Concrete & Cement

3rd

largest industrial energy consumer

7%

of yearly global human-made

CO2 emissions

2nd

most used material on Earth

Overview

With a global demand of 14 billion m³ in 2020ⁱ, concrete is the world’s most widely used material after water. It is an essential part of everyone’s lives, critical to buildings, transportation and other infrastructure. The concrete and cement industry emits roughly 2.6 Gt of CO₂e per year, which accounts for 7-8% of total anthropogenic emissions.

Working with by industry leaders across the value chain, the Mission Possible Partnership has shown that the sector can get to net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 and comply with a 1.5°C carbon budget.

ⁱ Global Concrete and Cement Association, Concrete Future: The GCCA 2050 Concrete and Cement Industry Roadmap for Net Zero Concrete, Oct 2021

Our work

Making Net Zero Concrete and Cement Possible is a strategy created with industry input that sets out milestones and commitments needed by government, industry, and investors over the next 25 years to make net-zero emissions concrete and cement a reality.

The first roadmap to be developed with the concrete & cement industry, it is anchored in granular economic modelling with two different pathways to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Read the Sector Transition Strategy [PDF]

Key findings

Through its Net Zero scenario, the sector can reach net zero GHG emissions and comply with a 1.5°C target if urgent action is taken across three groups of levers:

22% emissions reduction can be achieved on the demand side through efficiency improvements in construction and design reducing the volume of concrete needed without compromising safety or durability.
25% reduction can be achieved in process emissions on the supply side by deploying Supplementary Cementing Materials (SCMs) to decrease the use of clinker; whilst bringing alternative chemistries to commercial stage.
53% of emissions can be reduced, eliminated, or captured through a combination of fuel switch, power sector decarbonisation and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS).

Concrete & Cement Net Zero Explorer

Examine the pathways with the Scenario Explorer. Compare Baseline vs Net-Zero Scenarios across three sensitivities: Rapid Barrier Elimination, Innovation in Heat Decarbonisation and Limited Barrier Elimination.

This tool enables the exploration and demonstration of different pathways to net zero, their investment requirements, their impacts on resource consumption, as well as their enabling levers in comparison to the baseline case.

Open the Net-zero Explorer

Sector Transition Strategy

Making Net Zero Concrete and Cement Possible is a strategy created with industry input that sets out milestones and commitments needed by government, industry and investors over the next 25 years to make net-zero emissions concrete and cement a reality.

The first roadmap to be developed with the concrete & cement industry, it is anchored in granular economic modelling with two different pathways to net-zero emissions by 2050.