CO₂ label for cement

Basic principles

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has developed a system for categorising cements on the basis of their greenhouse gas emissions in order to incentivise the low-emission and, in the long term, virtually emission-free production of cement. The concept was further specified for implementation in Germany in the stakeholder dialogue ‘Lead markets for climate-friendly raw materials’ of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).

Building on this, the German Cement Works Association (VDZ) has introduced a voluntary CO₂ label for cement (‘CCC label’) initiated by the private sector. In future, cements can be classified into a ‘Cement Carbon Class’ (CCC) depending on the greenhouse gas emissions of the products. The information is provided as equivalent CO₂ emissions (CO₂Equ) and the corresponding classes are derived from the thresholds defined in the BMWK concept ‘Lead markets for climate-friendly raw materials’.

CO₂ classes and CCC label

The classification of cements is based on a proposal by the IEA, which provides for six classes: The “NZ” (Near Zero) level and then classes A to E in ascending order. To specify the approach in Germany, the clinker/cement factor of 0.7 was taken into account as a regional input variable. The following classes were derived from the model for Germany:

Cements in the “Near Zero” (NZ) class and classes A to D are considered climate-friendly cements in accordance with the BMWK's “Lead markets for climate-friendly basic materials” concept in Germany. Class E from the IEA approach is not considered emission-reduced or climate-friendly in Germany, so there are no plans to certify cements in this class.

The limit values derived for the clinker/cement factor 0.7 for the classes are shown in the following table. The net values are relevant in each case, i.e. without incineration of waste during clinker production and with allocation of e.g. granulated blast furnace slag.

VDZ's new CO₂ label classifies climate-friendly products as follows: Classes A to D identify low-emission cements with a CO₂ footprint of between 100 kg CO₂/t cement and 500 kg CO₂/t cement in four levels. ‘Near zero’ cements are those with a CO₂ footprint of less than 100 kg CO₂/t of cement.

Once a cement has been classified in one of the classes NZ to D and certified accordingly, the manufacturer has the right to use the CCC label issued for the cement, for example on bags and delivery bills or in product information. The following illustration shows the various labels.