The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Cement is boring.

But we use a fucking boatload of it.

Approximately 4.4 billion tonnes of cement are produced globally each year.

This translates to roughly 560 kg of cement per person on Earth.

Cement is responsible for nearly 8% of global CO₂ emissions, about 2.6 gigatonnes a year, just shy of the CO₂ emissions generated by all of the world’s passenger vehicles.

The cement industry is shifting from being impossible to clean up to the frontier of industrial decarbonization.

This week, AI researchers in Switzerland found a way to cut cement’s carbon footprint by redesigning its recipe. Their system simulated thousands of ingredient combinations, pinpointing those that keep cement strong while emitting far less CO₂. sciencedaily.com

Also this week, Heidelberg Materials announced that its Norwegian plant had already sold out its entire 2025 run of evoZero, a net-zero cement whose carbon is captured and stored under the North Sea.

That plant in Brevik is part of Longship, Norway’s full-scale carbon capture and storage project, backed by billions in public subsidies. It’s proof that with the right policy, even a hard-to-address sector like cement can do hard things.

The Brevik facility will capture around 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. And for Heidelberg, this is just the first domino. Plans are already underway to replicate the model elsewhere.

But the shift goes beyond carbon capture. Cement emissions come from two main sources: the fossil fuels used to heat kilns above 1,400°C, and the chemical process of calcination that releases CO₂ from limestone.

Both are getting an overhaul. At one plant in the Czech Republic, Heidelberg has reduced emissions by utilizing AI-powered kiln controls. Across Europe, over 60% of cement kilns now operate on alternative fuels, including biomass, sewage sludge, and other waste.

Many start-ups and new ventures are working on low-carbon cement, including formulas that use recycled concrete, calcined clay, and carbon-negative limestone.

These aren’t just supply-side fixes. Design itself is becoming a climate lever. Smarter material use, better durability, and reusing concrete can slash emissions by 20% or more.

The First Movers Coalition and ConcreteZero are creating demand from the buyer side, with major real estate developers and governments pledging to purchase low-emission concrete.

Still, it’s not just what you make, it’s how you move it.

Cement and concrete are among the heaviest materials we transport, and most of it travels by diesel truck. A single 10-tonne delivery travelling 50 kilometres emits as much as 75 kilograms of CO₂, just in transit.

Multiply that by millions of deliveries per year, and transport emissions start to rival those from cement production itself. If decarbonization stops at the plant gate, we’re missing half the picture.

Thankfully, Volvo and other heavy equipment manufacturers are already on the case. Their first electric cement truck shipped in 2023.

Then there’s the science-fiction part that’s becoming science fact.

Researchers at MIT have found a way to turn cement into a giant battery.

By mixing carbon black, a conductive material derived from biomass, into cement, they’ve created a supercapacitor that can store and release electricity. A 45 cubic meter block (about the size of a foundation slab) could store 10 kilowatt-hours of power, enough to run a house for a day.

Scale that up across buildings, and the built environment could become a distributed energy storage network.

Other teams are exploring thermoelectric concrete, which generates power from temperature differences, such as those between a sunny facade and a shaded interior wall.

The roadways, foundations, and bridges of the future could store power, regulate heat, and even charge your car.

This is what transformation looks like.

Cement, the gray matter of our civilization, is being rewired to help power the low-carbon world it once helped endanger.

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