Air Pollution from Global Cement Industry

An International Benchmarking of Criteria Air Pollutants Intensities

Air pollution contributes to a wide variety of adverse health effects. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exposure to criteria air pollutants can cause a variety of respiratory health effects, including inflammation of the lining of the lungs, reduced lung function, and respiratory symptoms, increased susceptibility to respiratory infection, premature mortality, aggravation of cardiovascular disease, decreased lung function growth, exacerbation of allergic symptoms, neurodevelopmental effects such as lowered IQ and behavioral problems, reduction in the capacity of the blood to carry oxygen, thereby decreasing the supply of oxygen to tissues and organs such as the heart, and many other negative health effects.

In addition to being one of the most energy-intensive industries, cement manufacturing also involves processing of raw materials that typically contain nitrogen and sulfur and depends heavily on fossil fuels as the primary energy source which leads to cement production being one of the major air polluting industries worldwide. This report focuses on comparing the criteria air pollutants emissions intensities for the cement industry in selected countries.

The aim of the international benchmarking is to offer a means of comparing the performance of a given industry across countries. Benchmarking can also be used to estimate the potential for the abatement of air pollutants through the implementation of pollution control technologies. At the national level, benchmarking of criteria air pollutants emissions intensities can help policymakers prioritize emission abatement of specific criteria air pollutants and design policies for the reduction of their emissions.

In this study, we performed a benchmarking for each of the four major criteria air pollutants for which data were available: Sulfur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen oxide (NOx), Particulate matter (PM), and Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC), emitted from the production of cement in 14 countries/regions. We have considered both direct and indirect sources of emissions i.e., onsite emissions related to process and fuel combustion in cement plants (direct emissions) and offsite emissions associated with electricity used by cement plants that is caused from electricity generation in the power sector (indirect emissions). Emissions related to the rest of the cement value chain are beyond the scope of this project.

Our results show that amongst the criteria air pollutants analyzed in this study, NOx was the highest emitted criteria air pollutant from the cement industry globally, whereas the NMVOCs are the lowest emitted criteria air pollutants from the cement industry (Figure 1). Although the shares of direct emissions vary for each criteria air pollutant and country, the majority of emissions of criteria air pollutants can be characterized as direct emissions that happen onsite at cement plants and affect local communities near cement plants. To provide a sense of scale, we have also compared the global cement industry’s criteria air pollutants emissions with EU-27’s total emissions in 2019 in Figure 1. The SO2 emissions from the global cement industry in 2019 were 3% higher than the overall total SO2 emissions of the EU-27 region. Emissions of NOx from the global cement industry were 36% lower than the EU-27’s overall NOx emissions in 2019. The PM emissions of global cement industry were 27% lower than the overall PM emissions from EU-27 region in 2019.

China, Ukraine and Poland have the highest emissions intensities for almost all the criteria air pollutants analyzed in this study. Sweden and Austria have the lowest emissions intensities for most of the criteria air pollutants. This can be primarily explained by the air pollution regulations and adoption of pollution control technologies as well as the fuel mix of the cement industry among other factors. Figure 2 shows SO2 emissions intensity of cement industry for countries studied in 2019. Similar figures for NOx, PM, and NMVOC emissions can be found in chapter 5 of the report. Factors influencing criteria air pollutants emissions in the cement industry are discussed in detail in chapter 6 of this report.

Industrial manufacturing facilities such as cement plants are often located close to low-income, disadvantaged communities exposing them to significant pollution. For example, in the United States, manufacturing generated 89% of all chemical waste in the country including 285 thousand tons of criteria air pollutants and over 40 thousand tons of hazardous waste from cement production according to Toxics Release Inventory data maintained by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Lowering or eliminating criteria air pollutants can help mitigate the health risk and improve the quality of life for the communities located close to cement plants.

In view of the projected continuing increase in absolute cement production and the need for reducing criteria air pollutants emissions, future reductions in criteria air pollutant emissions will require a combination of stricter adoption of pollution control technologies in cement plants as well as power sector and efficiency improvements for fuel consumption and switching to lower emissions fuels. Stricter air pollution control regulations and their enforcement for the cement industry are needed in China and other countries with high criteria air pollutants intensities to ensure the reduction of these emissions from the cement produced in these countries. This will result in cleaner and safer air for the people and the environment in these countries.

To read the full report and see complete results and analysis of this new study, Download the full report from the link above.

Interested in data and decarbonization studies on the global cement industry? Check out our list of cement industry publications on this page.