Context
Kenya’s cement industry is a key pillar of economic growth, supporting urbanisation, infrastructure and housing. Production reached 9.49 million tonnes in 2025, up 17% year-on-year, as demand rises alongside construction activity growing at around 7.5% annually. Cement manufacturing is also Kenya’s largest source of industrial emissions, driven mainly by clinker production and coal-fired kilns, with clinker content remaining high at around 76%. Without intervention, continued growth could lock in decades of high emissions as producers expand clinker capacity to meet demand. Kenya’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets emissions reductions of 32% by 2030 and 35% by 2035. The project supports this ambition by demonstrating Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3), a lower-carbon alternative that can enable production growth without equivalent expansion of clinker capacity.
Goals and approach to transformational change
The project aims to establish LC3 as a commercially viable, scalable alternative to conventional clinker-intensive cement in Kenya. By reducing clinker content to around 35%, LC3 can substantially lower emissions while allowing cement production to expand without equivalent growth in clinker capacity. The project combines first-mover investment support with changes to standards, procurement and technical capacity, addressing both the cost and market barriers to adoption. Six initial investments will demonstrate commercial viability and create a model for wider uptake across Kenya. By establishing the technical, regulatory and financial conditions for LC3 adoption, the project also aims to enable replication in other clinker-intensive East African cement markets.
Components and support mechanisms
The project establishes a financial facility to de-risk first-mover LC3 investments in Kenya’s cement sector. It combines a Mitigation Action Facility grant covering up to 20% of eligible capital expenditure per plant, senior debt at more competitive rates than domestic lending, and sponsor equity from participating cement producers covering around 30% of project costs. Together, these instruments are expected to mobilise around EUR 150 million across six first-mover projects, reducing the cost of capital sufficiently to make LC3 investments viable without subsidising operations.
Technical assistance complements the financial support by reforming cement standards and procurement rules, supporting feasibility studies and bankable project documentation, coordinating stakeholders across the value chain, and training producers, financiers and regulators. Outreach will include women, youth and informal workers.
Long-term impact
The six initial LC3 investments are expected to avoid around 2.8 MtCO2e by reducing cement emissions intensity from 0.642 to 0.376 tCO2 per tonne. Wider adoption across Kenya could reduce emissions by a further 1.6 MtCO2e annually, or around 32 MtCO2e over 20 years. By demonstrating LC3 at commercial scale and addressing investment and regulatory barriers, the project could also support replication in other clinker-intensive East African markets.