Page 26 - 2019 Sustainability Report

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF BLENDING AND FUEL CHOICE

While we are proud of these achievements — and, in fact, metric tonnes of CO e/metric tonnes of clinker (and
2
as discussed below with respect to our 2030 reduction in many cases is actually higher), international cement
goals, we have committed to further reduce the carbon companies can reduce the carbon intensity they publicly
intensity of our cement and magnesia businesses — we report by simply substituting higher percentages of non-
also believe it is important to recognize critical regulatory clinker products for clinker in their end product, rather than
differences between the U.S. and the European Union (and actually reducing total emissions or improving efficiencies in
other international jurisdictions) that result in meaningful the manufacturing process.
differences in the makeup of corresponding end-products
and reported emissions metrics. Those differences, in In addition, in the U.S., alternative fuel use by the
turn, make like-for-like comparisons of the emissions cement industry averages only 15 percent of the fuel
performance of such companies challenging. mix, compared to 36 percent of the fuel mix used in the
5
European Union and as high as 60 percent in Germany.
For example, outside of the U.S., the allowable rate of In large part, this is because combustion of secondary
“clinker substitution” — the replacement of ground clinker alternate fuels is incentivized in the European Union,
in cement with alternate materials such as pozzalan, slag whereas in the U.S. environmental laws and USEPA
and fly ash — is much higher than it is in the U.S. because regulations create hurdles to using these materials as
of the limitations imposed by the American Society for fuel sources. Moreover, the calculation of reportable CO
2
Testing and Materials, Inc. (ASTM) and Department of emissions under international regulations differs materially
Transportation (DOT) standards for domestic cement. While from the calculation allowed under USEPA regulation.
our clinker substitution rates (like other U.S. producers)
generally does not exceed 10 percent, the average clinker We believe that our track record of achieving
substitution rates for international cement companies is comparably favorable clinker intensities, despite
in the range of 28 percent to 50 percent, depending on these regulatory differences, highlights our record
the type of cement. Accordingly, even where their clinker of investing in our plants. It further underscores our
4
intensity (the amount of CO generated in producing a continued dedication to sustainable practices in our
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tonne of clinker) is comparable to our 2019 rate of 0.81 operations.

Reclamation at Midlothian Quarry
in Virginia.

4 European cement standard EN 197-1 “Cement – Part 1: composition, specifications and conformity criteria for common cements”, as reported by CEMBUREAU.
5
PCA Response to House Select Committee on Climate Crisis dated 11/22/2019, pg. 5.

26 / MARTIN MARIETTA / SUSTAINABILITY REPORT / 2019