Cement is hitting a wall. There’s no coming back

WHAT’S the most important commodity for modern civilisation? There’s a good argument that it’s not the ones we think about – oil, gas, copper, iron ore, gold – but something that’s ubiquitous and rarely grabs the attention of financial markets: concrete.

After water, it’s the substance we use most abundantly, with somewhere between 25 billion and 30 billion metric tonnes poured annually. That’s roughly three times as much as all the coal we dig up.

It’s also a major contributor to the world’s carbon footprint. Cement – the crucial mineral glue that holds concrete together, made from fire-treated limestone and clay – accounts for roughly 8 per cent of our annual emissions.