Backing UK cement
Tackling challenges
If the UK is serious about meeting its growth, development and environmental missions, it needs a strong and sustainable domestic cement industry to underpin economic and energy security. But UK production is under threat.
Without action, cement is on the path to becoming another casualty of deindustrialisation. High energy, regulatory and labour costs are making UK cement manufacturing uncompetitive. We need to level the playing field.
Public procurement policy.
Cement imports have tripled over the past 20 years – offshoring jobs, investment and emissions. A preference for UK-made cement on publicly procured projects could help to curb this trend.
Sourcing cement from the UK supports regional jobs for working people and puts money back into the economy. By using it to deliver investment in areas like defence, housing and wind energy, we can maximise the economic opportunity available.
We are calling for public procurement policy to put domestic materials production first. This would give producers confidence in the UK market, encourage investment and create a positive cycle of growth.
Fair electricity pricing.
We urgently have to get electricity prices paid by UK producers more in line with other nations. Without doing so, domestic production will never be competitive.
The commitments announced in the Industrial Strategy are welcome, but we need to see them followed through and making a real difference in practice.
A watertight CBAM.
Cement produced abroad – especially outside the EU – isn’t subject to the same carbon emissions restrictions and taxes as in the UK.
This puts UK producers at a clear disadvantage. It also means that by using foreign-made cement, the UK is just moving its carbon emissions elsewhere (carbon leakage), rather than cutting them.
We need a watertight UK CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) to ensure that importers pay the same as domestic producers for their emissions and to help us achieve genuine carbon reduction.
Support for CCUS.
As an early adopter of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS), UK cement has an opportunity to show the world what a modern, green, thriving cement industry can look like – using our supply of natural geological resources and massive carbon dioxide storage capacity.
To propel the industry’s net zero journey forward, we’re asking government to help decarbonise approximately half of the UK’s cement production by continuing to support the MNZ | Peak Cluster project and the next phase of HyNet, including connection to the cement plant at Padeswood. We need long-term visibility of support for dispersed sites across the UK too.