Technology Roadmap Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry

Figure 17: Overall cumulative investment needs by scenario by 2050
Note: Net cumulative additional investment numbers are assessed considering low- and high-bound sensitivity ranges for specific investment 
costs. Overall cumulative investments displayed in the above graph refer to the low-bound cost range.
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Additional
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RTS
Additional
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2DS - Roadmap
vision
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Net additional cumulative
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Net additional cumulative
investments low-bound cost
Overall cumulative
investment
The integration of carbon capture technologies in 
cement production in the roadmap vision accounts 
for between USD 204 billion and USD 254 billion 
cumulative additional investments needs by 2050 in 
global terms. This represents the largest investment 
requirement compared to the RTS. Investment 
costs associated with carbon capture exclude CO
2
transport and storage costs. These investment 
estimates are sensitive to the future evolution 
of costs of carbon capture technologies as they 
become demonstrated at greater scales. 
Shifting towards using fuels that are less carbon 
intensive and reducing the clinker to cement ratio 
in this roadmap’s vision are estimated to incur 
more modest additional cumulative investments – 
between USD 41 billion and USD 62 billion jointly 
by 2050 globally. 
In the vision of this roadmap, additional investment 
related to a wide uptake of state-of-the-art kilns and 
grinding technologies compared to less-advanced 
equipment, as well as the addition of onsite power 
generation capacity based on EHR, is offset by the 
lower clinker production and raw material and 
fuel grinding demand resulting from ambitious 
energy efficiency improvements and clinker to 
cement ratio reductions. Between USD 68 billion 
and USD 72 billion net cumulative savings globally 
are related to the shifts on kilns, grinding and EHR 
equipment used in this vision compared to the RTS.
The bulk of the estimated global cumulative 
additional investments in the 2DS compared to 
the RTS would occur in the period post-2030 
(Figure 18). This highlights the strong market 
deployment needs of new processes in the second 
half of the modelling horizon to realise the vision. It 
also demonstrates the urgency of the need to focus 
on related demonstration projects prior to 2030, to 
ensure technologies can reach commercial readiness 
early enough. While increasing cement demand 
poses greater pressure in reducing carbon emissions 
to achieve the vision, the installation of new cement 
capacity creates opportunities for integrating state-
of-the-art technology in an advantageous situation 
compared to revamping projects. 

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