Cement, Energy and Environment

The cement industry is one of the leading contributors of greenhouse gases after thermal power plants. Around 4.1 billion metric tonnes of cement are produced globally every year, accounting for 8 to 9 per cent of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The Indian cement industry is not only a vital contributor to the nation's economy but also plays a key role in India's development of infrastructure and housing sector. India is the second largest cement producer in the world accounting for 9.0% of the Global installed capacity. State-of-the-art technology adopted by the Indian cement industry along with innovative in-house process improvement measures help both thermal and electrical energy reduction to achieve at par with the global benchmark. At present in India, most portions of the virgin limestone deposits are under forest cover, whereas existing operational deposits are of medium or marginal-grade limestone quality. Hence, there is a challenge of good quality raw material availability and also there are numerous environmental challenges like reduction of CO2 emission, one of the major causes for tackling climate change. India has a total cement capacity of 595 million tonnes per annum FY 24 and a production output of 375 mtpa. The installed capacity has significantly increased from 353 mtpa in the finance year 2012 to 595 mtpa FY 24 making a 68% growth over the past twelve years. However, per capita consumption of cement in India remains around 240 kg, as against 530 kg globally. The industry is predominantly controlled by private entities, which account for 98% of the installed capacity, and the top 20 companies contribute to Indian cement industry over 70% of the total production. Notably, the top five cement companies alone constitute around half of India's total capacity of 595 MTPA. The consolidation trend in India's cement industry has been particularly notable. The path forward for the cement industry is challenging to embrace sustainability to deal with climate change, as the threat of climate change is a serious global concern and India has committed to achieving net zero CO2 emission. The global concern among scientists that the threat is due to man-made emission of greenhouse gases and probabilities of different degrees of temperature change has already been estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and the increase in anthropogenic activity since the advent of rapid industrialisation in the mid-19th century has led to the cumulative accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, increasing constraints. The impact of global warming on the atmosphere has resulted in changing rainfall patterns, disruption of hydrological cycles, forest fires, melting of ice caps and glaciers, rise in sea level and increase in frequency. An intensity of extreme events such as heavy precipitation and frequent cyclonic disasters are happening around the globe. These have in turn had a serious impact on the sustainability of agriculture, flood, drought, forest fire and ecosystems affecting year after year the well-being of billions of people on Earth. There is a rising demand for cement in all developing countries, especially for emerging economic countries of Asia that aspire to develop infrastructure rapidly. The rising demand for cement in India will continue for a few more decades. Global climate conditions are complex, it is felt that multi-prone climatic governance is highly essential for the mitigation of greenhouse gases. The present cement and concrete business demands sustainability in any market driven by the aspiration of various environmental management tools and their realignment in the process or product to achieve long-term global goals. Now companies of all major sectors are eager to adopt different methods to increase their competitiveness to achieve sustainable the World Bank analysed the report in which analysts were urged to incorporate environment, social and governance (ESG), all three factors connecting the finance market to a changing world. Since then, it has become a buzzword in the corporate world. Now ESG has become centre stage and a critical requirement for an organisation’s ability not only to create its value but also to nurture sustainability the world over and more corporates are integrating ESG goals and missions into their operating strategies and policies of their organisations. Hence, a business's future survival may depend significantly on its ESG implementation reporting system. Indian companies are slowly incorporating ESG into their business strategy to avail a multi-trillion-dollar global pool of ESG-driven capital. 24