Taiwan Cement to diversify to reduce carbon footprint

Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC) expects cement to account for less than half of its sales by 2025 as the revenue from energy storage and vehicle charging businesses increase. However, cement production would remain its core business, said TCC Chairman, Nelson Chang.

While the company is expanding into the green energy business in line with global efforts to curb carbon emissions, it would continue to produce up to 80Mta of cement, Mr Chang said. The green energy businesses would help the company to lower its overall carbon footprint as cement production is subject to heavy carbon taxes in different parts of the world, according to Mr Chang. The company’s cement facility in Portugal pays a carbon tax of US$100/t, higher than the selling price, he said.

Mr Chang added that the use of solar and other green energy resources in cement production would not be enough to offset carbon emissions and therefore, TCC would need to develop carbon capture technology to mitigate the impact of carbon emissions.