Building More, Emitting Less
The Holcim Blueprint: How a Century-Old Cement Giant Made Net Zero Its Most Profitable Business Decision
Summary
Holcim, one of the world's largest building materials groups, faced a chemistry-driven carbon problem: cement causes roughly 7-8% of global CO2 emissions, with clinker calcination releasing CO2 regardless of fuel source, leaving no incremental efficiency fix available.
From 2017, CEO Jan Jenisch restructured Holcim's commercial model around three pillars: low-carbon products (ECOPlanet, ECOPact), circular materials recycling (ECOCycle), and CHF 2 billion committed to carbon capture (CCUS) targeting 8 million tonnes of net-zero cement annually by 2030.
By 2024 the strategy delivered a record CHF 5,049 million recurring EBIT at a 19.1% margin, up 150bps year-on-year, and CHF 3,801 million free cash flow, with ECOPlanet and ECOPact together generating over CHF 4.5 billion in annual net sales.
Was the margin expansion driven by cost-cutting, or by something else?
The 150bps margin expansion to 19.1% came from mix, not volume: substituting standard commodity cement with premium-priced ECOPlanet and ECOPact, backed by independently verified carbon credentials competitors could not easily replicate.
Full Case Study
Read the complete methodology, results and roadmap in the PDF.
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