‘Circular solutions vital to curb environmental harm from cement and concrete’

Excellent article in @MongabayOrg @Sean_Mow on how essential it is to reduce the impacts & consumption of concrete, feat @aurora_torresm talking about the biodv impacts & me about the need to eventually transition to a post-growth infrastructure stock https://t.co/PcCA609aC8

— Sophus zu Ermgassen (@sophusticated) April 19, 2024

* Cement and concrete production is responsible for significant pollution, human health impacts and vast amounts of climate-fueling emissions. 

* Manufacturing cement is particularly problematic as the chemical process used to make it produces nearly 8% of global carbon emissions. Experts also underline that demand for the mined and quarried aggregate materials used to make concrete, such as sand, is responsible for biodiversity and ecosystem harm. 

It’s estimated that around 30 billion tons of concrete now gets used each year, already posing huge extraction, pollution and greenhouse gas emission risks, even as production surges in the Global South as the construction industry ramps up. “That starts looking like quite an enormous pressure on our planetary boundaries,” says Sophus zu Ermgassen, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. 

Circular solutions are urgently needed to address environmental threats at multiple points along the cement and concrete supply chain, say experts such as Jonathan Duwyn, a buildings and construction specialist with the UN Environment Programme’s Climate Change Division. Research indicates that quarrying for construction minerals — including sand, stone and gravel — poses a threat to at least 1,000 species planetwide, according to Aurora Torres, an ecology and sustainability researcher at the University of Alicante. 

It’s estimated that around 50 billion tons of sand is used annually for construction, generating an array of environmental problems and social challenges. Research indicates these activities take a toll at the ecosystem level, and with human health by degrading air and water quality, and even influencing infectious disease spread in sand mining areas.