CO2 emissions generated by the UK concrete and cement sector are now 63 per cent lower than 1990 levels, driven by a combination of continued decarbonisation efforts by manufacturers but also by falling domestic production, a new report from the Mineral Products Association (MPA) shows.
In an update to its ‘Roadmap to beyond net zero’, the MPA reported that the sector is decarbonising much faster than the UK economy as a whole (54 per cent over the same period). UK CO2 emissions from concrete and cement equated to 6.6Mt in 2023, a 21 per cent reduction compared to 2018.
However, the MPA warned that a rise in cement imports, which now account for a third of the market, is undermining UK commitments to low carbon construction by moving responsibility for emissions abroad. Careful consideration of materials sourcing and procurement by contractors, specifiers and other supply chain partners is vital for construction to play its part in the UK reaching net zero by 2050.
“We have a real opportunity for a low carbon transition in the UK concrete and cement industry which can provide essential materials for the government’s growth mission while retaining and creating high quality jobs and economic value in the UK," says Dr Diana Casey, executive director for cement and lime at the MPA.
"But this progress is under pressure from deindustrialisation. High UK industrial electricity prices and competition from countries where carbon or environmental pressures are lower mean that imports are making up a greater share of the UK market. The UK is effectively offshoring its emissions, as emissions associated with imported goods consumed here are not recorded in UK territorial CO2 data.
"If the UK is serious about green growth, we need to support demand for lower carbon products and favour domestic procurement of them. Implementing a watertight Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that ensures that importers pay the same as domestic producers for their carbon emissions will also help to level the playing field. It will stop us putting good, highly productive jobs in all parts of the UK at risk and keep the benefits of a strong domestic industry on our shores.”
The report, which provides progress against the sector’s roadmap first published in 2020, states net zero can be met through decarbonised electricity and transport networks, fuel switching, greater use of low-carbon cements and concretes as well as carbon capture, use or storage (CCUS) technology for cement manufacture.
The MPA said that CCUS remains critical to the decarbonisation of cement manufacturing and could deliver 61 per cent of the required carbon savings compared with the 2018 baseline. The Climate Change Committee, the independent adviser to UK Government has been clear that for industrial sectors such as cement with unavoidable process emissions, CCUS technology is key to delivering net zero.
