一项新的加利福尼亚法律旨在在2045年底之前将与其水泥部门相关的温室气体减少到零排放量。专家说，这可能会影响联邦水泥法规。

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation, Senate Bill 596 or “cement sector: net-zero emissions strategy,” on Sept. 23 as part of a slate of new measures aimed at various climate and clean energy efforts. It will take effect Jan. 1. The law requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop a strategy to reach the carbon neutrality goal. It also sets interim goals including a 40% GHG reduction by the end of 2035, although it does allow for the board to adjust the goals by mid-2028.

律师事务所艾伦·玛特金斯（Allen Matkins）的合伙人达娜·帕尔默（Dana Palmer）说，新法律和战略可能会影响国家标准，他专门研究环境和自然资源问题。他预计，美国环境保护局可以在明年内开始自己的与水泥相关排放的规则制定程序。

“人们意识到,这一监管过程,甚至though it will only affect California, will likely be very influential on the federal regulatory process, especially with a like-minded administration currently in Washington, D.C., and it potentially could have ripple effects across the planet,” he says.

加利福尼亚内华达水泥协会的执行官托马斯·蒂兹（Thomas Tietz）表示，加利福尼亚水泥制造商已经致力于到2045年达到碳中立性，尽管他补充说，这将是“非常困难的”。该小组根据流程排放，燃烧排放/燃料转换和发电，于今年早些时候发布了自己的碳中立计划。Tietz说，新法律应该能够帮助该州的水泥领域加速其采用新技术，改用替代燃料，产生低碳混合物并增加效率提高。

对于承包商而言，加利福尼亚州首席执行官彼得·泰蒂西（Peter Tateishi）的AGC预计新法律不会发生任何重大变化。

“We’ll always meet the specifications based on what it is,” Tateishi says. “It may increase how we bid work, but I don’t think it’ll change how we do the work.”

To develop its strategy, CARB will define a metric for GHG intensity and evaluate 2019 data from cement manufacturing plants to establish a baseline. Then it will evaluate current and new measures to help reach the net-zero goal, working with experts from the industry, government agencies and elsewhere. It will have just 18 months to develop the comprehensive strategy, a timeline that Palmer calls “light speed in the context of governmental regulation.”

Palmer says there will be many public meetings and opportunities for companies in the industry to participate in the process. Because of the short timeline, he recommends that anyone interested — even from outside California — join when the process gets started in early 2022. The cement manufacturers group and AGC of California both intend to work with the air board throughout the process.

“We’re going to want to make sure that, as we’re implementing the law, it’s done in a way that won’t impact or harm our ability to do the work that is already in motion and has been bid out,” Tateishi says.

There are already some available technologies and practices Tietz says California cement producers can use to reduce their GHG emissions, although some state regulations actually make it harder to implement them than in other states. If a cement plant wanted to use waste heat energy, it would technically be classified as a utility, adding a slew of complications.

“Until we change some of those things, we’re stuck,” he says.

Other promising technologies still need more development before they can be widely implemented by the industry, Tietz says. He points to carbon capture and storage as one example that works but is currently prohibitively expensive.

Pricing is a big concern for suppliers, Tietz says. In California, cement producers are competing with imports from Asia.

“If any of this becomes too expensive for us to implement, we lose our competitiveness,” Tietz says. “This is all part of the balance that needs to be carefully considered as we move forward.”

The bill states that CARB will promote state and federal incentives to reduce the costs of implementing GHG reduction technologies and processes, and will evaluate ways to support market demand.

帕尔默说：“他们认识到，可能有必要引起市场对'绿色水泥的需求。”

The first incentives will likely be geared toward bidders on government contracts by requiring lower-carbon cement, Palmer says. As ENR previously reported, about 40 state DOTs already accept a newportland-limestone cement mix根据波特兰水泥协会的数据，碳足迹比传统的波特兰水泥低10％。

Menlo Park的民主党人乔什·贝克尔（Josh Becker）赞助了该法案。他正在制定一项后续法案，他说将为加利福尼亚州的“清洁法”中增加低碳混凝土，以提高对低碳水泥的需求。

In a statement, Becker said that GHG emissions from cement production contribute about 8 million tons of carbon dioxide in California each year, and that the sector is the second-largest industrial source of GHG emissions in the state behind oil and gas.

“California is now the leader in driving decarbonization of the cement industry – a crucial material in the built environment, but one that accounts for 7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the most challenging industries to decarbonize,” Becker said.