Purpose Cement production is key driver of India's infrastructure development while exerting substantial pressure on several environment-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, its energy and carbon-intensive production practices pose serious environmental challenges. This study presents a comprehensive and region-specific quantification of the environmental footprint of cement production in India, identifies critical regional hotspots, and develops robust, decision-oriented sustainability indicators by monetizing environmental impacts and explicitly aligning them with relevant SDG targets. Design/methodology/approach An India-wide, regionally disaggregated cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) framework is applied by linking publicly available state-wise cement production statistics with region-specific characterization factors to quantify environmental impacts across six categories. These impacts are then converted into environmental costs (US) through monetary valuation and mapped to SDG targets to derive alignment indices. Findings Indian cement production consumes 9. 32E+05 million MJ of energy and emits 188. 24 million tons of CO2-eq annually, resulting in a GHGs-related environmental cost of 2296. 58 million US/year. The southern and western regions together account for ∼70% of this cost. Among cement types, Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) and Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) together contribute about 93% of energy use and GHG emissions. Research limitations/implications The analysis is limited by secondary, regionally aggregated data, assumed cement-type shares and limited India-specific characterization and cost factors; future work should use more plant-level datasets and additional impact pathways to refine regional benchmarks and SDG-linked decision tools. Practical implications The findings support policy-driven sustainability strategies, leading to reduced emissions, improved air quality, and healthier urban environments. Originality/value This study provides the first India-wide, regionally disaggregated, multi-impact and monetary assessment of OPC and blended cements, and is among the first to integrate SDG alignment metrics into an LCA-based evaluation framework for the cement sector.
Abhiram Shukla (Thu,) studied this question.