European cement industry presents five routes to a low carbon future!

Brussels 25 September 2013 - CEMBUREAU, the European Cement Association, has today unveiled its vision of what the cement industry could potentially achieve on the road to a low carbon economy of the future. During the dinner debate, the event host & keynote speaker, MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz stated "The cement Roadmap is a view into the future. It shows us what is possible and where we find limitations. It is a good basis for future work, a good starting point. We need cooperation, not confrontation, but we also need to push each other to find new ideas, new pathways, towards a more sustainable future". CEMBUREAU President, Peter Hoddinott, added: "The European Cement Industry is committed to reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. Much has already been achieved, and we can build on this experience to achieve a reduction of 32% in carbon emissions compared with 1990 levels. Beyond that, with breakthrough technologies and a supportive policy framework, a potential reduction of up to 80% by 2050 can be envisaged. In addition, innovations in concrete construction can allow the industry to contribute more. For example, intelligently-conceived modern concrete buildings can use three quarters less energy over their whole life. With over 35% of Europe's energy consumed in buildings, how concrete is used can have profound benefits for where we live and work tomorrow." According to Koen Coppenholle, CEMBUREAU Chief Executive: "The cement and concrete industry can play a crucial role in helping Europe achieve its goals, since its vision sits well with European requirements and strategic objectives on employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate & energy." Nevertheless, he also highlighted the fact that the cement industry cannot do this alone: "We are part of Europe's industrial landscape and depend on other industries, governments and players to be able to deliver on specific parts of this roadmap." The project itself, as presented by Simon Leysen, from Morris & Chapman, lays out five parallel routes which can each contribute to lowering emissions related to cement production, as well as concrete production. These have been divided into two groups. The first 3 routes, which cover resource efficiency, energy efficiency and carbon sequestration and reuse, have been quantified for the purpose of this roadmap as they fall under the sector's control. The final two routes (product efficiency and downstream) look at how cement and concrete can contribute to a low carbon society. Nevertheless, potential savings from thee two routes outlined do not relate directly to cement manufacturing, so were not included. This project has focused on what the sector sees as potentially contributing towards achieving a low carbon economy and the input and opinion of key external stakeholders has been of

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invaluable use during the project. Therefore, feedback on this project is more than welcome. The full roadmap is available from here: http://lowcarboneconomy.cembureau.eu CONTACT Jessica JOHNSON, Communications Director Tel. : + 32 2 234 10 45 Fax : + 32 2 230 47 20 aj.johnson@cembureau.eu www.cembureau.eu

CEMBUREAU
Rue d'Arlon 55 BE-1040 Brussels Tel: +32 2 234 10 11 Fax: +32 2 230 47 20