Prioritizing hotspots for carbon capture and storage deployment in China's cement sector: A county-level analysis

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential for decarbonizing the hard-to-abate cement sector, but its large-scale deployment must strategically align with spatial storage availability to maximize feasibility and efficiency. However, the impacts of future demand and supply layouts on CCS deployment remain unexplored, limiting the understanding of optimal locations for implementation. This study identifies priority counties for CCS deployment in China's cement sector by integrating projected national cement demand by 2050 with three spatial allocation scenarios—population-driven (POP), GDP-driven (GDP), and a POP-GDP hybrid scenario—to estimate county-level clinker production and associated carbon emissions. These emissions are then matched with available carbon storage capacities from deep saline aquifers (DSA) and CO₂-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) sites, while minimizing transportation distances. The results reveal significant spatial mismatches: eastern and southern high-emission production hubs often lack nearby storage capacity, whereas western and northern counties possess ample storage but lower emissions. Optimized emissions-storage matching highlights that counties in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Xinjiang offer greater feasibility for CCS due to shorter transportation distances and sufficient storage capacity. These findings underscore the importance of integrating cement production planning with CCS infrastructure development to enhance mitigation efforts, reduce transportation costs, and improve sequestration efficiency, supporting the transition toward a net-zero cement industry. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd