Cement Companies Are Starting to Get a $33 Trillion Headache

The world’s biggest cement makers have been under pressure from environmental groups, regulators and lawmakers to cut pollution.

Now, some of the world’s most powerful investors are echoing those calls. Members of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate change and the Climate Action 100+, a coalition of money managers with more than $33 trillion under management, is asking that European construction-material companies commit to a target of reducing net carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2050.

The group sent the demands to CRH Plc, LafargeHolcim Ltd., HeidelbergCement AG, and Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA, along with letters setting out steps applicable ...