Investments to decarbonise the cement sector will likely require the provision of significant incentives, Government officials have warned.
Ministers were told State agencies have to date approved about €54 million in funding to assist large industrial emitters overall with their decarbonisation plans.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said in briefing material for Minister Peter Burke and Ministers of State Niamh Smith and Alan Dillon that the cement sector accounted for about 43 per cent of Ireland’s total industry emissions.
Of this, it said, approximately one third were combustion emissions from burning fuel to heat cement kilns, with the two thirds related to “industrial process”.
“The cement sector is understood globally as a ‘hard to abate’ sector. In the short-to-medium-term, shifting over 90 per cent of fuel inputs away from fossil fuels to lower carbon fuel sources is a key objective. Significant research and development is also under way on ‘alternative cementitious materials’. Carbon capture and storage technology is scientifically established, but not yet deployed at commercial scale internationally,” the briefing material states.
“Decarbonisation investments in this sector are likely to be capital intensive and require significant incentivisation.”
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The Government had set targets to reduce industry on-site emissions including in the cement and alumina sectors by 20 per cent by this year and by 35 per cent by 2030.
The Department of Enterprise said it was working with the Department of Environment and Climate Change on a range of industry abatement actions.
The department said €300 million in funding from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA was available to support companies under the environmental aid scheme.
The briefing documents also note that the Environmental Protection Agency believed that as things stood the overall industrial sector would exceed its 2026-2030 sectoral emissions ceiling by 39 per cent.
“In 2022, industrial emissions accounted for 9.7 per cent of Ireland’s total emissions, the vast majority of which (93 per cent) are accounted for in the client base of Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. They are highly concentrated in a group of manufacturing companies in the cement, alumina, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and chemicals sectors,” the documents say.
“Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland are working with the top emitters in their client portfolios (around 30 companies in total) to develop impactful decarbonisation plans. These plans are at a mature stage.
“Recognising that these plans would not happen without State Aid however, it was announced in June 2024 that €300 million in funding was available for the decarbonisation of Ireland’s large industrial emitters between now and 2030. This announcement has had a positive impact on the agencies' pipeline of projects, and as at the end of 2024, El and IDA approvals under the scheme stood at approximately €54 million.
“European funding is also available to industry to decarbonise. The €55 million Green Transition Fund is aimed at helping businesses to move away from fossil fuels towards more sustainable, cheaper alternatives. From its launch in June 2022 up to end September 2024, €14.7 million in funding was approved for 443 projects, with €2. 1 million paid out to companies.”
