The World Cement Association (WCA) has called upon cement firms in the MENA region to take decarbonisation action, ahead of COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt and 2023’s COP28 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
All eyes are on the commitments and actions of the region’s oil and gas sector; however, cement manufacturing in the MENA region is also significant, making up around 15% of the world’s total production, a statement from the WCA noted.
The first steps are being made with the UAE, India, UK, Canada and Germany launching the Industry Deep Decarbonisation Initiative at COP26 in 2021. Nevertheless, there has been limited progress to date across the region on decisive emissions reductions, with many pledges insufficient to reach a warming limit of two-degrees Celsius. Only the UAE and Saudi Arabia have made net zero pledges of 2050 and 2060 respectively, the organisation said.
Consulting group and WCA member A3 & Co estimates that there is potential for companies in the region to reduce their CO2 footprint by as much as 30% with no investment required.
WCA sees this as an opportunity for cement producers across MENA to take the lead and embark on their decarbonisation journeys today, which will both contribute to emissions reductions and save on operational costs, including energy and fuel, said a top official from the organisation.
“There has been a lot of discussion in Europe and North America about decarbonisation roadmaps for the cement industry and good work has been done to start on this journey. However, 90% of the world’s cement is produced and used in developing countries; to impact overall industry emissions we must include these stakeholders. Cement companies in the Middle East have some low hanging fruit to take advantage of, which will lower costs at the same time as reducing CO2 emissions. At WCA we have a number of programmes that can help them realise this opportunity,” remarked WCA CEO Ian Riley.
The WCA is said to be the original international cement association and represents the cement industry and its stakeholders. Corporate Members are cement producers and have equal rights regardless of size or nationality. It connects members across the world and provides practical help to improve competitiveness and sustainability.