Europe’s resilience is built on many pillars, including the infrastructure that connects its regions, strengthens its economy and supports its strategic autonomy. Cement is central to these foundations.
As a strategic industry for Europe, with a local value chain producing close to where materials are used, cement supports housing, renewable energy deployment, transport corridors, digital infrastructure and defence-related, dual-use installations. In a more uncertain geopolitical environment, ensuring that Europe can continue to build at home is a strategic necessity.
What is needed now is greater urgency in putting the right policy conditions in place
With more than 200 plants across the EU, cement is embedded in European regions and essential for delivering the public goods that make the Union competitive and secure. Europe’s dual-use transport networks, corridors, tunnels, bridges, ports and airports must serve both civilian and military mobility, requiring materials capable of withstanding heavy loads, extreme conditions and fire risks. Cement and concrete provide the long-term structural integrity and reliability needed for such critical assets, supporting both operational readiness and societal resilience.
Delivering net zero infrastructure: CCUS as essential industrial backbone
The sector has already reduced net emissions by almost 30% since 1990 and is implementing more than 120 innovation projects across efficiency, alternative fuels, clinker substitution and circularity. Yet around two thirds of cement’s emissions are process related and structurally unavoidable. Even after all traditional decarbonisation levers are deployed, around 40% of remaining emissions must still be captured, used or stored. For cement, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is essential industrial infrastructure.
The next Multiannual Financial Framework offers a pivotal opportunity to align funding tools with industrial needs
Technologies are advancing and large-scale projects are taking shape, but deployment at scale still faces barriers. Europe needs an enabling framework that brings together CO₂ transport networks, geographically balanced storage capacity, permitting systems aligned with industrial timelines, and funding and de-risking tools that can support final investment decisions. Without this infrastructure, Europe cannot deliver net zero cement at the scale required for its energy transition, housing needs or defence related infrastructure planning.
Funding Europe’s strategic industrial infrastructure
The next Multiannual Financial Framework offers a pivotal opportunity to align funding tools with industrial needs. The proposed €100 billion Industrial Decarbonisation Fund, supported by Innovation Fund resources, ETS revenues and InvestEU, can help scale deployment for hard to abate sectors. To succeed, Europe must strengthen de risking tools such as guarantees and carbon contracts for difference and ensure that funding frameworks enable final investment decisions.
At the same time, the cement sector alone will contribute between €97 billion and €162 billion to the EU ETS between 2023 and 2034. Returning a predictable share of these revenues to support industrial decarbonisation would create the certainty needed to advance CCUS projects and protect Europe’s industrial capacity.
Cement as the backbone of a competitive, connected Europe
A resilient Europe needs resilient foundations. Cement enables the infrastructure that keeps Europe competitive, connected and secure. With the Cement Action Plan as a shared roadmap, the sector stands ready to invest and deliver. What is needed now is greater urgency in putting the right policy conditions in place. The task now is to turn plans into projects – ensuring that the transition is built in Europe, for Europe.
Click to find out about the Cement Action Plan and how the sector addresses the dual challenge of competitiveness and transition
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