The Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement Plc, Arvind Pathak, has stated that the cement industry accounts for 7% of worldwide carbon emissions.
According to The Punch, he made this statement recently during the 12th Africa Cement Trade Summit in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
“The cement industry generates seven percent of the world’s CO2 emissions as the cement value chain involves the intensive use of energy for raw material mining, crushing, mixing, drying, firing, clinker grinding, packaging, and dispatch to customers. Cement is a vital industry that helps meet Africa’s infrastructure deficit,” he stated.
The manufacturing of cement is an energy-intensive process that uses roughly 3.3GJ of thermal energy and 90 J of electrical energy each tonne of clinker produced, and its electrical energy consumption is in the region of about 90 – 120kWh /tonne of cement.”
“It is therefore not surprising that Dangote Cement is one of the pioneering African corporations in cutting CO2 emissions through a fuel substitution strategy, having gone from being the largest bulk cement importers in the world to self-sufficiency and now net exporters of cement to other nations. Dangote Cement responds to the changing social and environmental challenges by sharing project updates and investment goals through reporting.
“We also use reporting on sustainability to spur market expansion. We started reporting in 2020 as part of this pledge, and we were first given a C rating for climate change. We moved up to a B- as the company’s performance improved, and in 2022 we attained a B+ rating,” Pathak continued.
At the summit sponsored by the Singapore-based Centre for Management, Pathak gave a presentation titled “Utilization of Alternative Fuels as a Strategy for Sustainable Cement Production in Africa.” He stated that decarbonization was now a must rather than an option.
Pathak claimed that substituting fossil fuels with alternative fuels, such as industrial, agricultural, and municipal wastes, has successfully reduced emissions.
The Dangote Cement CEO, who was represented by the Group’s Head of Sustainability, Dr Igazeuma Okoroba, stated that alternative fuels emit less CO2 when combusted than fossil fuels and that agricultural biomass is known to be carbon neutral.
He pointed out that the demand for cement would increase given that the world’s cement consumption would reach 4.2 billion tonnes in 2020 and that the population would increase by 12.3% in 2050 as a result of growing urbanization.
In order to address concerns about climate change, he emphasized the necessity of giving the addition of alternative fuels to the fuel mix first priority.
Pathak disclosed that, following the global climate shocks, decarbonization became an imperative rather than a choice for firms seeking to future-proof themselves in an ever-evolving global landscape.
He continued by saying that companies need to define their medium-, long-, and short-term goals as well as their decarbonization plans for every transition target.
Pathak claims that Dangote Cement is among the first African businesses to use a fuel substitution approach to reduce CO2 emissions.
“The goal of this program is to use alternative energy to replace fossil fuels. This strategy’s effects are already apparent. While they might release some pollutants, alternative fuels like biomass are thought to have less of an impact on the environment than traditional fuels,” the speaker continued.
Aside from the obvious benefit of reducing CO2 emissions, Pathak expressed confidence that the cement sector will continue to contribute to combating climate change, even though he acknowledged that the emissions challenge would linger in the industry for some time.
