Energy shortage versus climate crisis?

Dear Readers, A documentary on television just said that in a survey, companies also answered that with sharply rising energy costs, projects for environmental protection would have to be put on the back burner for the time being. Otherwise they would no longer be able to bear the costs. At present, we have to deal with several serious global crises. But can we afford to let climate protection wait? Experts say that any climate protection measures we don’t take now will cost us many times more in the future.

One of the focal points of this issue is “Environmental technology” – we couldn’t have found a more topical subject just now. And many cement manufacturers, as well as the building materials manufacturers in general, have set themselves strong goals despite all adversities, which are also reflected in the articles in our issue: “HeidelbergCement announces largest carbon capture project to date” (p. 4), the reference to the CarbonZero Global Conference in Lisbon (p. 8), “Cement industry first to join Canada’s Net-Zero Challenge” (p. 11) – to name just a selection from the many articles with this focus by way of example. Our “Markets and Trends” article by Dr Joachim Harder, “Next-generation carbon capture technologies for cement industries,” fits perfectly into this issue. If the price of a ton of CO₂ in emissions trading becomes more expensive, CO₂ technologies for capture, storage and further use will become increasingly worthwhile. Our column on p. 72 by Matthias Mersmann asks a very important question of all of us: “What’s actually stopping us from really using the tools to save our planet that we already have and know about?”

In any case, I will follow the book tip at the end of the column and am already very curious about the content – maybe it will also turn into a review for ZKG Cement Lime Gypsum ...

Wishing you a good time with lots of insights

Dr Petra Strunk
Editor-in-Chief
ZKG Cement Lime Gypsum