India’s fast-growing cement industry can reduce its carbon emissions by nearly half by the middle of the century, according to a technology roadmap issued in February by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Faced with massive infrastructure and housing requirements, India is the world’s fastest growing cement market—and will likely remain in that position for the foreseeable future. The report, “Technology Roadmap: Low-Carbon Technology for the Indian Cement Industry,” outlines a way for the Indian cement industry to reduce its CO2 emissions by 2050 by at least 210 MtCO2 compared to a business-as-usual scenario. The savings roughly equal the total CO2 emissions of Thailand in 2009. This transition will also have energy benefits, reducing energy consumption by at least 275 PJ—which is as much as the current industry energy consumption of Singapore, Norway, or the Philippines.
According to IEA and WBCSD, the Indian cement industry is among the most efficient in the world and has made strong efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Yet, opportunities for improvements still exist. The milestones set out in this roadmap would enhance the country’s energy security by limiting the growth in energy consumption, and would further reduce the direct CO2 emissions intensity by about 45% from current levels by 2050, according to the report.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is a member of the World Bank Group and is focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries, will provide financial support for the next step to be taken by the Indian cement companies that are members of WBCSD’s Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI). In this step, known as Phase II, Indian CSI member companies will carry out a detailed feasibility study of low-carbon technology implementation at one specific plant per company. Then, through the CSI network, lessons learned will be shared with the wider cement industry in India and abroad. The assessment will identify specific areas where investments in energy efficiency, technology up-gradation, and material conservation can lead to reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
T. Kumar, Joint Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion within the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, says, “I am happy to note that industry has already achieved 36% reduction in CO2 emissions. With depleting limestone reserves, newer materials and newer technologies are needed for India’s infrastructure development.” The government has plans for infrastructure development in the next five years.
Among the recommendations of the report are policies to support research and development (R&D). “For example,” said the report, “a new generation of hydraulic binders could provide high emissions reduction, but this technology is not yet well understood or developed at scale, and needs further R&D.” The report calls for the funding and expansion of new areas of research, such as in the comminution area, a process in which solid materials are reduced in size or in which useful materials are freed from embedded matrix materials. The report also pointed out the need for R&D on “the use of nano-particles to reinforce cementitious materials for improved flexibility and toughness,” while simultaneously taking into account studies on the safety of nanoparticles in cement manufacturing.
In order to enable the cement industry to implement steps detailed in the roadmap, the report includes a roadmap action plan. Among these actions, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is to allocate good quality linkage coal to the cement industry to maximize the life of Indian limestone deposits. The Bureau of Indian Standards is to develop standards and implement regulation for clinker substitutes. For the development and deployment of new transformational technologies, the Ministry of Finance is to sustain funding and the Ministry of Science and Technology is to put into place a support mechanism.
In further action plans, academic and research institutions as well as equipment manufacturers are to conduct R&D on “fuel cells and large-scale adoption of futuristic comminution technologies” and “carbon capture and storage to help industry move through pilot to demonstration phase to widespread implementation.”
The roadmap development was spear-headed by the three co-chair companies, ACC, Shree Cement, and UltraTech, who committed extensive resources and expertise from across their companies to lead the project. They were supported by a wider working group from the other CSI companies in India. The initiative, supported by IFC, was developed in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB). □
