EU concrete’s climate dilemma: Deep decarbonisation vs fast fixes
The European Commission aims to set a quota of five per cent for low-carbon concrete in public procurement, thereby driving forward the transformation of this energy-intensive sector. However, a new study commissioned by the environmental organisation ECOS now estimates that the EU could produce much more low-carbon concrete and that the proposed quota in the Industrial Accelerator Act could be much higher – between 32 and 79 per cent. The argument is that technologies such as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), clinker alternatives and recycled fines were not considered.
Nevertheless, Georg Holtz, an expert on the transformation of the cement industry at the German Wuppertal Institute, reacted cautiously: “These approaches do not enable deep decarbonisation without CCS – particularly not for relevant volumes,” the researcher told The Kelvin Report.
You can read about the whole dilemma in today’s cover story. Welcome to Friday’s briefing, written here by Sinan Reçber in Berlin.
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Snapshot
- Climate adaptation: Spain floats EU levy on oil and gas profits
- Public procurement: Industry alliance demands EU preference
- Aviation: Think tank calls for splitting ETS 1 to boost decarbonisation
- Coming up: What's next in energy, industry and climate
But first ...
EU could set low-carbon concrete quota substantially higher, study argues
by Sinan Reçber
The European Commission aims to drive forward the decarbonisation of heavy industry – and the quotas for public procurement proposed under the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) are intended to help achieve this. The idea is that when public authorities in the European Union put out tenders for construction projects – such as new schools, hospitals or administrative buildings – a proportion of low-carbon steel or aluminium should always be used, thereby ensuring demand for industrial products manufactured in a climate-friendly manner.
Whilst these quotas are set to be 25 per cent for green steel and aluminium, Brussels is aiming for a 5 per cent share for low-carbon concrete and mortar. A new study commissioned by the Brussels-based environmental organisation Environmental Coalition on Standards now calculates that there is potential for a significantly higher quota of green concrete: “Available supply can support a credible quota between 32 per cent and 79 per cent, depending on the definition of low-carbon concrete”, states the analysis, prepared by the Danish consultancy Ramboll.
According to the study’s authors, the proposed 5 per cent quota for green concrete stems from a narrow technological perspective. This is based solely on the project pipeline for final investment decisions regarding cement plants with associated carbon capture and storage (CCS). The estimated volume of low-carbon cement from this production route amounts to 2.3 million tonnes by 2029, or around one per cent of EU production.
“CCS remains an important route for deep decarbonisation, but it is one among several technologies available to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete”, argue the three authors of the study, Evert Witteween, Xavier Le Den and Tom Dillon. However, according to the experts, low-carbon concrete can also be produced using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), clinker alternatives and recycled fines. “The routes that dominate deployable supply this decade were not considered,” they add.
With this in mind, the analysts outline three scenarios, each featuring EU climate protection standards for low-carbon concrete of varying levels of ambition: A conservative scenario with a 15 per cent Global Warming Potential (GWP) reduction, a moderate scenario with a 30 per cent GWP reduction and an ambitious scenario with a 50 per cent GWP reduction. The analysis is based on the principle that the more climate-friendly the cement, the lower its clinker content and the higher the proportion of CO₂-reducing cement additives such as limestone, fly ash and slag.
According to the study, this also means that the stricter the assumed EU climate standards, the fewer production volumes would meet the requirements by 2030, and the lower a realistic quota for low-carbon concrete in public procurement would need to be set. The authors ultimately arrive at three possible, “credible” EU-wide low-carbon concrete quotas: 32 per cent in an ambitious scenario, 74 per cent in a moderate scenario and 79 per cent in a conservative scenario – in other words, a quota up to 16 times higher than that proposed by the Commission in the Industrial Accelerator Act.
“The main argument against a more ambitious quota – that low-carbon concrete carries an unavoidable green premium – is not supported by the evidence,” the researchers point out. “Analyses indicate that clinker substitution and SCM routes deliver up to a 50 per cent GWP reduction at negligible additional cost.” According to the experts, any kind of quota depends on the early definition of low-carbon concrete – this is to be established through delegated acts under the Construction Products Regulation and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.
Georg Holtz, an expert on the transformation of the cement industry at the German Wuppertal Institute, reacted cautiously to the findings of the Ramboll study. Although, according to Holtz, low-carbon approaches other than carbon capture and storage (CCS) could reduce CO₂ emissions from cement production by up to 50 per cent and meet the standards assumed in the study, “these approaches do not, however, enable deep decarbonisation without CCS – particularly not for relevant volumes,” the researcher told The Kelvin Report. “As soon as the threshold is set at a reduction of at least 60 per cent – or even more ambitiously – I expect the market share that can still meet this standard to fall very rapidly to near zero.”
Holtz estimates that the European Commission intends to set the emissions standard for the proposed 5 per cent quota of low-carbon concrete at a rather ambitious level – for example, at minus 90 per cent – which would then require CCS. “Such a combination would also be suitable for incentivising CCS-based low-carbon cement, which is not yet available on the market, and thus for ensuring the ramp-up of CCS,” the researcher concludes.
Elina Pihlajamäki, an expert on industrial policy at the Brussels office of the non-profit think tank E3G, advocates for a more open approach. “Although CCS will likely be crucial to fully decarbonise cement in the long term, alternative pathways are likely to play an important role, particularly in the early stages of decarbonisation, given the lower cost,” Pihlajamäki told The Kelvin Report when asked.
“The crucial point is that we don’t actually have a definition for low-carbon concrete to guide the thresholds.” According to the expert, such a definition would be important to provide investment certainty for the industry – which is why Pihlajamäki advises setting out a minimum working definition in the Industrial Accelerator Act, or establishing a legally binding timetable for developing the definitions.
The further shaping of the IAA now depends on the European Parliament and the EU Member States. The MEPs responsible for the negotiations intend to present their joint negotiating position before the end of September. The three rapporteurs for the proposed EU legislation are Christophe Grudler (Renew/France) in the Committee on Industry, Anna Cavazzini (Greens/Germany) in the Committee on International Trade, and Pierre Jouvet (S&D/France) in the Committee on the Internal Market.
Madrid floats EU levy on oil and gas profits to fund climate adaptation
Spain is proposing to finance climate adaptation in Europe through a levy on the profits of oil and gas companies. The Spanish government, led by the Social Democratic Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, put forward this idea in a position paper published last week.
In the paper, Madrid states that climate adaptation requires adequate funding – and that the EU must address the existing funding gap with a “multilevel approach”. “A dedicated European Climate Adaptation Fund should be set up,” it continues, referring to the growing economic damage caused by climate change.
According to the Spanish government, the funds could come from new climate-related levies, “including a European Climate Resilience Levy on profits in the oil and gas sector.” Madrid argues that such an instrument would be based on established principles in European environmental legislation, such as the polluter-pays principle.
Furthermore, Madrid is calling for a new EU requirement stipulating that public authorities must systematically assess and take climate risks into account in all planning and decision-making processes – but without creating “unnecessary additional administrative burdens”. Moreover, Spain wants the upcoming European framework for climate resilience to include binding targets for climate adaptation at European level and to focus on “strategic sectors” such as water, health and infrastructure, as well as forests, tourism, agriculture and fisheries.
The European Commission intends to present its framework for European climate resilience in the fourth quarter of 2026, i.e. sometime between early October and the end of the year. “The initiative will seek to ensure that all investments vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are designed to face climate risks that could materialise during their lifetime (‘resilience by design’)”, announced officials in Brussels in a description of the legislative proposal. snr
Industry alliance calls for EU preference in public procurement
An alliance of European industry associations from the construction, dredging and rail transport sectors is calling for European products, services and works to be systematically given preference in public procurement across the EU in future. The alliance published a joint statement to this effect last week.
With a view to the forthcoming proposal from the European Commission to reform the Public Procurement Act, the alliance writes: “The revision should allow European products, services and works to be given preference in public procurement in strategic sectors.” In its studies, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre lists renewable energy, electric mobility and energy-intensive industry as examples of such strategic sectors.
The Public Procurement Act regulates, among other things, procurement by public-sector organisations, such as those in the energy or transport sectors. Whilst the alliance of associations does not mention China by name, it implicitly calls for the exclusion of companies from that country. Accordingly, key technologies and services are to “not be provided by non-covered economic operators”, i.e. “operators from third countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement with the EU covering public procurement, that are not signatories to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and that do not grant reciprocal access to EU companies.”
It goes on to state: “The Commission should be empowered to make this aspect mandatory, including for security reasons, through delegated acts.” According to data from Brussels, public procurement accounts for around 15 per cent of the EU’s annual economic output. With the reform of the current EU rules, the Commission aims to promote greater sustainability and resilience in strategic sectors, as well as the systematic prioritisation of European services, works and products. snr
Think tank calls for splitting ETS 1 to boost decarbonisation in aviation
The Brussels-based think tank Sandbag is calling for the European Emissions Trading System (ETS 1) to be split in order to drive forward the decarbonisation of European aviation.
In a policy brief published last week, the experts explain their call for the reintroduction of so-called “EU Aviation Allowances (EUAAs)” as follows: “For the aviation sector, buying allowances is cheaper than reducing emissions. The sector’s unlimited access to allowances acts like an abatement deterrent, making decarbonisation the least economical option.”
According to Sandbag, climate protection solutions such as e-fuels are extremely expensive and would entail abatement costs of up to 500 euros per tonne of CO₂. Carbon allowances in ETS 1, by contrast, would cost 80 euros per tonne.
And because airlines often purchase CO₂ allowances from industry, they would effectively shift the burden of decarbonisation onto that sector, rather than making progress themselves, and drive up the price of CO₂ for other sectors. In the think tank's view, one way to restrict airlines’ access to CO₂ allowances from industrial installations is the aforementioned reintroduction of EUAA allowances, with a cap on the use of standard EUAs.
“Such a restriction would effectively create two distinct markets for EUAs and EUAA, allowing EUAA to trade at much higher prices than EUAs: EUAA prices would be driven by the marginal cost of air travel abatement necessary to meet a reduced carbon budget, whereas EUAs would trade at lower prices than if airlines retained unlimited access”, Sandbag points out. snr
Coming up: What's next in energy, industry and climate
- 09 September 2026: European Commission / Industry commissioner Stéphane Séjourné plans to propose a Public Procurement Act and a European Innovation Act
- 10 September 2026: 16.00 – 17.30: European Commission (DG Clima) is hosting EU CRCF Buyers Club Webinar
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