Has One of The Toughest Emissions Problems Been Solved?

Cement is responsible for around 8 percent of global carbon emissions but technology is finally being deployed to decarbonise the sector.

The new carbon-capture and storage plant in Wales | Padeswood CC

Cement's CO2 emissions are double that of the world's aviation industry, so it's a problem well worth solving. The good news is that commercial-scale carbon-capture systems for cement plants are now being deployed, raising hopes that one of the trickiest industrial sectors to decarbonise could finally be on the path towards net-zero emissions.

The world’s first carbon-capture plant on a cement works has been up and running in Norway since June, with the first “zero-carbon cement” products due to be delivered to the UK and elsewhere in Europe next month, according to the plant’s owner, Germany's Heidelberg Materials.

Construction of a carbon-capture installation at the Padeswood cement plant in Wales will begin within weeks, and a handful of similar installations are planned in Sweden, Germany and Poland. The developments could mark a big advance in the cement industry’s move to cut emissions, long seen as one of the most challenging aspects of decarbonisation, reports New Scientist. “It’s a good step forward,” says Paul Fennell at Imperial College London, speaking of the projects in Norway and the UK.

Capturing the carbon dioxide produced from the process is widely seen as the only scalable way to decarbonise this aspect of cement production. However, financial backing from governments is essential for building the first fleet of carbon-capture-and-storage cement plants, says Leon Black at the University of Leeds in the UK. “There is no way that carbon capture and storage could be commercially viable without state support,” he says.

But there are hopes that costs could fall in the future, as new technologies help to make it more energy efficient.