Turkey's Carbon Emission Will Decrease Thanks To Green Cement

Fatih Yücelik, Chairman of TÜRKÇİMENTO underscored that the sector, whose main goal is to ensure low carbon production, is meticulously working on alternative fuel and raw material use, energy efficiency, and digitalization in harmony with the green deal during the statement he made within the scope of World Environment Day on June 5th

In the statement he made on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5th, Chairman of the TÜRKÇİMENTO, the umbrella organization of the cement sector, expressed that the taking effect in March, of the communiqué issued by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change is a very important step for the sector. “This communiqué will enable reducing the carbon emissions by 11 million tones in the upcoming 10 years. This will help prevent 1,3 million tones of petroleum coke and coal imports. We will therefore have a potential of ensuring an environmental benefit which is equivalent to 500 million trees.” said Yücelik.

Stressing the fact that the Turkish cement sector attributes priority to cement production that always abides by international standards and that may every time be audited, Fatih Yücelik reminded that the Turkish cement sector ranks the leading position in Europe and the second position in the world while ranking the second largest exporter position in the world in respect of the sum of cement and clinker. The Turkish cement sector that holds a cement production capacity which is an equivalent of 120 million tones carries on production in totally 77 factories across Türkiye with 56 integrated and 21 grinding factories.      

Paving the Way For Green Cements brough a Great Advantage “Considering the obligations that may be offered by EU’s Cross Border Adjustment Mechanism, we think it will bring in a great advantage for paving the way for green cement as it provides economic advantage and reduces environmental impacts. A cooperation between the public sector, academy, non-governmental organizations, and the entire stakeholders of the sector in order for the sector to provide the accomplishments defined for decarbonization/low carbon production in the upcoming term, without neglecting the requirement for the regulations relating to sector’s access to alternative raw materials and alternative fuel” said  Fatih Yücelik, Chairman of TÜRKÇİMENTO.      

Adding that the main goal of the sector is to conduct low carbon production, and that they have been working meticulously regarding the use of alternative fuels and raw materials as well as energy efficiency and digitalization, Yücelik said the following:    
“As cited in our low-carbon production roadmap, our sector considers crucial the use of alternative fuels and raw materials, reducing the use of clinker in production, energy efficiency, and technological investments. As our calculatons show, we have acquired 12% of our energy need out of alternative fuels by using 1,8 million tones of waste in the year 2023.  Besides, we used 6,2 million tone sof alternative raw materials in 2023.  Energy-efficiency oriented production is as important as using alternative fuels and raw materals for carbon emission reduction.  With a view to ensuring energy efficiency, we are intstalling ‘waste heat recovery’ plants through recycling the gas emitted from the stack during production. As updated figures show, with the help of equities, 154,5 MW of energy is being generated in 17 factories on 26 installed lines. This figure corresponds to the daily energy consumption of around 618 thousand households per day. In other words, we are talking about a figure which equals the power consumption of around 2,5 million people. Considering the fact that the ratio of energy in cement production is around 80%, we can see both the environmental and economic yield of the energy generated by waste heat recovery.”      

“Our sector is particularly going through a process of adapting to twin transformation. We have transitioned into a term where green and digital are interconnected. Social transformation marks another major element in this transition. Therefore, we are drawing our roadmap by  revising twin transformation as triple transformation.” said Yücelik who underscored the Turkish cement sector’s support behind ‘Türkiye’s Green Development Revolution’ with the goal of reaching net emission by 2053.