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Four MPs attended an adjournment debate on the topic of the decarbonisation of cement in the House of Commons last Thursday (23^rd October). 

The Labour MP for Derbyshire Dales, John Whitby, who has the UK’s largest cement works in his constituency – Breedon’s Hope works – initiated the debate to press government for support.

Specifically, he called for support for the Peak Cluster cement decarbonisation project, a planned carbon dioxide transport pipeline network connecting carbon capture sites in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire to a carbon storage location on the Wirral.

Whitby asked for government “to establish a clear route to market for industrial carbon capture projects beyond track 1 and track 2? Establishing a clear route to market would give investors and operators confidence that a final investment decision on Peak Cluster and Morecambe Net Zero will be made within this Parliament,” he said. “The sooner that is done, the sooner businesses will have the certainty needed to invest, and the sooner all of us will benefit from the growth that such investments will deliver.”

He also asked government to legislate to ensure that all developments report on how much carbon is released through the production and use of construction materials.

“Mandatory embodied carbon reporting is needed to drive down the emissions released from construction,” he argued. “Mandatory reporting would provide consistency to the construction industry, which must currently deal with a patchwork of local regulations, and reporting would also help stimulate the growth of lower-carbon building materials. Only sufficient demand will enable low-carbon technologies to develop at scale, and this demand can only be achieved through appropriate regulation.”

Replying for the government fell to Chris McDonald, parliamentary under-secretary of state and minister for industry in the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Business & Trade (DBT). First elected in July 2024, he was fast-tracked to government ministry just last month. His portfolio includes construction.

It was fortunate on this occasion the government had someone who genuinely knew what he was talking about. Before he was elected MP for Stockton North last year he had spent 10 years as chief executive of the Materials Processing Institute, having previously led its divestment from Tata Steel.

Sadly, apart from the deputy speaker, only three MPs were there to hear him.

“I have no extreme desire to turn the House into a lecture theatre,” McDonald said, “but it may be helpful to dwell for a moment on the chemistry of cement production.”

He then embarked on a lecture on the history as well as the chemistry of cement before precising current industry decarbonisation initiatives, including Material Evolution’s MevoCem, Reclinker (formerly Cambridge Electric Cement) and Ecocem’s activating cementitious technology (ACT) – just to prove how on top of his brief he is.

“The pioneering work I have referred to is not just about cutting emissions and protecting our environment,” he continued “we should not be blind to the huge economic opportunity. In 2023, the UK consumed just over 11 million tonnes of cement, but we produced only 7 million tonnes ourselves. The remainder, around 30%, was imported from primarily European countries, including France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. This is quite a new situation, as it was usual for the UK to produce the cement that we needed in our own economy. Cement is very heavy, and it is expensive to transport. I see this as a lost opportunity to capture additional economic value for the UK.

“Let me put it this way: if we produced domestically what we currently import, we would need to increase production by half. A 50% growth rate in the UK cement industry is conceivable; it would mean around five additional cement plants in the country. Between them, they would create around 750 jobs and £170m in gross value added, and would eliminate nearly half a billion pounds in the trade deficit on cement that we had in 2023. Low-carbon cement also opens up new market opportunities. The Norwegian Brevik cement plant is now operating with carbon capture. It has sold out of its low-carbon cement in 2025, and has a growing order book.”

McDonald said that UK cement producers would benefit from the proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism. “We have published draft legislation to enable us to deliver it by January 2027,” the minister said. “That mechanism will ensure that highly traded carbon-intensive products from overseas, including products in the cement sector, face a comparable carbon price to UK goods. I understand that it will give industry the confidence that it needs to invest in the UK.

On issue of legislation to mandate emissions reporting, the minister said: “The government have just consulted on an embodied emissions reporting framework, which will simplify and harmonise existing private sector data and instil more confidence in the data that is being produced. It aims to help producers with measuring, reporting and verifying the embodied emissions of industrial products in a more standardised and comparable way. The objective of that is to remove information failures and support buyers in making informed purchasing decisions.”

He concluded: “The government are determined to mark a departure from the de-industrialisation of the past. We know how vital heavy industry such as cement is to our economy, to our most important building projects, and for thousands of well-paid jobs across the country. The prime minister himself has spoken of our determination to renew Britain through investment in new homes, infrastructure and public services. That renewal will also mean a re-industrialisation of parts of our country that suffered from factory closure and a lack of investment under the previous government.

“A new age of industrial renewal has begun. I thank my honourable friend for securing this debate and I look forward to working with him and the cement industry on how we can secure investment and grow the industry in the future.”

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