The company plans to set up the world?? first carbon neutral plant in Sweden. The world?? fourth largest cement manufacturer, HeidelbergCement, is planning to build the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant in Sweden by 2030, to reduce the cement sector’s high emission rate. It hopes to capture 1.8 million tonne of carbon dioxide per year at its Swedish plant in Slite. Carbon capture, the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere, is being promoted as a way to reduce pollution in industries like cement, which accounts for 8 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
It is also difficult to decarbonise cement production because approximately two-thirds of its emissions are caused by the calcination of limestone during the manufacturing process, which cannot be reduced using traditional methods such as fuel substitution. Dominik von Achten, chair of HeidelbergCement’s management board, believes the time has come to signal the company’s willingness to increase its carbon-capture ambitions.