Strategies for Decarbonization of Cement Industry Enterprises: Russian and International Benchmarks

The “polluter pays” principle puts large greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters at the forefront of modern climate policy in countries and regions. At the same time, nonenergy industrial enterprises, unlike energy companies, represent a sector of economy, for which decarbonization is much more labor-intensive and is associated with greater risks under the introduction of a quota trading system, which was launched in Russia in 2021, so far as an experiment. The purpose of the article is to conduct a comparative analysis of decarbonization strategies for cement enterprises: Iskitimcement (Novosibirsk oblast, Russia) and Aalborg Portland (Denmark), comparable in development history, production volume, and business processes. At the same time, the Danish experience accumulated since 2005 demonstrates new opportunities and probable risks that Russian cement industry enterprises may face, having submitted carbon reporting for the first time in their history only in 2023. The performed calculation of GHG emissions for Iskitimcement Scopes 1 and 2 shows a gap in the carbon intensity of cement production when comparing Russian and international benchmarks. This gap is caused not only by technological features, but also by methodological approaches to carbon reporting, which also require modernization in Russia.