Cement accounts for 8 percent of our global carbon emissions. It’s also an incredibly difficult material to do without: It’s the glue that holds together the rock, sand, and water in concrete. And concrete is the building block of the world: It’s in our buildings, our streets, our sidewalks, and our infrastructure. Aside from water, there’s no material on Earth we use more of.
The big problem with cement, and how to fix it
Concrete emits a ton of carbon. Here’s how we get it to net zero.
Laura Bult Laura Bult is a video journalist covering climate, the environment, agriculture and urbanism, among other things. She’d love to hear from you: laura.bult@voxmedia.com.
In order to get to net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, we’ll have to address how we build and how we make cement. Because cement production is so closely linked to urbanization and development, China accounts for a vast majority of today’s cement-related emissions. Other countries with more development in their future will need to emit more to produce cement, too. All that means the whole world needs to figure out how to create cement without the emissions. This video goes into the steps developed by researchers for how to get there.
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