World Construction Today – Together with Boston Consulting Group, the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), and the World Economic Forum, led a group that did a study on cement and what it means for reducing carbon emissions in India, Brazil, Egypt, and Indonesia. These are four important emerging markets that use a lot of bagged cement.
According to the study, emerging markets’ use of cement is rising rapidly and accounts for up to 40% of global cement consumption.
The majority of the cement used in these markets is hand-mixed on-site and is bagged rather than delivered in bulk. According to GCCA, this raises the possibility of using cement inefficiently.
Without official formulas or quality control procedures in place, mixing by hand frequently results in the overuse of cement. According to the report, only 60% of the concrete on construction sites in Egypt and India and 30% in Indonesia is mixed mechanically.
The Mission Possible Partnership is urging governments in these developing nations to support the switch to bulk cement and ready-mixed cement in order to lessen cement’s carbon intensity. This is done through its Concrete Action for Climate Change project.
Governments should look for and change restrictive building standards that may obstruct decarbonization in major capital projects, the research recommends. According to the GCCA, these findings are being used to assist national cement industries in accelerating local implementation of the GCCA global roadmap to net-zero cement and concrete.