Cement, Energy and Environment

27 regulations are driving demand for sustainable construction materials, opening up new market opportunities. • Innovation driver: The pursuit of net zero necessitates research and development of innovative technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), leading to advancements in cement production. • Investment potential: Green financing and sustainability-focused investors are increasingly looking to support companies actively transitioning towards net zero. KEY CHALLENGES IN THE TRANSITION: • Technological limitations: Current technologies for low-carbon cement production are still in development and may not be widely scalable. • Cost considerations: Implementing new technologies can involve significant upfront costs, potentially impacting profitability. • Policy landscape: Regulatory frameworks and incentives are crucial to encourage the adoption of sustainable practices across the industry. Overall, while the transition to net zero in the cement industry presents significant sustainability challenges, it also opens up a substantial opportunity for companies to innovate, capture new markets, and establish a leadership position in the growing demand for sustainable construction materials. The transition of the cement industry towards net zero is not just a sustainability imperative, but also a significant opportunity for process and product innovation, market expansion for low carbon cement & concrete and potentially access new market segments focused on sustainability. Thus creating a pathway for future growth by achieving net zero requires substantial investment in research and development, adoption of new production methods, and policy support to overcome the technical challenges involved. INTRODUCTION The Cement industry is regarded as a hard-to- abate sector in terms of reducing its carbon footprint. Inrecent times, the industry is increasingly witnessing more stringent environmental regulations and need for eco-friendly sustainable products. Shree cement actively promotes sustainability as its core business strategy with a focus on the preservation of natural resources and enhancing resource use efficiency. Shree Cement has not added any new thermal power capacity over the last few years and would progressively reduce the share of existing thermal power in its overall power consumption. Keeping this objective in mind, it has also rapidly scaled up its renewable power capacity, which has risen from 244 MW in FY 2020-21 to 480 MW in FY 2023-24. Thecement industry isbecomingmoresustainable by using less energy, reducing emissions, and using alternative materials and fuels. Shree cement has set Science Based Targets to reduce its carbon emissions.Initiatives and developments undertaken by the Shree cement towards Net Zero emissions are as under: • Preheater cyclones and Calciner to reduce thermal energy consumption • Waste heat recovery systems from clinker kilns • Solar power • Alternative materials and fuels • Green cements (PPC, PSC & CC) to reduce CO2 emissions using industrial waste, such as fly ash and blast furnace slag, synthetic gypsum in production of cement • Using biomass and plastic waste as fuels • Using admixtures to reduce the amount of cement needed in concrete Shree cement maintained its leadership position in utilizing green electricity (Waste Heat Recovery, Wind and Solar) within total electricity consumption. The Company has consistently overachieved its targets in PAT Cycles and has been honored with the ‘Best Performer’ award for achieving the highest number of energy-saving certificates in both PAT Cycle I and PAT Cycle II by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.