Page 62 - 2022 Sustainability Report
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ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
Leadership positions in industry and advocacy • Maintain our agreement with Fortera at our former
associations that support actions to control Redding California cement plant where it is in the process
climate change of constructing a pilot carbon capture plant to determine
• Participating in working groups at both the PCA and the feasibility of this technology at other locations
NRMCA to evaluate the feasibility and/or opportunity • Support for the MIT Sustainability Hub, which conducts
associated with PCA’s 2050 “Net Zero Roadmap” research supporting the beneficial use of low-carbon
published in the 3 quarter of 2021, along with other footprint concrete and brings together leaders from
rd
developments relevant to commercial-scale CCS academia, industry and government to develop a holistic
technologies that we anticipate being considered by the approach that will achieve durable and sustainable
industry in the coming years homes, buildings and infrastructure in ever more
demanding environments
Net Zero 2050 Ambition
At Martin Marietta we recognize the importance of continuing to set goals for sustainability and to increase transparency
around GHG emissions reporting. We also believe that establishing firm targets requires an achievable plan to meet those
targets in order to provide investors with meaningful disclosure. Accordingly, in this year’s report we are setting forth for
the first time our ambition that both our Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2e emissions across all business lines will be Net Zero
by 2050.
In our engagement with many of our investors, we have heard that some of our competitors, particularly in the cement
sector, have made firm Net Zero commitments. Many of these global cement companies making such commitments are
relying upon levers to reduce their carbon footprint which are either not currently allowed in the United States or which
depend largely upon technologies that have yet to be proven or developed to a commercial scale. To meet our Net Zero
ambition, we will need to see progress in the following areas.
As discussed in “Clinker Substitution and Blending” at page 55 above, clinker factor in cement dramatically effects its
GHG intensity. While clinker substitution rates of 28 to 50 percent are common outside the U.S., that level of blended
cement is not allowable in the U.S. for most highway and infrastructure work which makes up the bulk of our product
mix. While the global cement companies rely upon reductions in clinker factor to levels below 70% to achieve their 2030
and 2050 targets, this is not currently available to us and thus a reduction in intensity significantly greater than our
current targets is not technically possible. To achieve our ambition to be Net Zero by 2050, both ASTM and the various
Federal and State Departments of Transportation will need to accept additional blended cements. The PCA continues to
advocate and provide research in this regard.
Similarly, as discussed in “Alternative Fuel Use” at page 55, global cement players are taking advantage of incentives
for alternate fuels and a different method of calculating carbon intensity that effectively disregards the GHG contribution
of such fuels. Again, the regulatory strictures and calculation differences in the U.S. have limited the ability of U.S.
producers to take similar advantage of many alternate fuels. To achieve our ambition to be Net Zero by 2050, both the
USEPA, along with other state and federal government agencies will need to revamp their regulatory schemes in this area,
provide additional incentives to make the burning of alternate fuels attractive and to allow an apples to apples method of
calculating emissions from alternative fuels. The PCA continues to advocate and provide research on this topic as well.
Most importantly, we will need to see full commercialization of carbon capture technology in order to meet our
ambition. The IEA, the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) and even the major cement companies acknowledge that
without carbon capture, the ability for the cement sector to achieve any Net Zero Target or ambition is limited due to the
inherent chemical reactions that are part of calcination. As of this writing, carbon capture technology remains to be
proven on any cement plant at full scale operations. The closest to being brought on line is Heidelberg’s Brevik, Norway
60 2022 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT