Building materials: Chokepoints and risks
Cement, concrete, bricks, tiles, glass and gypsum board made from quarried minerals
Chokepoints and risks
- Carbon cost: cement production accounts for around 8% of global CO2 emissions, much of it from calcining limestone, so carbon pricing and border taxes are the largest long-run risk3.
- Fuel exposure: kilns run largely on imported coal and petcoke, tying costs to global coal prices.
- Sand and aggregate shortages from river-sand mining bans and quarry approvals.
- Fly-ash supply will shrink as coal power is phased down, which threatens blended cements.
- Overcapacity and price wars when consolidators add capacity faster than demand.