Innovating for a Low Carbon Future
Innovating for a Low Carbon Future
Climate change is one of the defining global challenges of our time. We have a business ambition to be net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and are working to ensure that our businesses and products are part of the solution.
We are accelerating existing levers to decarbonise our operations and supply chain, in line with our 2030 roadmap and we are partnering to innovate new technologies and solutions. We are also innovating and delivering the low carbon solutions needed for a decarbonised and resilient built environment, including the construction of energy efficient buildings and clean energy infrastructure.
kg/$ revenue greenhouse gas emissions Scope 1 and Scope 2
% year-on-year reduction in absolute carbon emissions
To achieve our target we have developed a decarbonisation roadmap to 2030, an important milestone of our strategy towards achieving our ambition to be net-zero by 2050. It is important to note that this target applies to our group-wide gross emissions and covers our total footprint across Scope 1, 2 and 3. It is also inclusive of organic business growth.
In early 2023, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)1 validated our revised targets in line with the updated 1.5°C science-based framework which now equate to a 30% reduction in absolute carbon emissions by 20302 (from a 2021 base year).
In 2021, we accelerated our target to decrease the carbon intensity of our cement production, bringing forward our cement specific net CO2 emissions per tonne of cementitious product target of 520kg from 2030 to 2025.
We have also joined the ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ initiative, which aims to achieve net-zero global emissions by no later than 2050 in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
In 2022 we have progressed against our targets:
Find out more about what we are doing on Decarbonisation:
2022 Sustainability Performance Report
1 SBTi validated target wording: CRH commits to reduce gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions 33.5% per tonne of cementitious product by 2030 from a 2021 base year*. CRH also commits to reduce absolute gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions from other activities 42.0% by 2030 from a 2021 base year*. CRH further commits to reduce gross Scope 3 GHG emissions 23.5% from purchased clinker and cement per tonne purchased over the same timeframe. *The target boundary includes land-related emissions and removals from bioenergy feedstocks.
2 CRH is not relying on carbon offsetting to achieve its 2030 emission reduction target and is committed to decarbonising our operations and value chain. We are involved in a number of initiatives with a goal of removing carbon emissions from the atmosphere. In the longer-term, carbon offsets may become more relevant for residual emissions.