Incentivizing GHG Emissions Reductions in the California Cement & Concrete Industries
Keybridge and CTL Group explore the prospects of expanding the use of supplementary cementitious materials to reduce GHG emissions in the California cement and concrete industries.
The expanded use of supplementary cementitious materials (“SCMs”) represents an important potential pathway for reducing the GHG footprint associated with cement production and consumption. SCMs include a wide range of industrial byproducts and mined materials (e.g., coal fly ash, steel blast furnace slag, silica fume, and pozzolonic materials), all of which have inherent cementitious properties or develop cementitious properties when hydrated in the presence of portland cement. When blended with cement in concrete, SCMs contribute important environmental, economic, and performance benefits.
Commissioned by the Coalition for Sustainable Cement Manufacturing & Environment and conducted by Keybridge Research and CTL Group, this study identifies and explores the array of technical, market, regulatory, legal, and policy barriers that continue to limit the deployment of SCMs in the California marketplace. Futhermore, it explores the prospects for future SCM utilization in the context of fundamental long-term economic and policy trends, including the adoption of a federal climate change policy, increasingly stringent mercury emissions controls for coal-fired power plants, the potential that fly ash may be classified as a hazardous waste, and the prospects for cost-effective SCM beneficiation technologies.
The study concludes that existing barriers and emerging trends are likely to create an environment of extreme uncertianty for SCM markets in general, and California's ability to sustainably increase SCM blending in particular. Within this backdrop of uncertainty, California regulators should endeavor to design policies that remove impediments to increased SCM consumption and optimize SCM utilization in a manner that is consistent with evolving market conditions in the short, medium, and long terms. In the absence of a deliberate and coordinated effort to align policy instruments throughout the cement-concrete supply chain – including carbon price incentives, codes, standards, procurement guidelines, and consumer education – SCM utilization in California is likely to fall short of its full potential. In the presence of supportive policies that remove barriers to deployment and leverage flexible market-based mechanisms to provide incentives throughout the cement-concrete supply chain, however, SCM blending in California can be optimized in a manner consistent within highly dynamic, uncertain, and evolving market conditions.
Washington DC 20007