By Richard Kofi Boahen
For decades, Ghana’s cement industry has depended heavily on a raw material that the country does not produce in sufficient quantities, clinker.
The dependence has come at a considerable economic and environmental cost. Ghana imports large quantities of clinker for cement production, exposing manufacturers and consumers to international prices, shipping costs, foreign exchange pressures and disruptions in global supply chains.
But an unlikely local resource, clay, could be changing that equation.
The emergence of calcined clay technology presents Ghana with an opportunity not only to reduce the carbon footprint of cement production but also to retain more value within the domestic economy, reduce import dependence and create new opportunities for industrial investment and employment.
A September 2026 analysis by the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) describes calcined clay as one of the most viable near-term pathways for decarbonising cement production. The technology has already moved beyond the experimental stage, with commercial-scale projects operating across several continents.
For Ghana, the development is particularly significant because the country has abundant deposits of kaolin-rich clay but limited suitable limestone resources for conventional clinker production.
The question, therefore, is no longer simply whether Ghana can produce low-carbon cement.
It is whether the country can turn its clay resources into a strategic industrial advantage.
The problem with clinker
To understand the significance of calcined clay, it is important to first understand the role of clinker in cement production.
Conventional Ordinary Portland Cement depends heavily on clinker, which is produced by heating limestone and other materials to temperatures of around 1,500°C. The process requires enormous amounts of energy and produces carbon dioxide both from the fuels used and from the chemical decomposition of limestone.
Globally, cement production reached about four billion tonnes in 2024 and generated approximately 2.3 billion tonnes of direct carbon dioxide emissions. That represented about 6.1 per cent of global direct emissions from energy use and industrial processes.
The environmental problem is therefore enormous.
But for Ghana, there is an additional economic problem.
The country relies on imported clinker because of the limited availability of suitable limestone deposits. LeadIT identifies Ghana as the second-largest importer of clinker, with imports valued at about US$288 million.
Every shipment of imported clinker represents money leaving the Ghanaian economy.
The dependence also means that fluctuations in global commodity prices, shipping costs and the exchange rate can eventually find their way into the cost of cement and, consequently, the cost of construction.
This is where locally sourced clay becomes particularly important.
Turning clay into cement
Calcined clay is produced by heating suitable clay, particularly kaolin-rich clay, at significantly lower temperatures than those required for clinker.
While clinker production requires temperatures of about 1,500°C, kaolin can be transformed into calcined clay at substantially lower temperatures. The resulting material can then replace part of the clinker used in cement.
One of the most established formulations is Limestone Calcined Clay Cement, commonly known as LC3.
LC3 combines limestone and calcined clay and substantially reduces the amount of clinker required in the final cement product.
According to LeadIT, replacing clinker with calcined clay can reduce cement emissions by between 20 and 40 per cent, with some LC3 formulations capable of achieving reductions of up to 40 per cent compared with conventional cement.
The attraction is not only environmental.
Unlike some emerging carbon-reduction technologies that require highly sophisticated and expensive infrastructure, calcined clay technology is relatively straightforward. It can also be incorporated into existing cement facilities through retrofitting.
LeadIT notes that brownfield conversions are generally cheaper than greenfield projects because they can involve adding a clay calciner to an existing cement plant rather than constructing an entirely new cement facility.
That characteristic could be particularly useful for developing countries such as Ghana.
Ghana’s landmark investment
Ghana has already taken a major step in this direction.
In March 2026, President John Dramani Mahama commissioned what was described as the world’s largest industrial-scale calcined clay production facility at the Tema Free Zones Enclave.
The US$110 million facility is a joint venture between CBI Ghana and Heidelberg Materials and has a capacity of more than 400,000 tonnes of calcined clay annually. ([Ghana National Association][1])
The plant had actually begun production before its formal commissioning. Heidelberg Materials announced in May 2025 that the facility was operational and that the first batches of reduced-clinker cement had already been delivered to customers. The company said the project had created more than 300 local jobs. ([Heidelberg Materials][2])
This is important because it moves the discussion from theory to practice.
Ghana is not merely talking about green cement.
It is producing it at industrial scale.
The development also demonstrates the potential for foreign investment to combine with local resources and Ghanaian manufacturing capacity to create a new industrial value chain.
The foreign exchange opportunity
Perhaps the most immediate economic benefit is the potential reduction in clinker imports.
The Ghana Standards Authority has said clinker imports account for about 50 per cent of cement production costs, underscoring how significant the raw material is to the economics of the industry.
Substituting a substantial portion of imported clinker with locally sourced clay could therefore reduce the demand for foreign currency by cement manufacturers.
This has implications beyond the cement industry.
Ghana has struggled periodically with foreign exchange pressures, and businesses that depend heavily on imported inputs are particularly vulnerable to depreciation of the cedi.
If a cement manufacturer can replace part of an imported dollar-denominated input with a locally sourced material, the benefits can extend throughout the economy.
The President noted at the commissioning of the Tema facility that replacing clinker with local clay was expected to reduce import reliance by more than 10 per cent and keep significant amounts of money circulating within the domestic economy.
The broader economic logic is straightforward: money spent on locally produced clay remains in the economy longer than money spent on imported clinker.
The benefits could include payments to local suppliers, wages for workers, taxes, transport services, quarrying activities, engineering services and other businesses connected to the production chain.
From raw clay to an industrial value chain
The real opportunity for Ghana lies in ensuring that calcined clay does not remain an isolated cement-industry innovation.
It could become the foundation of a wider domestic industrial value chain.
The CBI project, for example, has access to clay deposits in Togorme in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region. IFC documentation says the company has rights to deposits with proven reserves exceeding eight million tonnes, sufficient for decades of operations.
This creates opportunities at multiple points in the value chain.
There is the extraction of clay, transportation to processing facilities, laboratory testing, equipment maintenance, engineering, plant operations, packaging, logistics and distribution.
There are also opportunities for Ghanaian universities and technical institutions to develop specialised skills around mineral processing, materials science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, environmental management and industrial automation.
If properly managed, the industry could therefore contribute to the development of a new generation of technical and industrial expertise.
The more of these activities that are performed locally, the greater the economic multiplier effect.
Jobs, and the quality of those jobs
Employment is another important dimension.
The Heidelberg Materials project alone has created more than 300 local jobs, according to the company.
But direct employment represents only part of the potential impact.
Mining and processing clay require transporters, equipment operators, mechanics, electricians, laboratory technicians, engineers, security personnel and other service providers.
A growing local cement industry can also stimulate employment in construction, distribution and retail.
The opportunity for policymakers is therefore to move beyond simply counting jobs and ask a more important question: How many skilled and sustainable jobs can Ghana retain within the emerging value chain?
That requires deliberate investment in skills development.
Technical universities and vocational institutions could partner with cement manufacturers to develop specialised programmes in industrial maintenance, process control, laboratory analysis, quarry operations and low-carbon cement technology.
Such partnerships would ensure that the country does not merely provide the raw material while importing the expertise required to process it.
Could it make cement cheaper?
This is perhaps the question most ordinary Ghanaians will ask.
If locally sourced clay replaces imported clinker, will cement prices fall?
The answer is potentially, but not automatically.
LeadIT says calcined clay can be economically competitive with conventional cement, but the economics depend on local raw-material availability, energy prices, capital costs and the composition of the final cement blend.
There are therefore several variables.
- The cost of extracting and transporting clay matters.
- Energy prices matter.
- The efficiency of the calcination technology matters.
- The cost of financing the plant matters.
- And competition within the cement market matters.
The reduction in imported clinker costs could create room for lower production costs, but the ultimate effect on retail cement prices will depend on how manufacturers pass those savings through the market.
Nevertheless, reducing exposure to imported clinker provides an important buffer against international price shocks.
That could make the domestic cement industry more resilient even when prices do not fall dramatically.
A climate opportunity
The economic argument should not obscure the environmental significance.
Cement is one of the world’s major industrial sources of carbon dioxide emissions.
Approximately 60 per cent of cement-sector emissions arise from the calcination of limestone, while the remainder comes largely from fossil fuels, energy use and transportation.
Because calcined clay can replace a portion of clinker, it addresses one of the industry’s biggest sources of emissions.
The technology also requires lower processing temperatures than clinker production.
The environmental gains can potentially increase further if fossil fuels used in clay calcination are replaced with electricity generated from renewable sources.
LeadIT identifies emerging technologies such as electric arc calciners and electrified linear calcination systems as potential pathways for reducing emissions further.
For Ghana, this creates an interesting intersection between the cement, mining, energy and climate sectors.
A future in which locally mined clay is processed using increasingly cleaner energy could produce a significantly lower-carbon construction material.
The Ghanaian construction sector
The implications extend directly to infrastructure and housing.
Ghana needs enormous quantities of cement for roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, housing, drainage systems and other infrastructure.
As urbanisation continues and the population grows, demand for construction materials is likely to remain significant.
This makes the cement industry strategically important.
If Ghana can produce more cement using locally sourced inputs, it could reduce the vulnerability of infrastructure development to global supply-chain disruptions.
This does not mean that every construction project will automatically become cheaper.
But it could make the country’s construction-material supply chain more resilient.
The possibility of government becoming a major buyer of low-carbon cement also deserves attention.
LeadIT identifies green public procurement as an important driver of low-carbon cement adoption because governments are among the largest customers of construction materials.
Ghana could therefore use public infrastructure spending to stimulate demand for locally produced lower-carbon cement.
Standards will determine how far the technology goes
Technology alone will not guarantee success.
Construction is a highly regulated industry, and cement must meet established performance and safety standards.
Calcined clay cement can have different characteristics from conventional Ordinary Portland Cement, including differences in setting time and strength development.
LeadIT notes that standards allowing higher levels of supplementary cementitious materials are therefore critical to encouraging investment. It specifically identifies Ghana’s GS 1118 among standards supporting higher clinker substitution.
This is an important policy issue.
If regulations are too restrictive, manufacturers may be reluctant to adopt new cement formulations even where the technology is technically sound.
On the other hand, standards must protect consumers and ensure that low-carbon cement performs adequately for its intended applications.
The challenge for Ghanaian regulators is therefore to strike the right balance between innovation and safety.
The environmental risks must not be ignored
The clay revolution also comes with responsibilities.
Large-scale clay extraction is still a form of mining.
If poorly managed, quarrying can cause land degradation, dust, noise, water impacts and disruption to local communities.
The transition to green cement should therefore not create a new environmental problem at the raw-material extraction stage.
Mining licences, environmental impact assessments, rehabilitation plans and community engagement will remain essential.
The benefits of the industry must also reach communities where clay is extracted.
This is particularly important if Ghana intends to develop calcined clay production at a much larger scale.
Communities should not simply bear the environmental costs while industrial facilities and consumers capture the economic benefits.
A responsible clay industry must incorporate local employment, community development, land restoration and transparent engagement into its operating model.
Ghana must avoid another form of dependency
There is another strategic issue that deserves attention.
Replacing imported clinker with local clay does not automatically make the entire industry locally owned or self-sufficient.
Ghana could still depend on imported machinery, specialised technology, spare parts, technical expertise and financing.
That would represent a reduction in one form of import dependence but potentially leave other vulnerabilities.
The long-term objective should therefore be progressive localisation.
Ghanaian engineers should be trained to maintain and eventually adapt the technology.
Local companies should be encouraged to manufacture components where feasible.
Universities should undertake research into Ghanaian clay deposits and cement formulations.
Financial institutions should develop appropriate financing mechanisms for low-carbon industrial projects.
And policymakers should create an environment in which local firms can participate meaningfully in the emerging value chain.
The scale problem
For all its promise, calcined clay is not a magic solution.
LeadIT estimates that operational and announced calcined clay capacity could support approximately 26 million tonnes per year of lower-clinker cement production under an optimistic blend assumption. That remains less than one per cent of global cement production, which stands at roughly four billion tonnes annually.
Furthermore, calcined clay typically delivers emissions reductions in the range of 20 to 40 per cent.
That is substantial, but it is not enough by itself to achieve deep decarbonisation.
Other technologies, including energy efficiency, alternative fuels and carbon capture, will still be required.
LeadIT also warns that the number of new calcined clay project announcements slowed in 2025 and 2026, raising questions about whether the industry can maintain the pace of expansion needed to meet climate targets.
Ghana should therefore view its current position as a beginning rather than an endpoint.
From opportunity to national strategy
The most important question now is whether Ghana will treat calcined clay simply as a private-sector investment or as a strategic component of its industrialisation agenda.
The evidence suggests that it could be much more.
- Ghana has the raw material.
- It has a growing construction market.
- It has cement manufacturers already investing in the technology.
- It has a technical and engineering education system capable of developing the necessary skills.
- It has a policy interest in reducing import dependence.
- And it has an urgent need to reduce industrial emissions.
These factors create an unusual convergence of economic and environmental interests.
The government could establish a national framework for low-carbon cement that brings together the Ministries responsible for Trade and Industry, Energy, Environment, Finance and Works and Housing, alongside the Ghana Standards Authority, cement producers, universities, financial institutions and local communities.
Such a framework could establish targets for clinker substitution, promote green public procurement, support research and development, facilitate access to financing and encourage investment in local supply chains.
A potential regional hub
There is also a wider West African opportunity.
The LeadIT analysis notes that calcined clay is particularly attractive to countries without large limestone deposits.
If Ghana develops sufficient production capacity and technical expertise, it could potentially become a regional hub for lower-carbon cement and calcined clay technology.
That would fit into the country’s broader ambition to position itself as a manufacturing and trade centre in West Africa.
The Tema industrial corridor, with its port infrastructure, industrial facilities and access to energy, offers an especially strong base for such development.
Ghana could eventually export not only cement but also technical expertise, processed clay products and industrial services associated with the technology.
The bigger economic lesson
The story of calcined clay ultimately goes beyond cement.
It illustrates a broader question about Ghana’s economic development: Can the country convert its natural resources into higher-value industrial products instead of exporting raw materials or spending scarce foreign exchange importing processed inputs?
Clay provides a compelling example.
Instead of importing clinker, Ghana can use locally available clay.
Instead of allowing the clay to remain an underutilised natural resource, it can be processed into an industrial input. Instead of simply consuming imported technology, Ghana can develop domestic expertise around it. And instead of viewing climate action solely as a cost, the country can use decarbonization as an opportunity for industrial transformation.
That is potentially the most important lesson from the calcined clay story.
4Conclusion: from clay to economic resilience
Ghana’s emergence as a centre for calcined clay production is significant because it brings together three objectives that are often treated separately: **economic resilience, industrial development and climate action**.
The country’s dependence on imported clinker has exposed the cement industry to foreign exchange pressures and international market risks. Calcined clay offers an opportunity to replace part of that imported input with a locally available resource.
The Tema facility demonstrates that this is no longer a theoretical possibility. The world’s largest industrial-scale flash calciner for clay is operating in Ghana, with a capacity exceeding 400,000 tonnes annually, and the project has already created hundreds of local jobs. ([Heidelberg Materials][2])
The potential gains are considerable: reduced clinker imports, lower exposure to foreign exchange volatility, new industrial investment, employment, development of technical skills, greater use of Ghanaian raw materials and reduced carbon emissions.
But realising those gains will require more than building plants.
Ghana must develop the supporting ecosystem—strong standards, responsible mining practices, skilled workers, research capacity, local supply chains, appropriate financing and government procurement policies that create demand for low-carbon construction materials.
Most importantly, the country must ensure that the economic value created by its clay resources is retained as much as possible within Ghana.
Calcined clay will not solve the cement industry’s climate problem on its own. Nor will it eliminate all of Ghana’s dependence on imported construction inputs.
But it offers something particularly valuable to a country seeking both economic resilience and sustainable growth: a locally available resource that can substitute for an imported industrial input while simultaneously reducing emissions.
If Ghana can scale that opportunity responsibly, the humble clay beneath its soil could become much more than an alternative ingredient in cement.
It could become a building block for a more resilient, competitive and greener industrial economy.
