Cemvision: Building Climate Solutions Without Subsidy Dependence

Cemvision: Building Climate Solutions Without Subsidy Dependence

Host: Alex Cameron, Founder & CEO Decarb Connect

Guest: Oscar Hållén, CEO of CemVision

Oscar Hållén talks with Alex about how his Cemvision is disrupting one of the world's highest-emitting industries without relying on green premiums or subsidies. Cemvision reuses alternative chemical processes plus existing production infrastructure and circular feedstocks from steel and iron production to create a one-to-one replacement for Portland cement. This eliminates the calcination process, the primary cost and emissions driver in traditional cement production, while maintaining cost parity with incumbents from day one.

Hållén argues that effective decarb requires industrial solutions that can survive policy shifts and stand on their own economic merits. He traces Cemvision's commercial partnerships with Vattenfall and Storex, explaining how trust-building, technical iteration and alignment on long-term vision enabled these collaborations. The conversation examines the current market moment, where industrial commitments to transition often outpace the politics, and explores the mental model of "creative destruction" as a forcing function for climate action rather than perpetual subsidisation of incumbent carbon-intensive processes.

Key Takeaways:

• Design for cost parity from day one – find out how CemVision achieves price competitiveness immediately eliminating dependence on green premiums or policy support
• Build partnerships through technical iteration – explore how years of testing, trials and responsive iteration with partners like Vattenfall built the trust required to sell into a complex value chain
• Competing with incumbents– listen to how the team position themselves to compete with traditional producers creating a competitive market position
• Create momentum independent of policy fluctuations - how to find the right partners and investors in the private sector
• Match partnership timescales to scaling requirements - finding partners with visibility into future projects and willingness to invest early vs. those seeking immediate deployment

Episode links:

• Find out about Cemvision’s work and its team
• Connect with Oscar Hallen, CEO, Cemvision
• Download info on Cemvision’s project with Storex
• Connect with Alex Cameron, Founder & CEO of Decarb Connect

Learn more about Decarb Connect:

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For year-round introductions and meaningful insights, get in touch about your membership of the Decarbonization Leaders Network – so many benefits, hundreds of people equally focused on creating a resilient and profitable future for industry – find out more and talk with Jack Figg, Community Director.