Enflamed CO2 emissions from cement production in Nepal

Abstract

Cement industry is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, specifically carbon dioxide (CO₂). This paper presents the cement production and the CO₂ emissions from the cement industry in Nepal. We compute emissions for the process-related, combustion-related (fuel use), and electricity-related activities during the cement production. We used eight emission factors (EFs) for the process-related, two EFs for the combustion or fuel-related, and two for the electricity-related activities using the previous researches. We computed the emissions as a product of the activities and the EFs. The estimated CO₂ emission in 2019 from the cement production is 3.45 ± 0.50 million metric tons (mMt) for Nepal. In 2019, the emissions are 1.87 ± 0.16 mMt from the process-related, 1.52 ± 0.34 mMt from the combustion-related, and 0.062 ± 0.004 mMt from the electricity use activities during the cement production in Nepal. Cumulative CO₂ emission was 22.73 ± 3.82 mMt from 1987 to 2019. Per capita CO₂ emission is 0.12 mMt for Nepal in 2019. Nepal contributes about 0.06% CO₂ emission from cement production to the global CO₂ emission (2.08 Gt) from the cement industry. By evaluating per capita gross domestic product (GDP) (from 1987/1988 to 2019/2020) and the human development index (HDI) (from 1990 to 2019) with the cement production, the result shows that cement production increases significantly (p < 0.01) with an increase in the GDP and the HDI. We emphasize that the study's outputs are directly relevant to the country's emission inventory, mitigation planning, and developing a strategy for cleaner production.

Keywords: CO2 emission; Cement production; Emission factor; Himalaya.