Sunday, 28 June 2020

UK Concrete outlines framework for ‘beyond net zero’


MPA UK Concrete – part of the Mineral Products Association, the trade association representing Aggregate Industries and friends – apparently has an "ambitious roadmap for the UK concrete and cement sector to deliver net negative emissions by 2050." Bravo. Somebody needs one. After all, we can't rely on Aggregate Industries, given its CO2 emissions are still rising.
The roadmap will not rely upon carbon offsetting or offshoring of production for emissions reduction. It will also be used to inform net zero strategies for other mineral products including aggregates, asphalt, dimension stone, lime, mortar and silica sand.
Chris Leese, director of UK Concrete, says:
The industry is under no illusion about the challenges we face, which will be neither quick nor easy. Achieving net zero will require the wholesale decarbonisation of all aspects of concrete and cement production, supply and use. We will only be able to achieve our net zero and net negative emissions goals with concerted support from Government and the wider construction, energy and transportation sectors.
Dr Richard Leese, director – industrial policy, energy and climate change, MPA, says:
Importantly, we believe that net zero should be achieved by reducing emissions from the construction materials manufactured in the UK rather than by simply replacing these with imports and moving the problem abroad. As such the roadmap aims to retain jobs and economic value in the UK whilst ensuring that the UK takes responsibility for the emissions it creates.
If the concrete industry is really serious about net-zero emissions, then madcap climate-damaging schemes like the one put forward by Aggregate Industries for Straitgate Farm will obviously be a thing of the past, won’t they? Or is the industry's roadmap no more than empty posturing and hot air – an attempt to greenwash "the most destructive material on Earth" – as our time runs out?

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