Potential for reduction of carbon emissions for the Brazilian Cement Industry by 2050
Cement is a key input for the civil construction chain – basic raw material for concrete and mortar – and it is the most used man-made material on the planet.
Cement is crucial to the development of infrastructure in the country, which is precarious in Brazil. It is the basis for the construction of houses, schools, hospitals, roads, railways, ports, airports, sanitation and energy among many others which provide health and well-being to the population and help meet the demands of modern life.
Brazil, as a developing country, has an important infrastructure to put in place. And the population growth, coupled with its recent urbanization standards, will tend to boost cement production in the next decades.
The cement manufacturing process is intensive in the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Globally, the cement industry’s CO2 emissions represent around 7% of total emissions produced by man. In Brazil, thanks to actions being implemented for years, this participation is practically one third of the world average, or 2.6%.
Brazil is one of the countries in the world with lowest levels of CO2 emissions per ton of cement. This prominent position, is at the same time a recognition of the effort that the industry has been making to mitigate climate change and a major challenge: produce cement that is necessary to the development of the country with even lower CO2 emissions.
With this in mind, the national cement industry, in collaboration with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and a select group of academics from renowned universities and Brazilian technology centers, under the technical coordination of professor José Goldemberg developed this Cement Technology Roadmap.
The industry presents in this report different alternatives to mitigate the national cement industry emissions in the short, medium and long term to 35% by 2050. By achieving this, the sector would be compliant to lower climate impact scenarios, which limits the global temperature to 2°C.
The study also identifies obstacles or bottlenecks that limit the adoption of these alternatives, and proposes a series of recommendations for public policies, development instruments, regulations, normative aspects, among others, capable of providing potential reduction of emissions and accelerates the transition to a low carbon economy.
Dowload the full report
Download the main guidelines