cent during the production of the commodity.

“Vertua is a brand that CEMEX worldwide has selected to put on all the low-carbon cement — it’s an umbrella, it’s a branding. We have a product that has already qualified as Vertua. Every bag you see out there that carries Carib Cement or Carib Cement plus is a low-carbon product,” Managing Director Yago Castro told the Jamaica Observer.

“This is a brand we will be using and we haven’t launched it as yet; we’re in the process of launching it within the coming weeks. We are already in the factory producing this type of product but now we are going to go forward with a marketing campaign,” he added.

The manufacturing of the Vertua-certified cement, which began last year, uses a different “grinding admixture” than its predecessor and will allow the cement manufacturer to increase its production by approximately five per cent. Currently, CCCL supplies the Jamaican market with over one million metric tonnes of cement and is aiming to increase its production capacity by 30 per cent by 2023.

To meet the requirements for the Vertua certification, the CEMEX subsidiary expended US$350,000 in capital for the installation of new equipment. So far the company has manufactured 348,000 metric tonnes of the cement in a process that began last year, and has already reduced CCCL’s carbon dioxide output by 43,000 tonnes.

According to CCCL Commercial Director Roberto Villarreal, this is equivalent to saving 1.7 million trees.

“This is part of our responsibility to the industry and this will allow us to provide to our customers’ products with low-carbon emissions and at the end, making our industry to become greener. With the housing boom right now we can make sure that most of the cement that is going to be used out there is going to be greener than before,” he told Sunday Finance.

Although the start of Vertua-certified cement production coincided with CCCL’s co-processing of tyres for energy, Castro said the two activities are not related but aim to achieve the same objective — net zero carbon dioxide output by 2050.

In June last year, the Government of Jamaica and CCCL signed a memorandum of understanding for the latter to destroy “end-of-life” tyres from the Riverton City landfill and other disposal sites at its plant. The destruction of the tyres results in the creation of clinker, a material used as a binder in cement products.

With regard to Vertua, the managing director indicated that CCCL has begun to explain the rebranding of cement products to its customers, who have welcomed the initiative.

“Out there people really appreciate that Carib Cement is producing low-carbon cement. This is a process that unavoidably will come. Next year we’ll be able to reduce CO2 emissions in the equivalent amount of 3.5 million trees,” Castro commented.