Transitioning Thailand's Cement Industry Towards Carbon Neutrality

In response to its significant emissions footprint, the Thai Cement Manufacturers Association (TCMA) developed the Thailand 2050 Net Zero & Concrete Roadmap, outlining decarbonisation pathways aligned with national goals of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2065. With the release of NDC 3.0, which advances the national net-zero target to 2050, the cement industry will be required to accelerate and intensify its transition efforts.

This report identifies the policy measures and enabling conditions that would make the roadmap's decarbonisation targets achievable in the Thai context. Drawing on international case studies, techno-economic assessments, and global benchmarking, particularly from other leading cement-producing nations, the report evaluates a range of decarbonisation options across the cement value chain and proposes a phased policy framework spanning short-term (2025–2030), medium-term (2030–2040), and long-term (2040–2060) horizons. It also maps the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders to ensure that every segment of the value chain contributes to, and benefits from, Thailand's transition towards a carbon-neutral cement sector by 2050.

The report finds that decarbonising the sector requires addressing two distinct sources of emissions. Energy-related emissions, which account for approximately 30 percent of the sector's total, stem largely from continued reliance on coal; while machinery efficiency improvements can reduce electricity-related emissions, a shift towards cleaner energy sources will be necessary to secure higher reductions, and expanding the use of biomass and waste-derived fuels will require strategic allocation and improved waste-management systems, particularly in coordination with the power sector. Process emissions from calcination, which account for roughly 60 percent of total emissions, present a more structural challenge: low-carbon hydraulic cement and the phase-out of Ordinary Portland Cement offer near-term reductions, but closing the remaining gap will depend on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCU/S) technologies that remain at an early stage of development globally and have not yet been demonstrated at scale in Thailand.

Achieving industrial decarbonisation will require robust and coherent government policy across the value chain, coordinated action among government agencies and industry, and stronger engagement from demand-side stakeholders including the infrastructure and construction sectors. The report suggests on legislative and regulatory reform to expand renewable electricity use and enable future CCU/S deployment, performance-based green procurement standards to stimulate demand for low-carbon cement and pricing mechanisms such as carbon pricing or tax incentives to improve its competitiveness.

This report was commissioned by the project Thai-German Cooperation on Energy, Mobility and Climate (TGC EMC), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action through the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The analysis presented in this report was carried out by King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, with support from the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Agora Industry, and Agora Energiewende. The findings and interpretations contained herein do not necessarily reflect the views of TGC EMC.