Aalborg Portland cuts CO2 emissions by 36% since 2022

Aalborg Portland (Cementir Holding) has reduced its CO₂ emissions by more than a third in the last three years, it has announced. The company reduced its CO₂ emissions by 269,100t in 2024 and, with similar significant reductions in 2022 and 2023, has now achieved a total of 36 per cent. Moreover, the cement producer's reduction of 812,494t of CO₂ already corresponds to 63 per cent of the total reduction target for the industry in 2025, established under the Danish Parliament's green tax reforms in 2022. The reforms oblige the industry to reduce its emissions by 1.3Mt of CO₂ in 2025 and 4.3Mt in 2030.

Aalborg Portland emitted 1.43Mt of CO₂ in 2024, and last year's CO₂ reduction of almost 16 per cent compared to 2023 means that Aalborg Portland has, six years ahead of schedule, exceeded the reduction target of 660,000t of CO₂ that was agreed upon with the then government in 2020. Aalborg Portland raised the target considerably in 2022 with the launch of the company's new climate plan, which entails a reduction of 1.6Mt of CO₂ in 2030.

“The company has an ambitious plan to reduce its CO₂ emissions towards 2030, and in just three years we can now demonstrate a reduction of more than 800,000t, or what corresponds to the emissions from all residents of Denmark's fifth-largest city, Esbjerg, in a whole year,” said the company's CEO, Søren Holm Christensen.

Reduction initiatives
Last year's CO₂ reduction was achieved through a number of different initiatives. This applies in particular to an increased use of alternative and biogenic fuels such as meat and bone meal, industrial waste and nut shells, replacing part of the company's fossil fuels use. Increased sales of CO₂-reduced cements and lower production, due to a decrease in market activity and leakage effects, also contributed.

Aalborg Portland has worked intensively to develop its production so that it can use large amounts of alternative fuels rather than fossil fuels, and it is largely this work that now enables the company to ensure some significant CO₂ reductions, explained Mr Holm Christensen.

In March Aalborg Portland and French Air Liquide officially signed an agreement with the EU's Innovation Fund for support of DKK1.6bn (US$2.44m) for the establishment of a CO₂ capture plant at Aalborg Portland. The CO₂ capture plant, due to be commissioned from 2029, will reduce Aalborg Portland's CO₂ emissions by 1.4Mt of CO₂, while surplus heat from the plant will ensure a CO₂ reduction of approximately another 100,000t.