With its action plan, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) aims to provide guidance to China’s cement sector for achieving energy savings and carbon reduction. The main goals of the plan are to keep cement clinker production capacity at about 1.8 billion tons and to support the entire industry to comply with rules under an efficiency benchmark. The energy intensity of cement clinker production is targeted to decrease by 3.7% compared with 2020, thereby saving 5 million tons of standard coal and 13 million tons of CO2 by 2025.
Key measures of the action plan include:
- Phasing out old and inefficient cement production and replacing it with more efficient production lines.
- Upgrading energy-using equipment more quickly.
- Increasing the proportion of renewable energy used in the cement industry. Specifically, by the end of 2025, the proportion of cement kilns using alternative fuel shall reach 30%, while the proportion of alternative fuel consumption in the cement industry shall grow to 10%.
- Advancing green production and green products in the cement industry. This includes the development of low-carbon materials, conducting life-cycle assessments of cement products, accelerating the certification processes of green building materials and shifting to cleaner transportation in the cement industry.
- Promoting resource recycling. China will promote the replacement of limestone with calcium-containing industrial waste resources and support the use of cement kilns for the co-disposal of waste. By the end of 2025, the total amount of waste materials utilised by the cement industry needs to reach 800 million tons.
- Enhancing digital management in the cement industry.
To achieve this transformation of the cement industry, China will implement incentives and increase financial support, optimise the industry standard system for cement and aim at accelerating technology innovation.
