Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA)

50 Anthropocene: The Age of the Homo Sapiens It is now undisputed that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are dominantly responsible for global warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Annual Report 6, annual anthropogenic emissions were estimated to be 59 ± 6.6 GtCO2- eq in 2019. The historical net carbon emissions since 1850 to 2019 is e 2400 ± 240 GtCO2 9, with a remaining carbon budget of 500GtCO2 from 2020 onwards for a 50% probability of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C. With the Paris Agreement pledging to keep global temperature rise to below 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels and the planet already having warmed by about 1.1°C, scalable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are essential to achieve a net zero emission scenario in the second half of the 21st century. The major sinks of carbon are terrestrial and aquatic sequestration. Of aquatic sinks, oceans have been the dominant sequester of atmospheric CO2. However, the CO2 uptake by the oceans leads to ocean acidification due to the acidic nature of the gas and consequently, the carbonate buffer system, which is responsible for the oceans absorbing atmospheric CO2, has been reduced due to uptake of historical CO2 emissions by the oceans. This has led to a slowdown in oceanic carbon capture rates through reduction in surface alkalinity 10. In light of the saturated conditions of the world’s oceans, terrestrial carbon sinks appear to be a more judicious choice for atmospheric carbon storage. While climate change mitigation strategies such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, bio-fuels and electric vehicles are the beacon to a low-emission future, the world can achieve net-zero or carbon neutrality at best with these options, which seems practically improbable with numerous hard-to-abate sectors such as energy, cement, iron and steel, fertilisers among others. Therefore, the accelerated scalability of CO2 removal technologies is critical even for a net-zero pathway. The Cement Industry: Case Study of a Hard-to-Abate Sector The cement industry’s global impact on CO2 emissions is substantial, accounting for 6% of the world’s anthropogenic CO2 emissions. From 1990 to 2019, global CO2 emissions from the cement industry increased by 186%, reaching 2.46 Gt in 201911. Despite efforts to reduce emissions, the sector remains a significant contributor to climate change. In particular, emissions from emerging countries, including many in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, have shown striking growth rates, indicating a need for targeted mitigation strategies. For instance, in the Middle East and Africa region, emissions grew from 0.07 Gt CO2 in 1990 to 0.26 Gt CO2 in 2019, with an average growth rate of 4.5% during 1990–201911. In India, the cement industry plays a crucial role, contributing more than 7% of the world’s installed capacity for cement production11. In 2021, India’s domestic cement production was nearly 294.4 million tons, with an installed capacity of 500 MTPA, making it the second-largest producer globally12. However, this growth comes with environmental costs. The industry is responsible for 5% of the world’s global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, with emissions per tonne of cement produced estimated at 0.66 tonnes of CO213. The top 20 firms in the Indian cement industry account for 74% of the plants and 93% of the production capacity. The states in South India dominate in terms of the number of plants, while the North Indian states have the maximum capacity utilisation12. India’s cement industry faces challenges in reducing emissions, particularly due to the energy- intensive nature of cement production and the reliance on fossil fuels. Efforts to mitigate cement emissions face challenges, as a significant portion (50%–60%) of CO2 emissions is produced by the decomposition of limestone to lime during the cement production process14. Cement production contributes approximately 7% (10.7 EJ) of global industrial energy use and 22% (2.2 Gt) of global CO2 emissions from industrial processes .Additionally, pollutants from the cement industry, including solid, liquid, and gaseous pollutants, contribute to soil, water, air, and noise pollution. The Indian Cement Industry: The Malady of Capital Intensive Energy Efficiency Measures The cement industry is one of the most emission intensive sectors globally as well as in India. Under the Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) regulatory