Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center

Cement, the binder in concrete, is responsible for 7 percent of global CO2 emissions, over half of which are due to process emissions inherent to cement chemistry that will require immature technologies to fully abate. This seminar will cover the current state of emissions from cement production, as well as the technologies, policies, and funding that will be required to abate them. We will start with an overview of the cement production process and emissions contributions at each stage of production, as well as current cement plant locations and ages. We’ll then discuss existing and potential levers to reduce emissions at various stages of the cement-concrete value chain, and the currently policy landscape for cement decarbonization in the United States. Finally, we’ll discuss challenges and outstanding questions for full decarbonization, including how we finance first-of-a-kind technologies, the challenges of carbon capture versus novel production techniques to abate process emissions, how we might address combustion emissions, additional policies required, and more.

Lauren Kubiak is a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) focused on decarbonization of California’s electricity and industrial sectors. Working with the Public Utilities Commission, Energy Commission, Air Resources Board, and Legislature, she designs, analyzes, and works to implement policies to scale up deployment of renewable energy and cement and concrete decarbonization technologies. She has more than a decade of experience at NRDC, in both the Climate & Clean Energy and Nature programs, working at the local, state, federal, and international levels to expand the adoption of climate, energy, and environmental policy. Kubiak earned her bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in earth systems from Stanford University. She is based in San Francisco.