After the recent UK budget, Ecocem, a low-carbon cement company based in Ireland has criticized the British government’s narrow focus on CCUS to the detriment of other technologies.

Ecocem launched ACT In November 2022, a breakthrough cement technology that combines a range of technical innovations with the use of widely available low-carbon materials to decarbonise cement by as much as 70%, while enhancing the strength and durability of the concrete it is used to manufacture.

The development was in response to the Government of Ireland’s pledge to reduce the carbon emissions of industry and enterprise by 35% by 2030 and is specific about reducing the clinker content of cement (responsible for 90% of emissions from cement).

In ignoring advances such as low-emission cement, Donal O’Rian, Ecocem’s founder and director, voiced a number of concerns with the narrow focus of the decarbonisation strategy recently announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr O’Rian said, “All investment in reducing global carbon emissions is welcome, but today’s announcement by the UK Government that it will invest £20bn in carbon capture technology is another example of how focussing exclusively on carbon capture is at the expense of broader, less costly, and more readily available innovation.”

O’Rian argues, that by focussing investment solely on Carbon Capture technology, the Government is slowing down critical industry innovation.

It is currently predicted that Carbon Capture technology won’t be operational until at least 2035 and then only at huge expense and requiring massive infrastructure changes. Ecocem argue that it makes more sense for a greater investment in low cement technologies that have already been developed and can be rolled out at scale before 2030.