The US Department of Energy cuts could spell trouble for clean cement.
The clean cement industry might be facing the end of the road, before it ever really got rolling.
On Friday, the US Department of Energy announced that it was canceling $3.7 billion in funding for 24 projects related to energy and industry. That included nearly $1.3 billion for cement-related projects.
Cement is a massive climate problem, accounting for roughly 7% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. What’s more, it’s a difficult industry to clean up, with huge traditional players and expensive equipment and infrastructure to replace. This funding was supposed to help address those difficulties, by supporting projects on the cusp of commercialization. Now companies will need to fill in the gap left by these cancellations, and it’s a big one.
First up on the list for cuts is Sublime Systems, a company you’re probably familiar with if you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while. I did a deep dive last year, and the company was on our list of Climate Tech Companies to Watch in both 2023 and 2024.
