ALGERIA: Société Générale to lend €9.4m for LafargeHolcim’s climate projects

With 2 million tonnes of cement produced in 2019 alone, the Algerian subsidiary of the LafargeHolcim group, which specialises in building materials, is on the hunt for green growth thanks to a €9.4 million financial agreement it has just concluded with Société Générale Algeria. The financing will contribute to the cement company's carbon neutrality in the North African country.

Worth 1.4 billion dinars (€9.4 million), the loan is granted by the Algerian subsidiary of the French bank Société Générale to LafargeHolcim Algeria, a company specialising in building materials. This financing will enable the implementation of LafargeHolcim Algeria’s climate objectives, with the key to reducing its production costs and energy consumption.

In the long term, the company, which has several subsidiaries such as Lafarge Ciment de M’Sila (LCM), aims to make its cement, concrete and aggregate production facilities carbon neutral. “This financing will contribute to the achievement of 40% of the sustainability objectives by 2025, and to the positive transformations that Algeria is undergoing, in accordance with the Algerian government’s guidelines,” says Nicolas George, the multinational’s representative in Algeria.

For his part, the chairman of the board of Société Générale Algérie said that this financial agreement aimed to facilitate and encourage eco-responsible approaches of economic operators including the environment, social and governance (ESG). “This offer mobilises all of the bank’s expertise in a range of innovative financial solutions to meet the needs of our clients in the field of sustainable finance,” said Julien Sterenzy.

Benoit-Ivan Wansi | https://www.afrik21.africa/