Cement, Energy and Environment

31 Powering the shift: Electrification and the redesign of cement’s thermal core Joonas Rauramo, CEO Coolbrook Cement is the backbone of our cities—but the processof producing it is structurally tied tocarbon. The cement industry is responsible for around 2.3 billion tons of CO 2 emissions each year—over 8% of total CO 2 emissions—a figure that continues to rise in tandem with global construction demand. The vast majority of these emissions stem from two key elements of cement production: the calcination of limestone, and the use of fossil fuels to reach the high temperatures required for calcination and clinker formation. Yet for the first time, the process is being meaningfully re-evaluated. Electrification technologies capable of delivering ultra-high temperature process heat—powered entirely by renewable electricity—are moving from pilot lines into full-scale deployment. A technically and economically viable route to decarbonizing cement at its thermal core is now available. This isn’t a tweak at the margins. It’s a foundational redesign of how the industry generates heat—and with it, how it produces value in a low-carbon future. THE THERMAL BARRIER: A HARD LIMIT ON CONVENTIONAL DECARBONIZATION Cement production emits CO 2 in two interlocking ways. Firstly, it comes, from the calcination process itself—when limestone (CaCO 2 ) is converted into lime (CaO), releasing CO 2 as a by-product. Then secondly, from the combustion of fossil fuels, needed to generate the high temperatures required for calcination and clinker production in kilns and precalciners. These combustion emissions, while often treated as separate from process emissions, are in fact deeply linked. The temperature profile, heating dynamics, and emissions footprint of the entire