Marginal Cost Curves for Decarbonizing the European Cement Industry

The cement industry which is characterised by the highest carbon intensity per unit of revenue among all major industries needs to rapidly reduce their CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions to reach carbon neutrality. To do so economically optimal strategies for emission reductions need to be formulated that lead the cement industry to reach net-zero-CO2e by mid-century. While all suggested strategies might have their advantages and disadvantages (e.g.,some can be expected to lead to the produced cement qualities to change, while for others like carbon capture and storage the produced cement types will remain the same) and will come with different costs, a holistic comparison of all strategies from an economic perspective is currently lacking. To tackle these knowledge gaps, we here present a spatio-economic model for estimated cost burden associated with different CO2e emission reduction strategies. As a case study we present preliminary estimates on the cost burdens for the United Kingdom and Germany in form of marginal abatement cost curves for emission reduction in these countries’ cement industries.