The focus of the 2025 edition of the EU Green Week is on circular economy that offers a compelling solution to some of the EU’s most pressing challenges, notably the potential to drive sustainable competitiveness, to reduce waste, and to promote innovation.
As partner of one of the events hosted in the frame of EU Green Week, Cembureau (European Cement Association) organised a webinar about "Driving Competitiveness through Circularity: Creating Lead Markets for low-carbon Cement", with more than 300 attendees. Industry stakeholders exchanged with the European Commission about regulatory needs to achieve the ambitious net-zero target by 2050.
Cement is an important construction material and at the same time a major industrial emitter. Decarbonisation of the cement industry is therefore at the heart of the sustainable transition.
The built environment (buildings and infrastructure) is responsible for 37% of global CO2 emissions, while emissions from the construction sector are estimated at 5-12% of total national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The building stock alone accounts for 40% of the final energy need in Europe, e.g. for heating. Energy-related GHG emissions hugely vary depending on the energy mix.
However, Stephanos Pierides (Chairperson of the FIEC Sub-Commission “Environment”) explained that the construction sector emissions include material extraction, manufacturing of construction products, as well as the actual construction and renovation of buildings and infrastructure (like on-site assembly). The vast majority (81%) is primarily linked to material extraction and production, which makes greater material efficiency and a focus on reducing the carbon footprint of those construction materials key.
Buildings alone use 1.6 billion tonnes of materials per year, like aggregates, bricks, gypsum, lime and copper. Producing these materials results in about 250 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 emissions annually. Cement, steel, aluminium and plastics account for almost 80% of those emissions. Half of the steel produced today is used in construction and infrastructure. At the same time, the steel industry releases some 230 CO2 Mt per year, while cement emits more than 110 Mt CO2 per year. There is significant mitigation potential to be achieved in the production of construction materials. For instance, for steel, the shift to electric arc furnace (using scrap metal) and direct reduced iron (primary route) can lead to enormous sector emission reductions. Similarly, also for the cement sector, large emission reduction potential exists.
Reducing the carbon footprint of those construction materials must remain key, and there are various ways to achieve that. Barbara Bonvissuto (Director of Ecosystems III: Construction, Machinery and Standardisation at the European Commission – DG GROW) underlined that public procurement accounts for 15% of GDP and therefore provides a huge lever to push for low-carbon materials. High costs of construction have been identified as a major contributing factor to the housing crisis in Europe. Any policy action must therefore maintain a level playing field among construction materials, which is an important condition for innovation in the built environment and to guarantee the competitiveness of the industry.
Under the umbrella of the Clean Industrial Deal, the European Commission is currently working on “green” labels for industrial products, starting with steel in 2025, followed by cement. Furthermore, an Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act will lay the legislative foundation for voluntary “green” labels and is expected to be published by end of 2025. Those labels might subsequently be connected to the Public Procurement Framework (2026 revision) as a mandatory non-price criterion.
EU Green Week event: click here.
