CARBONZERO GLOBAL CONFERENCE&EXHIBITION
27–29 October 2026 · Tangla Hotel Brussels, Belgium
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Draft
OCTOBER 27 — TECHNICAL VISIT
Exclusive Technical Visit: Holcim Go4ZERO Plant, Obourg, Belgium
25 seats, VIP ticket holders only.
DAY 1 — OCTOBER 28
Alternative Fuels, Energy Systems & Kiln Technologies
9 AM Opening Keynote — Alternative Fuels: Driving the Net-Zero Cement Transition 1.25 h
• Beatrice Ene, Managing Director and Head of Events, Industry Link
• Dr. Stefan Puntke, Refratechnik Cement GmbH, Welcome note “
“The core business of the cement industry”– Platinum Sponsor
• Mahendra Singhi, Member of Board of Directors & Strategic Advisor, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited, Board
of Governors, National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM); Member, Governing Council, The
Energy and Resources Institute (TERI);
• Stany Vaes, Director Sustainability & Corporate Affairs, Holcim Belgium
“Achieving Near-Zero Cement Production by Triggering All Decarbonization Levers: The GO4ZERO Case”
• Alexander Makhlay, Senior Editor, Argus Media
“Global Cement and Clinker Trade and Market Developments”
Technical Session — Kiln & Energy Systems Innovation 30’
Peter Groger, Dr. Hans-Jürgen Klischat, Dr. Stefan Puntke, Refratechnik Cement GmbH
” It’s Physics and It’s the Economy: More Profit by CO2ST Reduction ”
COFFEE BREAK 11-11.40 (networking game)
Panel — Scaling Alternative Fuels in Cement Kilns 30’
• Nikos Nikolakakos, Environment & Resources Manager, Cement Europe
“Use of Alternative Fuels in the EU Cement Industry”
• Adriana Fernandez, Industrial Decarbonization Analyst, UNIDO
• Herve Camerlynck, Managing Director, FEBELCEM, Managing Director, European Concrete Paving
Association
Industry Case Studies — Alternative Fuels and SCMs at Industrial Scale 1h
• Mohammed Medhat Zaki, Head of Alternative Fuels & H₂ Operations Management, Arabian Cement Company
“Advancing Alternative Fuel Technologies: Maximizing AF Thermal Substitution for Cement Decarbonization”
• Bodil Recke, Global Business Unit Manager Cement, ABB
“Cementing autonomy – Monitoring, advanced control and AI optimization the steps on the way”
• Pilar Hidalgo, Head of Innovation, Cementos La Cruz
“ERACLITUS: Shaping the Future of Cement through Material Innovation”
LUNCH 13.20-14.30
Technical Panel — Alternative Fuel Handling & Process Optimization 30’
• Andres Ponce, CEO, WTEnergy Advanced Solutions
• Bernd Henrich, Area Manager, Gebr. Pfeiffer
“How Gebr. Pfeiffer Mills Support the Cement Industry on the Path to Carbon Zero”
Panel — Circular Economy, Waste Valorization & Critical Mineral Recovery 40’
• Isabela Stefoni, Environmental Manager, and Diana Cornea, Lead Buyer Cement, Steel, and Precast, PORR
Construct Romania
• Martina Bassan, Corporate Affairs Director, European Metals
TBA – moderator
COFFEE BREAK 16-16.30
Standards, Policy & Market Readiness 45’
• Kerry Sutton, Executive Director, NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete
“The State of Low-Carbon Concrete in the Built Environment – NEU’s Perspective”
• Maria del Mar Rojas, Engagement Manager Europe, Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
“Operationalizing the Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 for Cement: A Call to Action for the Sector”
• Leon de Graaf, President, Business Advisors for CBAM Coalition
“Positioning Low-Carbon Cement for commercialization under CBAM and the ETS1 Revision”
• Rebecca Gualandi, European Climate and Energy Correspondent, Carbon Pulse – moderator
Awards Ceremony 17.30
End of day
Dinner 19.00 – optional, available for those who marked it when registering
DAY 2 — OCTOBER 29
Cementitious Materials, Low-Clinker Cement & Climate Resilience
9 AM Beyond Clinker: Transforming Cementitious Materials for Net-Zero Construction 50’
• Dr. Hongyan Ma, Professor, Missouri University of Science and Technology
“Accelerating Carbon-Zero Cement: Carbon-Negative Initiatives through Transformative Carbon
Mineralization”
• Sumit Srivastava, Program Manager, Low carbon concrete (Europe) CRH Innovation Centre (ICSC)
“A Century of Evolution in Cement and SCMs: From Performance-Driven to Resource-Driven Binder Design”
Panel — Cementitious Materials Innovation & Raw Material Strategy 50’
• Cobi Busst, Principal, Building Materials & Industrial manufacturing, Beaumont Bailey 15min – moderator
“Building SCM Teams at Scale: Why Cement Needs a New Leadership Model”
• Quentin Philippe, CEO, Alithic
• Loren Burnett, President & CEO, Prometheus Materials Inc.
• Jean-Philippe Benard, Chief Executive Cementitious Business & Energy, TITAN Group
COFFEE BREAK 10.40- 11.10
Technical Session — Low-Clinker Cement Design, Processing & Quality 1h
• Dr. Mohammed Fouad, Strategy and Business Excellence Director, Riyadh Cement Company
“Industrial Strategies for Low-Clinker and Performance-Based Cements”
• Hatice Cebeci & M. Burak Uzun, Limak Cement
“Research to Reality: Limestone Calcined Clay Cement with Boron Activated Clinker”
• Franz Heller, Division Manager DACH, UK & Ireland, Firefly AB
“Advancing Fire Prediction, Prevention and Protection for a Net-Zero Future”
Technical Session — Mitigation & Adaptation Through Cement and Concrete 15’
• Paolo Mazzei, Chief Business Development Officer, FCT Group
LUNCH 12.30-13.30
Panel — Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS) 1.20h
• Vincent Michel CEO at Iscal Sugar | Former GO4ZERO Programme Director
“Lessons learned in developing and executing large-scale CCS project in the cement and sugar industry”
• Irene Dominguez Perez, Policy Manager, Embodied Carbon & Lead Markets, Bellona Europa
“Concrete Carbonation: Climate Solution or Accounting Illusion?”
• Elena Rubio Portillo, Project Management Advisor CCUS EMEA, CEMEX
“From Ambition to Execution: Leading Carbon Capture Projects in the Cement Industry”
• Duncan McLachlan, VP Growth & Enterprise, io Consulting
• Georg Locher, Schwenk Cement
“Strategic approaches to CCS versus CCU prioritization, considering infrastructure readiness and renewable
energy constraints”
• Salman Muhammad, Technology and Policy Analyst, Carbon Management Europe – moderator
Panel 6 — Financing & Commercialization of Low-Carbon Cement 45’
• Dr. Josilene Ferrer
“Carbon Markets and the Decarbonisation of the Cement Industry: From Compliance to Strategic
Transformation — Insights from China and Challenges for Brazil”
• Marta Diez, Country Manager Spain, CFP Energy
• Luyue Tan, Carbon Analyst, London Stock Exchange Group
“Carbon as the New Currency”
COFFEE BREAK 15.30-16.00
CEO & Executive Roundtable — Leading the Transition to a Competitive, Climate-Resilient Cement Industry 40’
• Claudia Albertini, CEO, Holcim Belgium
• Mahendra Singhi, Member of Board of Directors & Strategic Advisor, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited, Board
of Governors, National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM); Member, Governing Council, The
Energy and Resources Institute (TERI);
• Jean-Philippe Benard, TITAN Group
• Beatrice Ene, MD, Industry Link- moderator
Closing Session — From Innovation to Deployment: The Future of Cement & Construction 20’
• Jacob Moos, Associate Partner, McKinsey
