Building a Greener Future with Green Cement
Understanding the cement industry's environmental impact & "green" innovations is key to a green economic recovery
What goes into constructing that new highway that bridges communities, the tall buildings that define a city’s skyline, or the ports and dams that help us leverage nature’s water resources? The answer is cement. It is one of the most commonly used building blocks of the modern world. Yet, it is something that most people would not think twice about, though we should. Infrastructure projects are massive undertakings with starkly observable environmental repercussions. And in this series, the Green Finance Center will introduce why there is an emerging movement for green cement in the industry and then consider the opportunities and challenges if there is to be sustained greening of the industry. This article is the first of a two-part blog series.
The Asian Development Bank estimates that about $1.7 trillion will have to be invested annually in infrastructure projects across Asia through 2030. On a global scale, the G20 Global Infrastructure Hub approximates that $94 trillion is still needed for infrastructure improvements. With these two projections in mind, it is clear cement will remain an essential building material and in growing demand.
Why does this matter?
As countries look to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic and in the spirit of building back better, a large infrastructure build will require an extraordinary amount of cement. So much so that the International Energy Agency has projected that cement production will rise between 12-23% by 2050. Given the outsized role of cement in nearly all infrastructure projects, understanding the industry's environmental impact and the innovation happening to "green" cement is particularly important to a green economic recovery.
The Environmental Impact of Cement
The cement industry is one of the largest polluters because of the carbon-intensive manufacturing process that transforms a mixture of limestone, clay, and other materials into cement powder. The industry is responsible for about 8% of global carbon emissions. Every ton of cement produces nearly a ton of carbon dioxide—more than the average car would produce driving from New York to Miami.
Cement's immense carbon footprint coupled with infrastructure demand is an acute concern. For instance, today, China produces more than half of the world's cement, but, as of 2014, they used more cement between 2011-13 than the US used throughout the entire 20th century.
What does this mean for green growth?
As countries domestically begin to incorporate infrastructure as a growth tool to address pandemic recovery and as China continues to invest in infrastructure projects along the stretch of the Belt and Road, the global implications of cement's carbon footprint are difficult to discount. To balance the demand for cement and simultaneously reduce its environmental damage, greening the cement industry is critical.
There is also a growing consensus among industry stakeholders that green and sustainability principles should be front and center.
Currently, the green cement industry is beginning to make substantial strides. Initially valued at $14.8 billion, the fledgling market is expected to grow to $38.1 billion by 2024. Technologies like carbon capture and measures to curb emissions that emphasize energy efficiency, alternative fuels, and materials innovations are used increasingly throughout the manufacturing process. There is also a growing consensus among industry stakeholders that green and sustainability principles should be front and center.
Ambassador Yasser Elnaggar, Chairman of Suez Cement, agrees. "The HeidelbergCement Group is one of the leading champions of green cement, and as part of the Group's presence in the Middle East, Suez shares this strong commitment to sustainable practices and green operations. In alignment with our long-term goals of reducing carbon emissions, as a first step, we have already begun to use alternative fuels, including biomass and refuse-derived fuels, in about 16.5% of our production at the Kattameya, Suez, and Helwan plants."
The greening of the cement industry is encouraging, but only in the early stages. Significant challenges remain in tackling the industry's carbon footprint. But in exploring the lessons learned thus far, specific enablers and opportunities can be leveraged for not only continued but accelerated greening.
In the next installment of the series, we will consider some of these elements that have the potential to effectively address cement's carbon emissions.