Low Carbon Cement is on the horizon.

December 16, 2024

By Mike Donovan

After water, concrete is the most consumed man-made substance on earth. Yet, its key ingredient — cement — has a substantial environmental impact and is responsible for over 85 percent of concrete’s carbon footprint and nearly eight percent of all global emissions. In Canada alone, cement manufacturing accounts for about 1.4 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions, according to Canada’s National Inventory Report. It’s not surprising then, that the historically low-profile cement industry is garnering a lot more attention in recent years.

Despite the significant emissions challenge, demand for cement and concrete continues to grow. No other building material is as flexible or cost-efficient. With the continued growth of the global construction industry (projected to reach $16 trillion by 2030) achieving net-zero emissions will require intentional efforts to integrate low-carbon materials into the market. The good news is that efficient, low-carbon cement solutions are available today that present the construction industry with a significant opportunity to reduce carbon emissions in a scalable and cost-effective way, without requiring major changes to manufacturing or working practices.

Efficient low-carbon cements are available today.

At the heart of cement’s emissions problem is clinker. Portland cement’s main active ingredient, clinker, is produced by heating limestone and clays to 1,450 C. Most (about two-thirds) of cement’s emissions are produced by the chemical reaction that occurs when limestone and clays are heated to produce it, the critical reactive material in cement. All in all, nearly a ton of CO2 is emitted for every ton of clinker created.

Traditional wisdom has been that reducing the clinker content of cement by replacing it with alternative materials was a limited approach, at best. This is because of the potential availability issues with these alternative or supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), and some potential impacts from the changes in physical and chemical performance in the concrete mixes utilizing them.

These established beliefs on cement decarbonization are now no longer aligned with what is technically possible. In fact, reducing the clinker content in cement is a fast-growing area of research and technology in the industry. Research activity focused on SCMs has surged, with an 18 percent increase in scientific papers since 2010, stimulated by the increased need to decarbonize cement production.

Recent advances in materials science and engineering are enabling the design and production of highly efficient cements. It is now possible to use half the amount of cement when making concrete when compared with historic levels while still maintaining essential performance metrics. Halving the amount of cement produced means halving the CO2 associated with cement production—automatically saving 50 percent of emissions, or 3.5 percent of global CO2 emissions. We can reduce the industry’s footprint even further beyond the 50 percent  threshold by maximizing the use of locally available alternative materials, or SCMs. The more SCMs we incorporate, the greater the positive impact will be.

Ecocem’s ACT technology is one such innovation enabling the use of a variety of SCMs with unprecedented efficiency. ACT is a propriety technology which uses a specific blend of mineral and chemical admixtures combined with a particular particle size distribution design. It uses raw materials already approved by the cement and concrete standards and is highly scalable due to the raw materials and equipment used in its formulation. Ecocem is currently producing ACT for commercial demonstration projects in 2025, to be followed by industrial scale production in select North American markets by 2027.

We can deploy low-carbon cement cost-effectively, without a “green premium.”

For many industries, green compliance or CO2 reduction carries a “green premium,” meaning the low-carbon option is not at cost parity with the traditional option. This is especially common for early-to-market products. For example, making and buying an electric vehicle (EV) is today still more expensive than a car with a combustion engine. While we know that the cost of EVs will come down eventually, early adopters have to be willing to pay more—that’s the green premium. Thankfully, tackling the carbon footprint of cement doesn’t bring that same challenge.

Leveraging SCMs in the production of low-carbon cement reduces the need for clinker. The more clinker is replaced by SCMs, the less energy is consumed in cement production. In addition, this new generation of low-carbon cements can be deployed at mass scale in all concrete applications and produced at almost all existing cement plants avoiding significant investment or modifications to plant or working practices. This means substantial savings for the industry, when compared with the alternatives. The Mission Possible Project, for example, estimates that low-carbon cements produced using SCMs would cost $11-$20 U.S. per ton of CO2 compared with a cost for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) of $160-$190 U.S. per ton of CO2. For the construction industry, low-carbon cement can be a win-win.

For the cement and concrete industries, these low-carbon solutions can accelerate their ability to reduce cement and concrete supply chain emissions and meet climate targets, cost-effectively. The industry’s shift to sustainable production, driven by the tangible financial impact of carbon emissions, is environmentally and economically strategic. This shift will enable companies to capitalize on green construction demand, carbon pricing and mandated carbon reduction policies.

With policy momentum and growing research, innovation will only accelerate and improve. 

These new advances in low-carbon cement production have been enabled by policy-driven research projects and innovations. Canada’s cement industry is doing its part to facilitate these changes.

In May 2023, the Cement Association of Canada released “Concrete Zero,” a plan aimed at ensuring that Canada’s cement and concrete industry meets its carbon emissions reduction goals. The plan outlines five key priority areas, including:

• Eliminating the use of coal and petroleum coke as fuel sources for clinker production, while increasing the utilization of lower-carbon and alternative fuels.
• Reducing the volume of clinker used in cement production.
• Increasing the use of SCMs, such as fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag.
• Building CCUS capacity.
• Advocating for performance-based codes, standards, specifications, procurement policies, and improved material efficiency in construction.

The government of Canada has also implemented various programs and policies to support the decarbonization of industry. Take, for example, the Strategic Innovation Fund – Net Zero Accelerator. This $8 billion program speeds up decarbonization projects for large emitters, promotes clean technology, and accelerates the transformation of Canada’s industries across all sectors.

Additionally, the National Research Council (NRC) has received funding to develop a comprehensive platform aimed at decarbonizing the construction sector on a large scale. With this funding, the NRC will establish new carbon-based requirements, which will be enforced through standards, specifications, guidelines, and publications. The funding will help the NRC prioritize research and development to address knowledge and data gaps related to low-carbon materials, products, services, and practices to enhance productivity in the construction sector through digital technology.

This increased focus on research and innovation by policymakers is driving the development of new low-carbon cement technologies and solutions and making them increasingly viable for real-world applications.

The construction industry in Canada has everything it needs to adopt low-carbon cement: scalable solutions are available, there is no green-premium to decarbonize, and we have government and industry behind us, pushing us forward. The construction industry must both embrace and demand next-generation low-carbon cement options to accelerate net-zero ambitions. This shift will help us move from being perceived as difficult to decarbonize to becoming an industrial leader capable of reaching emission goals.