Assessing the Impact of Climate Change Legislation on the Cement Industry

The global cement industry produces an estimated five percent or so of total CO2 emissions. The political agenda across the world is that the sector should shoulder the costs of reducing green house gases (CO2 abatement). Here we consider two questions about cement and climate change legislation. Firstly, we look at the business areas that such legislation will impact on the sector. Secondly, we assess the preparedness of the sector to address the impact of impending legislation.

How would climate change legislation affect the sector? Clearly, there are differences between markets and regions. These range from the tight and well defined (albeit, dysfunctional) ETS in Europe to the Clean Air Act in the U.S. to other regions that have not yet begun to formulate relevant environmental legislation. It is, however, inevitable that climate change legislation will become part of life for the cement sector world-wide.

Read the rest of the article in the CemWeek Magazine issue 9.