Based on the Iraqi Cement Manufacturers Association's goals of continuous development and expansion in the use of environmentally friendly cement and reducing carbon emissions, the Association's President, Engineer Ammar Rahim Abdullah Al-Saadi, participated in the CarbonZero 2025 Global Conference and Exhibition, held in Bucharest, Romania, from October 15-17, 2025. The event saw broad participation from Arab and international companies specializing in:
1- RDF – Fire Treatment Systems by Firefly.
2- CO2 Emissions and the Role of Decarbonization in the Circular Economy.
3- CBAM and EU ET's.
4- Color Optimization and Performance in Calcined Clays.
5- Alternative Fuels and Raw Materials for the Cement Industry.
6- Accelerating Carbon Capture Deployment Net-Zero.
7- Fuel quality optimization for cement kilns.
8- Cementation's material technologies.
9- Carbon footprint.
10- The future of the CCUS market in the cement industry.
The latest technologies in carbon capture were presented, and the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) was explained. Compliance with the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) regulation for goods exported to the EU was discussed, providing the tools, data, and guidance necessary to remain compliant under CBAM. CBAM requires producers and importers to cooperate to ensure accurate reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, generate greenhouse gas emission data for their plants using approved measurement and calculation methods, and upload this data to the CBAM platform. In accordance with the ETS (Emissions Trading System)
It is worth noting that the Cement Manufacturers Association, following its participation in the first international conference on carbon economics held in Baghdad on May 21-22, 2025, in cooperation with the General Company for Carbon Economics, affiliated with the Ministry of Environment, has begun registering emission reduction projects for private sector cement plants that are members of the association. The association has also formed a working group, in conjunction with the Carbon Economics Company, to develop a policy for the cement sector that aligns with Iraq's commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement and its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This will enable the Iraqi cement sector to participate effectively in voluntary and mandatory carbon markets. The association's management also aims to ensure that Iraqi private sector cement producers comply with international emission reduction standards such as CBAM and ETS, in preparation for the future export of cement outside Iraq through the development path that the government is working to establish in the coming years, God willing.
