The World Cement Association (WCA) is calling on cement companies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to take action, as the world's attention is set on decarbonisation efforts in the region in light of upcoming COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt and 2023's COP28 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
All eyes are on the region’s oil and gas sector; however, cement manufacturing in MENA is also significant, making up around 15% of the world’s total production.
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 MENA region on decisive emissions reductions, with many pledges insufficient to reach a warming limit of 2°C. Only the UAE and Saudi Arabia have made net zero pledges for 2050 and 2060, respectively, according to the Climate Action Tracker.
WCA sees this as an opportunity for cement producers across MENA to take the lead and embark on their decarbonisation journeys today, contributing to emissions reductions and saving on operational costs, including energy and fuel. Indeed, consulting group and WCA member A3 & Co., based in Dubai, UAE, estimates that there is potential for companies in the region to reduce their CO2 footprint by as much as 30% with no investment required.
“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,” CEO of WCA Ian Riley stated.
