GCCA releases its Cement Industry Net Zero Progress Report 2023

The Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA) has released its Cement Industry Net Zero Progress Report 2023 providing an update on global action and progress by the GCCA and its member companies. Initiatives featured include development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), increasing use of alternative energy sources and research into new materials and technology. The new report comes two years after the launch of its Concrete Future 2050 Roadmap for Net Zero Concrete. 

Fernando Gonzalez, CEO of CEMEX and president of the GCCA said: “We are pleased to present this report, which captures the progress our industry is making towards net zero. But it will take the combined efforts of industry, governments and societies around the world to deliver on this commitment. This is the decade to deliver, and my number one priority is to facilitate the GCCA roadmap levers, designed to make full decarbonisation of our industry possible.”

According to the report, the combined decarbonisation efforts of the GCCA and its members is making a difference. Independenty verified published data shows there has been a 23 per cent drop in CO₂ emission intensity of cement related material, compared to 1990 levels.

Earlier this year, along with LeadIT, the GCCA also launched a new Green Cement Technology Tracker, to help public monitoring of decarbonisation efforts across the industry, with the tracking of the developments of carbon capture and other technological key projects across the world. 

Projects to develop CCUS plants featured in the report include Breedon in the UK, Heidelberg Materials in Germany, Holcim in Switzerland, Taiheiyo Cement in Japan, and TITAN Cement Group in Greece. The report also covers increasing use of alternative energy sources. Examples include solar power in the USA, India and Taiwan, the use of hydrogen at a cement plant in Honduras, and a plant in India making use of sustainable, cultivated bamboo. 

Projects to develop low carbon cement are also covered by the report, including a project involving VDZ in Germany, which has seen the construction of a high-rise tower in Germany using low carbon cement, and in Thailand, where SCG is involved in planning an entire low carbon model city. 

Projects making use of non-recyclable and industrial waste as fuel for cement plants are another focus of the report with examples from Guatemala, Japan, India, and across Europe, including CRH’s new co-processing facility for non-recyclable waste in Romania. 

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, Winstone Aggregates, part of the Fletcher Group, is leading a project which has already seen 110ha of quarry rehabilitated into the natural environment, helping to reduce local emissions by 19 per cent. A quarry rehabilitation project in China is also featured. 

Thomas Guillot, chief executive of the GCCA said, “This report highlights the key progress we have already made. But there is still a long way to go. We are committed to cutting CO₂ emissions by a further 25 per cent by 2030 and achieving full decarbonisation by 2050."