Issues, interventions, and innovations in the cement industry: A comparative trajectory analysis of eco-cement transitions in the Netherlands, China, and Japan

Total CO2 emissions from the cement industry approximately correspond to 8% of the global CO2 emissions. In this chapter, we compare and contrast the co-evolutionary trajectories of eco-cement technology and policy in the Netherlands, China and Japan. We reveal that the transition processes away from Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) to eco-cement follow different conjunctural causation patterns and temporalities due to “multiple stream determinants” emanating from varying degrees of (i) intervention capacities and capabilities of actors in politico-administrative and sociocultural domains, (ii) socio-technical alignment of the policy stream to techno-economic and scientific possibilities, and (iii) the nature of market demand with regard to both traditional and alternative cements. A common target in each context is to reduce the contribution of this basic industry in overall carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with circular economy policies playing a significantly increasing role in each trajectory.