One Year into the Cement Action Plan: Can the EU Deliver the Conditions for Competitiveness?

Cement is a strategic industry for Europe, essential to delivering housing, transport and energy infrastructure, as well as critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and ports. It also plays a key role in enabling resilient construction, helping Europe adapt its built environment to increasing climate risks. Ensuring that these materials can continue to be produced in Europe is not only an economic necessity, but also a matter of resilience, competitiveness and strategic autonomy.

In this context, Cement Europe is hosting its annual event, “One Year into the Cement Action Plan: Can the EU Deliver the Conditions for Competitiveness”, on 13 October at Blankspace in Brussels.

One year after the launch of the Cement Action Plan, the European policy landscape has evolved significantly. Key initiatives are now on the table or advancing, including the Clean Industrial Deal, the Industrial Accelerator Act, the EU ETS reform, the Electrification Action Plan, CBAM implementing measures and the upcoming CO₂ infrastructure package.

These initiatives go directly to the core of the sector’s priorities. They must ensure a level playing field, secure investment conditions, enable infrastructure deployment and maintain industrial competitiveness in Europe. At the same time, persistently high and volatile energy prices continue to weigh heavily on the sector, adding to global competitive pressures and directly impacting investment decisions.

Against this backdrop, the Cement Action Plan provides a clear reference point. One year on, the focus is on how these policy initiatives measure up against the sector’s needs and whether they are effectively addressing the competitiveness and transition challenges already being felt by industry.

This year’s event will bring together policymakers, industry and stakeholders to examine how the main legislative and policy initiatives interact in practice, and whether they are creating the conditions needed to unlock investment, accelerate project deployment and maintain production in Europe.

Moderated by Sonja van Renssen, the discussion will focus on what is working, where gaps remain, and what adjustments are urgently needed to ensure that Europe remains a competitive place to produce cement and deliver the infrastructure it depends on.