One of Australia’s most energy-intensive manufacturing industries says the government’s unwillingness to impose a carbon border tax on imported cement products is undermining the sector’s attempts to decarbonise and is putting up to 1400 local jobs at risk.

The Cement Industry Federation, which represents Australia’s $2.7 billion cement industry, said the absence of a carbon levy on imports from countries with less robust climate commitments paved the way for the offshoring of local manufacturing – a process known as “carbon leakage”.