Global cement industry supports startups in drive to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050

Last month, the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA; London, U.K.; https://gccassociation.org) revealed the first six startups that will be backed by its member companies as part of the first ever Innovandi “Open Challenge” in the race to achieve “net zero” CO2 emissions by 2050. The six start-ups, which were chosen from more than 100 entrants to the Open Challenge, have now joined forces with world-leading cement companies to help drive further innovation in the industry and will each form part of formal consortia to further test, develop and deploy their ground-breaking technologies, says GCCA. One of the key focuses of the industry is to develop the technology and implementation for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), with CarbonOrO Products B.V. (Naardem-Vesting, the Netherlands; www.carbonoro.com), MOF Technologies (Belfast, U.K.; www.moftechnologies.com) and Saipem S.p.A. (San Donato Milanese, Italy; www.saipem.com) among the start-ups that the industry is backing. GCCA members have committed to moving from the dozens of pilot projects and announcements already underway to having ten industrial-scale carbon-capture plants by 2030 as part of the landmark Net Zero Roadmap, announced in October 2021.…