In 2021, worldwide emissions from making cement for buildings, roads and other infrastructure hit nearly 2.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide, which is more than 7% of the global carbon emissions. Twenty years ago, in 2002, cement emissions were some 1.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
At a time when all industries are supposed to be cleaning up their processes, cement has actually been going in the opposite direction. The carbon intensity of cement has increased 9.3% from 2015 to 2020, primarily because of China.