A low-carbon roadmap for the Egyptian cement industry

The enactment of amendments to the environmental law in April 2015 now allows Egyptian cement companies to use coal and petcoke. Such a fuel switch will, however, increase CO2 emissions. Therefore, this new regulation requires that the operating permit of companies using solid fuels should include a plan of action on how they will limit the increase of CO2 emissions.

The technologies that can reduce CO2 emissions in the cement industry are well known, but their deployment will not necessarily happen simply because of an amendment to a law. Mitigation such as using alternative fuels (AF), energy efficiency improvement, clinker content reduction and by-pass dust (BPD) recycling must be technically and economically attractive to be implemented. This will require supporting policies and decisive and collaborative action be several stakeholders, including authorities and cement producers, as well as upstream and downstream companies.

Recognising the need to objectively assess the possibilities and necessary actions, a 'Low-Carbon Roadmap for the Egyptian Cement Industry' was developed in 2016 by South Pole Group and Cementis in Zürich, for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, the Chamber of Building Materials Industries / Cement Industry Division and in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Cement Sustainably Initiative.

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