Evaluating the Use of Alternative Fuels in Cement Production for Environmental Sustainability

Taj Wali, Azmat Qayum, Fahad Algarni (), Fazle Malik and Saeed Ullah Jan
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Taj Wali: MEW School of Leadership, Dubai 25315, United Arab Emirates
Azmat Qayum: MEW School of Leadership, Dubai 25315, United Arab Emirates
Fahad Algarni: Faculty of Computing and Information Science, Department of Computer Science, University of Bisha, Bisha 14174, Saudi Arabia
Fazle Malik: Otsuka Pakistan Limited, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Saeed Ullah Jan: Higher Education Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Government Degree College Wari (Dir Upper), Wari 18200, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-16

Abstract: This study empirically examines the impact of 30% alternative fuel (AF) adoption on the emission of CO 2 to the environment in the UAE cement industry. The researchers employed a quantitative method to robustly analyze secondary data obtained from the 12 cement manufacturing units of the UAE, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and peer-reviewed published papers. The researcher’s main focus was on data from 2018 to 2024 and aligned that with the UAE Green Agenda 2030. The data analysis was conducted through a well-known software, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), and tests like descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression were employed. The correlation analysis showed that there is a strong negative relationship between AF adoption and CO 2 emissions. The test also showed that the relationship is inverse, that is, increasing the adoption rate of AF lowers CO 2 emissions and thus positively impacts the environment. The Pearson correlation analysis (r = −0.82) showed a strong inverse relationship between the independent and dependent variables. This strong relationship was further revealed and confirmed by the regression analysis, and AF as an individual independent variable explained a 67% reduction in CO 2 emission (R 2 = 0.67), while a combination with mediating variables, such as economic incentives and the integration of advanced technologies, further increased the impact to 83%, where the explanatory power jumped to R 2 = 0.83 ( p < 0.001). As the relationship is strongly inverse between the independent and dependent variables, this reinforces the hypothesis that AF adoption is a good strategy to decarbonize the production of cement and make the operations sustainable.

Keywords: alternative fuel; sustainability; decarbonization; CO 2 emissions; UAE Green Agenda; technology integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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