Net Zero Carbon

UK Concrete and Cement Industry | UK Lime Industry

UK Concrete and Cement Industry Roadmap to Beyond Net Zero

The UK concrete and cement industry has launched a roadmap to become net negative by 2050, removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits each year.

The UK concrete and cement sector has cut carbon emissions by more than 50% since 1990. In 2018, UK carbon dioxide emissions from concrete and cement were 7.3 million tonnes, approximately 1.5% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. Now, in an unprecedented and collective commitment to tackling climate change, UK concrete and cement has become the first foundation industry to develop a roadmap to go beyond net zero by 2050.

Following in-depth studies, UK Concrete – the branch of the MPA which represents the UK concrete and cement industry – has identified that net zero can be met through decarbonised electricity and transport networks, further fuel switching, greater use of low-carbon cements and concretes, as well as Carbon Capture, Use or Storage (CCUS) technology for cement manufacture. For the first time, the ‘Roadmap to Beyond Net Zero’ calculates the potential of each technology and the carbon savings which can be achieved.

CCUS is vital to delivering net zero manufacturing and will be expected to deliver 61% of the required carbon savings. And a net negative industry by 2050 can be achieved by using the natural, in-use properties of concrete including its ability to absorb carbon dioxide, and its thermal properties in buildings and structures to reduce ‘operational’ emissions from heating and cooling.

The concrete and cement industry has already taken considerable early joint action and due to investment in fuel switching, changes in product formulation, and energy efficiency including plant rationalisation, its direct and indirect emissions are 53% lower than 1990 - decarbonising faster than the UK economy as a whole.

MPA is currently building on this progress by undertaking ground-breaking demonstrations of hydrogen and plasma technology, which are being partly funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and will demonstrate the potential of these technologies to reduce carbon emissions through fuel switching from fossil fuels in cement and lime production.

The industry is now calling on Government for a robust financial support model including for the capital and operational costs of carbon capture by no later than 2021. This would ensure the technology can be developed, deployed and become an investable proposition in the 2030s.

Nigel Jackson, Chief Executive, Mineral Products Association commented: “Concrete, and the aggregates and cement used to make it, are essential materials for our economy and our way of life. New homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces, roads and railways, as well as the infrastructure that provides us with clean water, sanitation and energy all depend on these materials.

“We have already made significant progress to reduce carbon emissions but are under no illusion about the scale of the net zero challenge. Achieving this will require the wholesale decarbonisation of all aspects of concrete and cement production, supply and use. The concrete and cement industry as one sector alone cannot deliver net zero and we will only be able to go beyond net zero with concerted support from Government, as well as with significant changes across the wider construction, energy and transportation sectors.

“Critically, our roadmap will be delivered without offsetting emissions or offshoring production facilities. We believe that net zero should be achieved by reducing emissions from the construction materials manufactured in the UK, rather than by ‘carbon leakage’ where UK production is replaced with imports that simply moves the emissions responsibility abroad. The aim should be to retain jobs and economic value in the UK whilst ensuring that the UK takes responsibility for the emissions it creates.”

Chris Stark, Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change, said: “Through the UK concrete and cement industry net zero roadmap, the Mineral Products Association is setting a world-leading industry ambition to reach net zero emissions. Decarbonising emissions from concrete and cement is one of the key challenges for getting to net zero with knock-on effects for helping to reduce emissions from the built environment. Net zero is a fundamental goal, requiring bold leadership from Government and from commerce – I highly commend this initiative.”

UK Lime Industry Net Negative 2040 Roadmap

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. Combining the industry proposed developments with the enabling action by Government and the natural effects of carbonation, means the production of British lime could become net negative by 2040, and make a positive and ongoing contribution to addressing climate change.

The sector’s two main products – high calcium quicklime and dolomitic lime (dolime) – are extremely versatile and vital to numerous everyday essentials from the manufacture of metals, glass, plastics and building materials to the purification of drinking water, treatment of sewage, control of air pollution, animal welfare and production of many food staples including eggs, sugar and dairy products.  Used around the world for millennia, lime is made by heating quarried limestone or chalk to above 900 degrees centigrade to trigger a chemical reaction known as calcination.  Around two thirds of the industry’s carbon dioxide emissions arise from calcination with most of the remainder resulting from fuel combustion.

The MPA Lime Net Negative 2040 Plan shows how lime production could be decarbonised by 2040 through the deployment of five key levers:

1. Product carbonation – whereby exposure of lime products to the atmosphere can permanently absorb a third of the calcination related carbon emissions
2. Fuel switching – away from fossil fuels to low or zero carbon alternatives like hydrogen or waste biomass could achieve a 14% carbon reduction for quicklime and 37% for dolime
3. Carbon capture, use or storage (CCUS) – a fundamental requirement that will account for more than half of emissions from lime production
4. Reduction of the indirect emissions from electricity use
5. Reduction of emissions from transport of materials.

Examples of enabling action by Government and other industries in the supply chain could include:

• Carbon accounting to ensure that net zero is not met by simply closing British manufacturing sites and importing goods instead
• Regulation that provides long-term visibility on decarbonisation policies and delivers cost competitive clean electricity
• Infrastructure that supplies green hydrogen to lime production sites and can transport captured carbon dioxide to storage or use
• Financial support that attracts investment to UK sites for the deployment of decarbonisation technologies
• and maintaining competitiveness to ensure British lime producers can continue to supply the UK and compete in international markets.

Mike Haynes, Director of MPA Lime said: “Getting this enabling action right will allow the British lime industry to provide the whole of the UK and beyond, with net zero products that are essential to our everyday lives whilst removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits. The British lime industry is committed to addressing the challenges of climate change and we now have a credible roadmap to get us there.”