After 15 years of innovation that was foundational to Stanford’s clean energy education, research, dialogue, and related policy work, the Steyer-Taylor Center closes its doors as its term endowment comes to an end. We remain grateful to Stanford alumni Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor for their vision in establishing the Center. Some of STC’s work lives on through the research of its former fellows and Stanford’s Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI).

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At 8% of global emissions, the cement industry emits more CO2 than global aviation and all the heavy trucks in the world combined. Cement is hard to decarbonize because 60% of the 2.3 billion tons of annual emissions come not from fuels and electricity, but from the very raw material used to make cement itself — limestone. Limestone releases almost half its weight as CO2 when heated to 900 degrees Celsius, an integral part of the production process of ordinary portland cement. Even if cement could be produced using only renewable electricity, it would still emit more than a billion tons of CO2 annually.

The “Sustainable Cement” project is led by Eric Trusiewicz and seeks to gain comprehensive and practical understanding of various approaches to CO2 reduction, both existing and emerging, and to generate recommendations for how impact can be realistically achieved through both private and public sector tools.