Quarries are temporary, but their environmental impacts are forever: How ecodesign can help
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By Wherever you are reading this, the chances are that cement – in the form of a building, a road, or a sidewalk – is not far away. Still, very few of us are aware of cement's massive environmental impact – and even fewer know that solutions exist to minimise it.
An essential component of cement is limestone, which is heated at extreme temperatures to create clinker – cement’s key binding ingredient. Limestone is extracted from large, open pit mines called quarries. In Europe, it is estimated that there are 400 active limestone quarries.
Quarries are temporary, but their environmental impacts are forever.
Quarries are created by removing topsoil, followed by drilling and blasting to extract minerals and sedimentary rocks. Roads and other facilities are also created to support mining operations, such as transport. Every stage of a quarry’s life cycle comes at an enormous environmental cost: loss of natural carbon sinks, eradication of biodiversity, noise and air pollution, and disruption of natural streams and springs. And these losses can never be reversed, even after quarries are inevitably abandoned.
These harmful effects aren’t only felt by the local flora and fauna, but also by people. In certain cases, local populations have even been permanently displaced. After there is nothing left to be extracted, or extraction becomes unprofitable, quarries often become filled with rainwater – creating dangerous lakes with sharp rocks and cliffs – or, worse still, are used as landfills.
Restoring quarries is only one small step towards restoring nature.
There are many examples of completed or ongoing quarry restoration projects, such as rewilding or reinventing quarries into parks and safe lakes.
The traditional cement industry in Europe has been involved in many of these projects. But these efforts should also be reinforced with a more holistic approach. According to the biodiversity mitigation hierarchy, avoiding biodiversity loss should be the default over rehabilitation and restoration. While we can restore quarries, the damage is already done, and it is only a band-aid solution for a growing wound.
How can the industry rebuild to protect people and planet?
The demand for cement is expected to almost double by 2050. Mainstreaming circularity in the construction sector will be key to reduce the demand for primary resources. That means extending the lifetime of buildings and construction products, as well as making them smarter with carbon and resource-friendly alternatives.
Innovators – globally and in Europe – across the cement, concrete, and construction value chain are already leading the change, putting forward low-carbon solutions that use what would otherwise be wasted as feedstock. These solutions are already available and scalable at nearly zero cost – but standards and policies that promote large-scale uptake of low-carbon solutions are lagging.
What can the EU do?
This autumn, ongoing trilogues offer co-legislators a window of opportunity to deliver a strong framework for ecodesign with parallel negotiations of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Construction Productions Regulations (CPR). Both are key pillars of the European Green Deal and have the underlying ambition to make sustainability the norm for all goods on the market, including cement.
If successful, the EU can phase out carbon- and resource-intensive cement from the market – protecting nature, delivering on climate promises, and setting a welcome precedent for other regions in the world.
