Roadmap for Decarbonization of the Building and Construction Industry—A Supply Chain Analysis Including Primary Production of Steel and Cement

• Main Authors: Ida Karlsson, Johan Rootzén, Alla Toktarova, Mikael Odenberger, Filip Johnsson, Lisa Göransson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: construction; building; supply chain; decarbonization; roadmap; heavy industry
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/16/4136

Sweden has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero by 2045. Around 20% of Sweden’s annual CO₂ emissions arise from manufacturing, transporting, and processing of construction materials for construction and refurbishment of buildings and infrastructure. In this study, material and energy flows for building and transport infrastructure construction is outlined, together with a roadmap detailing how the flows change depending on different technical and strategical choices. By matching short-term and long-term goals with specific technology solutions, these pathways make it possible to identify key decision points and potential synergies, competing goals, and lock-in effects. The results show that it is possible to reduce CO₂ emissions associated with construction of buildings and transport infrastructure by 50% to 2030 applying already available measures, and reach close to zero emissions by 2045, while indicating that strategic choices with respect to process technologies and energy carriers may have different implications on energy use and CO₂ emissions over time. The results also illustrate the importance of intensifying efforts to identify and manage both soft and hard barriers and the importance of simultaneously acting now by implementing available measures (e.g., material efficiency and material/fuel substitution measures), while actively planning for long-term measures (low-CO₂ steel or cement).