This year marks the bicentenary of the invention of Portland cement by Joseph Aspdin, an English bricklayer, businessman, inventor, and stonemason. The patent granted on 21 October 1824 set not just the UK, but the world, on a new construction journey.
The importance of Portland cement to the economy, society and our way of life cannot, and should not, be underestimated. The ability of cement to bind together the ingredients of concrete has quite literally shaped our world. Today concrete is the most consumed manmade substance on earth. There is no other construction material as versatile as concrete, liquid rock that can be poured and moulded into any shape, to produce the safe, durable buildings and structures we all rely on every day. New homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, roads and railways, as well as the infrastructure that provides us with clean water, sanitation and low-carbon energy, all depend on the industry’s products and create the demand for them.
Published: 2024
Lime producers in Great Britain have come together to launch an ambitious plan to accelerate decarbonisation and deliver ‘net negative’ carbon emissions by 2040.
The Net Negative 2040 Roadmap explains how the sector can go beyond net zero a decade ahead of the UK’s overall 2050 target by deploying technologies such as fuel switching and carbon capture as well as recognition of lime’s natural carbon-absorbing properties.
Published: 2023
The UK concrete and cement industry has developed a roadmap to beyond net zero by 2050 – removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits each year.
Published: 2020
Summary version of the UK Concrete and Cement Industry Roadmap to Beyond Net Zero.
MPA UK Concrete, the group representing the UK concrete industry, has developed a framework to help inform the delivery of an ambitious roadmap for the UK concrete and cement sector to deliver net negative emissions by 2050.
The UK is the first country in the world to legally commit to greenhouse gas reduction targets as far ahead as 2050. The target set is an ambitious one – a cut of at least 80 per cent compared with 1990 levels. As an industry that emits CO2 , we are fully committed to playing our part and have already reduced our absolute CO2 emissions by over 55 per cent since 1990. We are now launching an ambitious new strategy to achieve an overall reduction of 81 per cent in greenhouse gases by 2050. This strategy sets out how we aim to achieve our goal – and the support we will need along the way.
Published: 2013