February 16 - Europe is approaching a decisive moment in climate and industrial policy. The European Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) proposal, expected on February 25, aims to create lead markets for low-carbon European industrial products. This provides a unique opportunity to drive innovation, competitiveness and faster industrial decarbonisation.
As the founder of Ecocem, an Irish low-carbon cement technology company, I know that few sectors show this more clearly than cement, where proven technologies can deliver deep emissions cuts at far lower cost and far greater speed than current strategies assume.
One of the most emissions-intensive materials in the world, cement accounts for almost 8% of global carbon emissions. On current trajectories, the sector remains aligned with roughly 3 degrees Celsius of warming, highlighting the need for a successful cement decarbonisation strategy in Europe and globally.
Yet much of today's policy debate remains anchored in pathways that are either slow to deploy or prohibitively expensive. Continuing with these pathways would be a strategic error at the very moment faster solutions are available.
A growing body of evidence suggests that relying primarily on carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) carries significant risk. CCUS has understandably attracted policy attention, given its familiarity to industry and its promise of addressing residual emissions, but capital costs remain extremely high; infrastructure for transport and long-term storage is still incomplete; deployment timelines extend well into the 2030s; and the technology faces social, regulatory and logistical hurdles. According to the consultancy firm CRU Group, cement production costs could triple under a CCUS-first strategy.
These challenges do not eliminate the role of CCUS in the long term, but if Europe is serious about combining industrial competitiveness with climate leadership, policy must focus on solutions that can scale quickly and cost-effectively this decade.
Ecocem is not alone in our approach. There is a growing range of low-carbon cement formulations already being produced and deployed, reducing emissions at source, using existing plants, established materials and conventional construction practices.
The constraint is not innovation, but the policy and regulatory frameworks that determine which solutions can compete, scale and reach the market.
First, cement standards need to shift decisively from prescriptive rules towards performance-based approaches. Today's standards often lock in high-clinker formulations by specifying what materials must be used, rather than what outcomes must be achieved. A framework focused on strength, durability and safety would give engineers confidence while allowing innovative low-carbon cements to compete fairly with conventional products.
Second, Europe needs a clearer and more harmonised route to market through concrete standards. Even where low-clinker cements are permitted, fragmented national concrete standards slow adoption and raise costs for producers operating across borders.
Third, by embedding carbon requirements into public projects, governments can use procurement rules to create early demand for low-carbon materials, build confidence across the value chain and help proven technologies move into the mainstream.
Finally, directing a greater share of targeted funding towards scalable, low-clinker technologies would deliver earlier climate impact, strengthen European industrial capability and reduce long-term costs.
Europe accounts for less than 5% of global cement emissions, which makes it a test bed for technologies that can accelerate global decarbonisation.
To reduce the 95% of cement carbon emissions that arise outside Europe, the globalisation of technologies is essential. Technology transfer, especially to developing countries, should be supported by the EU. This is not about choosing between climate and economic success. In fact, Europe should see this as an opportunity to strengthen its industrial competitiveness and export its solutions to fast-growing global markets.
Cement has always been considered a hard-to-abate sector and one of the toughest challenges for global decarbonisation. However, technology has radically changed, to the extent that cement can now be one of Europe's fastest wins in industrial decarbonisation.
The technologies exist, the performance is proven and the economic case is strong. What is needed now is a policy framework that allows these solutions to scale across the continent - and beyond.