March 2025

The March issue of World Cement focuses on the cement industry’s journey to net zero and the technologies, policies, and processes enabling the decarbonisation of this hard-to-abate sector. The issue begins with an overview of the challenge ahead, with commentary from the PCA, Industrial Transition Accelerator (ITA), CRH Ventures, and Lafarge Canada East, before moving on to cover technical topics, such as SCMs & Low Carbon Cements, Digitalisation, and Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage.

This month's front cover is brought to you by Klüber Lubrication.

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ACHIEVING NET ZERO

The Blended Cement Boom
Mike Ireland, Portland Cement Association (PCA), examines the opportunities and challenges arising from the growing demand for blended cements in the US.

Affordable Actions For Clean Cement
Elliot Mari, Industrial Transition Accelerator (ITA), outlines some affordable policies for decarbonising the cement industry.

Disruption Through Startups
Eduardo Gomez, CRH Ventures, explains why partnering with startups is key to the decarbonisation revolution.

The Carbon Solution
Rob Cumming, Lafarge Canada (East), explores how a ‘silver buckshot’ approach can achieve net-zero concrete without the high costs of CCS or e-fuels.

The Blueprint for Cement’s Carbon Crusade
Bodil Recke, ABB Process Industries, discusses the strategies driving the cement industry’s transition to sustainability.

SCMs & LOW CARBON CEMENTS

Partnering For Progress
Olivier Guise, Ecocem, discusses how collaboration and scalable low-carbon solutions can accelerate the cement industry’s path to net zero.

Scaling Up Low Carbon Cement
David Hughes, Material Evolution, explores the benefits of ultra-low carbon cement in transforming the built environment.

Crucial Clay Activation Conditions
Mylène Krebs, Jean-Michel Charmet, and Damien Chudeau, Fives FCB, discuss the key factors influencing the calcination process and present insights from a calcination test centre in Northern France.

Ashes To Innovation In Concrete
Grant Quasha, Eco Materials Technologies, reveals how the innovative use of coal ash and other supplementary cementitious materials is helping the concrete industry reduce its carbon footprint and improve performance.

DIGITALISATION

Unlocking AI’s Cement Potential
Isabel Rask, alcemy, explores how well-designed interfaces are key to overcoming AI adoption challenges in the cement industry and ultimately driving decarbonisation efforts.

Digitally Decarbonising Cement
Pascal Gaillot, Yokogawa Europe, explains how the integration of digital technologies and decarbonisation strategies is preparing the cement industry for the future.

The AI Advantage
Molly Pace, Imubit, explains how closed loop AI optimisation is reshaping cement manufacturing by boosting efficiency, reducing emissions, and enabling real-time process control.

CARBON CAPTURE, UTILISATION, & STORAGE

The Enablers And Disablers of CCUS
Rohan Dighe, Ismael Justo-Reinoso, Tania Alvarez, and Peter Findlay, Wood Mackenzie, consider a range of factors that could impact the deployment of CCUS in cement production.

Consolidating Carbon Capture
Jeffrey Tyska, Honeywell, highlights how advanced carbon capture technologies can help cement producers significantly reduce CO₂ emissions and achieve their decarbonisation goals.

CCS 101
Katherine Romanak, The University of Texas at Austin, underscores the crucial role that carbon capture and storage (CCS) will play in driving decarbonisation within the cement industry.

Mastering Emissions With Membranes
Cool Planet Technologies discusses the implementation of advanced membrane carbon capture technology in the cement and lime industries.