View: Towards a consumer-led greener future

Today, the wider adoption of green cement is met by two primary challenges—awareness and cost or price to the consumer. There is a strong correlation between these two, meaning if we improve consumer awareness about green cement we can expect a significant shift in its demand that will lead to better economies of scale (for producing cement) that in turn will lead to better price for the consumer. That at least is the long term trajectory for cement manufacturers.

The impact of wider use of green cement on the environment can be particularly significant for a large market like India. We are the second largest producer of cement in the world. With a 7 percent global share in cement, a change in the consumer preference in India towards green cement will have a big impact on the global war on climate change. Even a steady high single digit economic growth in the mid to long term (say 5-10 years) can be very promising for efforts towards decarbonising the sector, provided the shift in consumer behaviour favouring green cement happens simultaneously.

The shift in preference towards green cement can and must happen in all three major cement consuming groups—individual home builders, commercial builders (offices, malls etc.) and government. While the first two groups of consumers make take more time to make this shift towards green cement, government buying can lead the change in a big way.

The government has been laying a lot of emphasis on investing in public infrastructure and housing projects. The government, by mandating a minimum green cement component in these massive projects can help the cement industry achieve economies of scale in quick time.

This one policy move alone can tip the scale in favour of green cement in a big way by narrowing the big price gap between green and OPC cement and help the other two consumer groups to make the transition without or with minimum economic pain. We have already seen a similar shift (backed by government policy) in the power sector, where the unit cost of solar power in India over the last few years has fallen dramatically and is one of the lowest in the world today.

India has already set an impressive track record in its commitment towards creating a more environmentally sustainable future. We are expecting to become a Net Zero country by 2070. The role of cement consumers in this race towards building a greener future should not be underestimated.