Cement Manufacturers Association

44 Sustainability - A pathway for Cement Industry In the 21st century cement industry is facing a number of challenges due to depleting natural resources, shortage of quality raw materials, exponentially increasing cement demand and climate related environmental concerns like GHG emissions. Cement is the largest manufactured product on our planet by mass and concrete is the second most per capita consumed substance in the world after water. In the year 2021, the world cement production was 4.4 billion tonnes (Fig-1). Out of which China produced 57% of it. India as second largest, produced 360.20 million tonnes of cement in 2021-22 having an installed capacity of 550 million tonnes per annum. The path forward for the industry is to embrace sustainability to deal with climate change as the threat of climate change is a serious global concern. The global consensus among scientists that the threat is due to man-made emissions of Greenhouse Gases and probabilities of different degrees of temperature change has already been estimated by the Inter- governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). An increase in anthropogenic activities since the advent of industrialization in the mid-18th century has led to cumulative accumulation of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) in the Earth’s atmosphere. Increased concentrations of GHGs and the overall warming of the atmosphere have resulted in changing rainfall patterns, disruption in hydrological cycles, melting of ice caps and glaciers, rise in sea levels, and increase in frequency and intensity of extreme events such as heavy precipitation and cyclonic activities. These have in turn had a serious impact on the sustainability of water resources, agriculture, forests and ecosystems, affecting the well being of billions of people on Earth. Rising demand for cement in all developing countries and especially for emerging economy countries of Asia that aspires for developed infrastructure. Figure-2 shows the rising demand for cement in China and India in the coming few decades. Under conditions of complex interdependence, it is felt that Multi-prone Climatic Governance is highly essential for the mitigation of Green House Gases. The present cement and concrete business world demand sustainability in any market driven by the aspirations of various environmental management tools and their realignment in the process or product to achieve long term global goals and targets. Now companies of all major sectors are eager to adopt different methods to increase their competitiveness to achieve sustainable results. In order to achieve sustainability, all the stakeholders should involve and adopt decision making processes that are environmentally sound, which will encourage a global perspective and the search for alternatives. Dr S N Pati Director, NICE Consultants