WCA welcomes government commitments to low carbon cement and concrete

“I’m delighted to see that governments are heeding our call for urgent action to accelerate decarbonisation of the cement industry around the world, and we look forward to hearing more details from the UK, India, Germany, Canada and UAE on the steps they will take,” said Ian Riley, World Cement Association CEO.

“This commitment marks a hugely significant shift in mindset that we hope will be followed by other countries in the months ahead. When it comes to hard to abate industries like cement, it is vital to work together with governments to create the conditions in which we can get to net zero and beyond, as quickly as possible – we cannot do this alone, in time.”

At COP26 on Wednesday, Riley called on governments to take action in three key areas, to encourage faster adoption of low-carbon technologies in the cement and concrete industries:

• Promote a market for low-carbon concrete by encouraging its use in publicly-funded building projects
• Review and update product standards to allow low-carbon concrete to be used in a wider range of applications
• Create the right market incentives for developing and using low-carbon cement and concrete technologies, via carbon pricing, subsidies or other economic mechanisms

The WCA estimates that if governments around the world respond to the WCA’s call and take action now, annual emissions of CO₂ from cement and concrete could be reduced by 30%, or 900 million tons per year by 2030.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/15112021/wca-welcomes-government-commitments-to-low-carbon-cement-and-concrete/