In this episode of The Clinker Factor, Guest Host Daniel Summerbell, Co-Founder & Chief Solutions Officer at Carbon Re and WCA Member, talks to Suhair Abu Salem, Human Capital & Communication Director at A³&Co. and fellow WCA Member. They explore Suhair’s career journey, discussing her background and experience as a woman in leadership, and what “human capital” really means in practice. Their conversation dives into the pressing issue of current talent shortages across the cement industry, by exploring the extent of skills gaps and their impact on operations, and why diversity is essential for driving lasting impact in the sector.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Guest Host Daniel Summerbell, Co-Founder & Chief Solutions Officer at Carbon Re and WCA Member, talks to David Hughes, Chief Scientific Officer at Material Evolution, to discuss how the company is pioneering ultra-low carbon cement with its patented Alkali Fusion® technology and AI-driven innovation. They go on to cover sourcing industrial waste, performance testing and certification, scaling challenges to the launch of the UK’s first industrial geopolymer cement facility and the role of radical collaboration in driving real climate impact.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Gurinder Nagra, Founder of Furno Materials, and Marty Ozinga IV, CEO of Ozinga, about Project OZ, an exciting collaboration between both companies, backed by a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. This innovative project aims to revolutionise cement production by utilising cutting-edge modular kiln technology to significantly reduce carbon emissions and shift the cement industry towards greener, more efficient practices.

In our first podcast of 2025, Ian Riley talks to Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Partner at Nexus Climate, about the launch of the Industrial Decarbonization AI Coalition (IDAIC) and how it aims to advance the use of artificial intelligence in driving industrial decarbonisation through collaboration with manufacturers, AI startups, and research organisations. 

Join Ian Riley in the second episode of our new mini-series of the Clinker Factor Podcast, where he chats to Tobias Woerner, Managing Director of Equity Research, Building & Construction at Stifel Europe, about the cement industry from an investment perspective. This episode focuses on the differences between the market in Europe and North America.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Abdelillah Yamoul (Kiln Manager) and Hicham Raji (Quality Manager) of WCA Member Ciments de l’Atlas about the work done to improve performance at its Ben Ahmed Plant which received two awards at this year's WCA Annual Conference: Health and Safety Award & Plant Improvement Project - Special Recognition Award. The implemented practices to improve all round performance, including energy efficiency, emissions, safety record and employee engagement. Most impressively these gains have been sustained and built on for the last 7 years.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Josh Vernon, CEO of Carbon Re and WCA Member, about his background and journey to becoming CEO, and the important role that it's AI-powered solution plays in identifying energy inefficiencies, cutting costs and reducing carbon emissions across the cement industry.

Join Ian Riley in the first episode of our new mini-series of the Clinker Factor Podcast, where he chats to Tobias Woerner, Managing Director of Equity Research, Building & Construction at Stifel Europe, about the cement industry from an investment perspective, earnings of listed companies, M&A activities, and several other market developments. 

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Ben Azoula-Victory, Managing Director of Love Concrete, and Thomas Petithuguenin, CEO of C2CA, about the ConcreteZero initiative from the Climate Group. ConcreteZero is unusual in that it is led by users (developers and contractors) and takes a practical, data driven approach to evaluating low carbon concrete.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Tang Jun, Vice President of Huaxin Cement Co., Ltd. and WCA Member, about the latest developments at its Kunming Chongde Plant which received this year's WCA Innovation Award for its contribution to the efficiency of cement plants and new practices from which other companies can learn.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Matthias Mersmann, CTO of KHD Humboldt Wedag, and WCA Member, about the latest developments in cement technology and how the industry is addressing the challenges of climate change.

In the latest episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Fouad Kammoun, Director Sales – Near East, Middle East and Central Asia of Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG, about his experience in the cement industry and the organisation's latest projects in developing carbon capture technology.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Sam Draper, CEO of Seratech, about Seratech’s technology, business model and whether the technology can be scaled to a size interesting to a cement plant.

In our first podcast of 2024, Ian Riley talks to Thomas Atkinson, Head of International Affairs at Hoffmann Green Cement, about the award winning clinker free technology developed by Hoffmann and their approach to promoting their products directly with developers.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to both Dr. Andreas Sichert, CEO & Co-founder, and Markus Lintl, Head of Industry & New Business at Orcan Energy AG, about modular WHR and possible application in the cement industry including in decarbonising logistics and the supply chain.

In the latest episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley talks to Carbon Upcycling Technologies founder and CEO, Apoorv Sinha, about the challenges of running and growing a start up and the use of Carbon Upcycling’s technology to expand the availability as well as the cementitious properties of SCMs.

In this episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley speaks to Siegfried Andraess, Global Industry Manager Building Materials & Glass of SICK AG and WCA Member, about the influence of process automation on the cement industry, the role of real-time data monitoring, and the opportunity to use automation solutions to improve safety performance. 

In the latest episode of the Clinker Factor, Ian Riley speaks to Tom Mitchell, Executive Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), on the potential of the Loss and Damage Fund, the pressures that climate-vulnerable developing countries face, and the innovative approaches we can take to combat climate change.

In this episode, Ian Riley speaks to Mirjam-Kim Rääbis, Product Developer at UP Catalyst, and Dr. Inger Lise Alsvik, Scientific Researcher at Saferock, about their organisation's most recent collaboration to start developing carbon negative concrete, the challenges of being a start-up, and the opportunities and advantages of working with national institutions. 

In this episode, Ian Riley speaks to Dr. Gianluca Ambrosetti, CEO and Founder of Synhelion, about the challenges and opportunities of bringing solar fuels to market and the pioneering technology behind the development of solar clinker.