Cement industry is both energy and emission intensive. This paper examines energy and environmental performance of cement plants in Ethiopia and Sweden. Energy intensity (thermal and electrical), alternative fuel (AF) share, CO2 emission intensity and clinker substitute rate are applied to compare Ethiopia and Sweden cement industries. In most of the parameters, the Ethiopian cement industry ranks lower than the Sweden cement industry. The average thermal and electrical energy intensities for the Ethiopian cement industry is 3.76 gigajoules per tonne of clinker (GJ/t clinker) and 138.6 kilowatt hours per tonne of cement (KWh/t cement), respectively. Whereas, in Sweden cement industry, the average intensity is about 3.6 GJ/t clinker for thermal and 131 KWh/t cement for electricity. The emission intensity is 0.853 tonne CO2/tonne clinker (0.853t CO2/t clinker) in Ethiopia and 0.701t CO2/t clinker in Sweden. The alternative fuel (AF) share reaches 62% in Sweden cement industry, while in Ethiopia the share is almost insignificant (less than 1%). Adoption of specific energy efficiency measures, such as waste heat recovery power plant (WHRPP) and thermal fuel switch, significantly improved both the energy and environmental performances of Sweden cement industry. Therefore, this study suggests deployment of WHRPP and raise of AF share in Ethiopian cement industry, but the technical and economic viability of these measures should be investigated in the context of Ethiopian cement plants.