This is a place where carbon capture and storage would be a natural fit. Seriously.
Cement is but one example of industrial processes that inherently release large amounts of CO2 even if we were to go 100% renewable energy-wise. Applying carbon-capture technology to cement plants would be a way to actually bring their emissions down to zero regardless. Capturing CO2 directly from such CO2-intensive processes would certainly give way more bang for the buck than trying to capture CO2 out of thin air, as many seems to be placing their hopes on these days.
And this is not theoretical. At least here in Norway, it is already being done at one cement plant: https://www.norcem.no/en/CCS
If you combine this with the CO2 capturing aspects of concrete itself as mentioned by other commentators, would that mean you can actually have a net CO2 level decrease?
Cement is but one example of industrial processes that inherently release large amounts of CO2 even if we were to go 100% renewable energy-wise. Applying carbon-capture technology to cement plants would be a way to actually bring their emissions down to zero regardless. Capturing CO2 directly from such CO2-intensive processes would certainly give way more bang for the buck than trying to capture CO2 out of thin air, as many seems to be placing their hopes on these days.
And this is not theoretical. At least here in Norway, it is already being done at one cement plant: https://www.norcem.no/en/CCS