Global database of cement production assets and upstream suppliers – Nature

Published|

16/10/2023

Share|

Key Takeaways

  • The first globally comprehensive, open source, asset-level dataset of cement production facilities and likely supply sources has been published by the Spatial Finance Initiative.
  • Cement industry emissions account for 7% of the world’s GHG budget, but obtaining reliable data on production facilities is a challenge.
  • The SFI dataset meets this challenge, consolidating existing sources with geospatial computer vision and Large Language Modelling to produce a dataset including facility locations, ownership, asset-level info and sourcing patterns of raw materials.
  • As well as supporting industry to decarbonise and transition, this data can help governments to regulate, financial institutions to assess risks and environmental impacts, and NGOs to advocate for more sustainable practices.

Abstract

Cement producers and their investors are navigating evolving risks and opportunities as the sector’s climate and sustainability implications become more prominent. While many companies now disclose greenhouse gas emissions, the majority from carbon-intensive industries appear to delegate emissions to less efficient suppliers.

Recognizing this, we underscore the necessity for a globally consolidated asset-level dataset, which acknowledges production inputs provenance. Our approach not only consolidates data from established sources like development banks and governments but innovatively integrates the age of plants and the sourcing patterns of raw materials as two foundational variables of the asset-level data. These variables are instrumental in modeling cement production utilization rates, which in turn, critically influence a company’s greenhouse emissions.

Our method successfully combines geospatial computer vision and Large Language Modelling techniques to ensure a comprehensive and holistic understanding of global cement production dynamics.

Authors