Ingenieria civil

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION
The crisis of climate change needs urgent solutions. This report proposes solutions for an industry sector which is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions, the cement industry. As economies grow and get wealthier, the demand for construction materials such as cement and concrete is booming. This is particularly visible in emerging economies. The global cementindustry is facing the challenge to sustain its business while decreasing its carbon intensity, from production processes, fuel uses and its product end use. Science tells us that the world must reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. WWF insists that developed countries show the way to this goal with decisive actions to reduce their emissions by 25-40per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 while supporting and financing additional emissions reductions in carbon- and energy-intensive sectors in developing nations. This report offers a range of solutions to enable cement companies to turn around their growth of CO2 emissions and shows how the cement industry can contribute to the task ahead of us. It describes a scenario in which the industry sectorgrows to more than twice its size in volume by 2050 while it reduces its absolute CO2 emissions by approximately three quarters compared to global emissions in 2007. Compared to a business-as-usual scenario, the reduction options are even more impressive: the avoided CO2 emissions amount to 90% compared to the situation in a “frozen technology scenario” in 2050. WWF believes that cement companiesaround the world must take steps to reduce their carbon footprint today, both in emerging economies and industrialized countries. The solutions proposed in this report can help the industry move in the right direction, set targets and take action that will lead to deep greenhouse gas emission reductions. It is clear that these actions need support from a corresponding policy framework, which mustbe based on strong caps on overall emissions in developed countries. At the same time, the framework must ensure that developing countries, in particular emerging economies, deviate substantially from a business-as-usual development path. To make this possible, sufficient financial resources and technology must be made available from developed countries. A policy framework specifically for thecement sector must contain the following elements: • Policy regulations taking effect as soon as possible, which guarantee that any newly built or retrofitted cement plants install only best available technology. • A technology action programme to enable the industry to reach globally set sectoral standards. This action programme should receive financial support for Non-Annex 1 countries from Annex1 countries. • Policies to support cross-sectoral mitigation efforts, as the end-user industries such as the construction industry will play a crucial role in the efficient and appropriate use of cement. This type of cross-sectoral mitigation effort has been largely unexplored to date. • Policies that guarantee the sustainable production of biomass energy sources, which could reduce the industry’sdependency on fossil fuels. • Standardized criteria and screens for financial service companies to define and integrate the climate risk of the cement sector and individual cement companies. While this report in particular focuses on solutions for the cement sector in China, it is obvious that these solutions can and must be transferred to other countries as well, including industrializedcountries. The carbon intensity of cement production in industrialized regions, in particular in North America, is sometimes worse than that in emerging economies. WWF urges cement producers all around the world to develop serious action and investment plans to achieve a low carbon business model for their industry
ARTICULO TRADUCIDO: La crisis del cambio climático necesita soluciones urgentes. Este...