Abstract
Abstract. Global production of cement has grown very rapidly in recent years, and after fossil fuels and land-use change, it is the third-largest source of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. The availability of the required data for estimating emissions from global cement production is poor, and it has been recognised that some global estimates are significantly inflated. Here we assemble a large variety of available datasets, prioritising official data and emission factors, including estimates submitted to the UNFCCC plus new estimates for China and India, to present a new analysis of global process emissions from cement production. We show that global process emissions in 2017 were 1.48±0.20 Gt CO2, equivalent to about 4 % of emissions from fossil fuels. Cumulative emissions from 1928 to 2017 were 36.9±2.3 Gt CO2, 70 % of which have occurred since 1990. Emissions in 2016 were 28 % lower than those recently reported by the Global Carbon Project. The data associated with this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.831454.
Highlights
Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere come from three main sources: (i) oxidation of fossil fuels, (ii) deforestation and other land-use changes, and (iii) carbonate decomposition
In this work we investigate the process emissions from cement production and develop a new time series for potential use by the Global Carbon Project, and present plans for future continued updates, revisions, and development
The main rationale of our approach, is to prioritise officially reported emissions, recognising that these generally make use of data and knowledge unavailable elsewhere; we use officially reported clinker production data and emission factors; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default emission factors; industry-reported clinker production; and surveybased clinker ratios applied to cement production data (Appendix B), where no better data are available
Summary
Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere come from three main sources: (i) oxidation of fossil fuels, (ii) deforestation and other land-use changes, and (iii) carbonate decomposition. Cement – the largest source of emissions from decomposition of carbonates – is a binding material that has been used since ancient times, but it was following World War II that the production of cement accelerated rapidly worldwide, with current levels of global production equivalent to more than half a tonne per person per year (Fig. 1). First is the chemical reaction involved in the production of the main component of cement, clinker, as carbonates (largely CaCO3, found in limestone) are decomposed into oxides (largely lime, CaO) and CO2 by the addition of heat. These emissions (E) can be calculated as follows: E
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