Economy & Market

Sustainable Pathways

Published

5 months ago

November 20, 2025

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Strategic innovation and public-private collaboration are enabling net zero goals for one of the country’s most carbon-intensive sectors. Neeti Mahajan, Consultant, EY India, discusses green technologies, renewable energy, and circular economy principles.

For the first time in India’s history, the percentage of renewable energy in our overall energy mix crossed the percentage of energy powered by fossil fuels. A marquee historic moment for India, and also a reminder that the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
taken by India are not far from reality. They rather have become more tangible and achievable as we move ahead.
The cement industry is among India’s most carbon-intensive sectors, contributing approximately 7 to 8 per cent of total national carbon dioxide emissions, with an estimated 0.6 to 0.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted per tonne of cement produced. Of this, about 60 to 65 per cent of emissions originate from the calcination process, 30 to 35 per cent from the combustion of fossil fuels, and the remainder from indirect energy consumption in grinding, transportation, and auxiliary processes. As India advances toward its commitments under the Paris Agreement, these include a 45 per cent reduction in GDP carbon intensity by 2030 (from 2005 baseline) and achieving 50 per cent of cumulative installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030. Hence, as we leap towards a greener India, the cement industry – one of the most fundamental yet hard-to-abate industries remains at the cusp of being instrumental to this transformation.
To align with India’s NDC targets, the cement sector is transitioning toward low-carbon production pathways that combine technology, innovation, and circular economy principles. A key lever is the adoption of green cement, produced by reducing the clinker-to-cement ratio through the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), calcined clay, and silica fume. This approach can lower carbon dioxide emissions by up to 30 to 40 per cent per tonne of cement compared to Ordinary Portland Cement. India, one of the world’s largest producers of blended cements, already uses over
35 per cent fly ash and 25 per cent slag in its cement mix, reflecting progress toward greener manufacturing.
Another major pathway is energy transition and efficiency enhancement. Cement plants are increasingly adopting waste heat recovery systems (WHRS), capable of meeting up to 25 to 30 per cent of their power needs, and shifting toward renewable electricity through solar and wind power purchase agreements. Sector leaders such as UltraTech, Dalmia Bharat and ACC have installed solar capacities exceeding 100 MW collectively, contributing to India’s broader target of 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030. Additionally, the use of alternative fuels and raw materials, including biomass, municipal solid waste, and industrial by-products is expanding. Substitution rates of alternate raw materials, currently at around 4 to 5 per cent in India, have the potential to reach 25 per cent by 2030, further cutting fossil fuel dependence and aligning with circular economy objectives.
In parallel, the sector is exploring Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies, particularly for process emissions that cannot be avoided through efficiency measures. Pilot projects by leading producers aim to capture and reuse CO2 in concrete curing, carbonated building materials, and chemical feedstocks. Such innovation aligns with India’s long-term net-zero commitment for 2070 and offers scope for integration with international technology transfer initiatives under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
India’s evolving carbon market ecosystem is another enabler for cement industry decarbonisation. The Indian Carbon Market (ICM), launched in 2023 under the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), provides a mechanism for industries to earn carbon credits by exceeding emission reduction benchmarks, which can then be traded or used to meet compliance obligations. Cement companies can leverage these credits from renewable energy use, waste heat recovery, or green cement production, providing both financial and reputational incentives. This complements voluntary markets and corporate net-zero frameworks that increasingly demand traceable, high-quality offsets. Recently, cement companies have targets to achieve through the ICM and the Carbon Credit Trading Mechanism (CCTS), leading to cleaner energy powered by greener finance.
Further, the cement industry’s contribution to India’s carbon sink target – creating an additional 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through forest and tree cover by 2030 – can be strengthened through afforestation initiatives, biodiversity conservation, and mine rehabilitation programs linked to cement plant operations. Policy instruments such as the Perform, Achieve, Trade (PAT) Scheme, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), and Energy Conservation Act, 2022 provide additional regulatory and market-based tools to encourage decarbonisation and resource efficiency.
Collectively, these initiatives position the cement industry as a key contributor to India’s NDC implementation. Through a combination of green cement innovation, renewable energy adoption, carbon market participation, and technology advancement, the sector can significantly reduce its emission intensity while ensuring competitiveness and sustainability.
As the government, leading organisations and we as the people, head towards a greener and cleaner future. The public private partnership here can really be a game changer. Think tanks, policy-research organisations, consulting companies can help all involved parties to better achieve a holistic target and a better future for all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Neeti Mahajan, Consultant, EY India, is a climate and sustainability professional, blending consulting and communication to drive people-centered climate action.

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TSR Will Define Which Cement Companies Win India’s Net-Zero Race

Published

3 days ago

April 27, 2026

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Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO, Fornnax Technology

India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.

According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.

Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.

The Regulatory Push Is Real

The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.

Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.

Why Indian Waste Is a Different Engineering Problem

Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.

The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.

Engineering a Made-in-India Answer

At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.

Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.

Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.

The Investment Case Is Now

The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.

The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.

The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.

The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.

About The Author

Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.

Concrete

WCA Welcomes SiloConnect as associate corporate member

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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The World Cement Association (WCA) has announced SiloConnect as its newest associate corporate member, expanding its network of technology providers supporting digitalisation in the cement industry. SiloConnect offers smart sensor technology that provides real-time visibility of cement inventory levels at customer silos, enabling producers to monitor stock remotely and plan deliveries more efficiently. The solution helps companies move from reactive to proactive logistics, improving delivery planning, operational efficiency and safety by reducing manual inspections. The technology is already used by major cement producers such as Holcim, Cemex and Heidelberg Materials and is deployed across more than 30 countries worldwide.

Concrete

TotalEnergies and Holcim Launch Floating Solar Plant in Belgium

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

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TotalEnergies and Holcim have commissioned a floating solar power plant in Obourg, Belgium, built on a rehabilitated former chalk quarry that has been converted into a lake. The project has a generation capacity of 31 MW and produces around 30 GWh of renewable electricity annually, which will be used to power Holcim’s nearby industrial operations. The project is currently the largest floating solar installation in Europe dedicated entirely to industrial self-consumption. To ensure minimal impact on the surrounding landscape, more than 700 metres of horizontal directional drilling were used to connect the solar installation to the electrical substation. The project reflects ongoing collaboration between the two companies to support industrial decarbonisation through renewable energy solutions and innovative infrastructure development.