Recommendations
Governments and major concrete-consuming companies should grow the market for low-carbon building materials by restructuring procurement processes. This will entail incorporating metrics on ‘embodied carbon’ (the emissions released during production of a material) into procurement processes; setting ambitious carbon-intensity targets for major projects; and engaging with construction companies, design teams, contractors and material suppliers to encourage them to find the lowest-carbon, most viable options for a given project.
Governments, cement companies and construction and engineering companies need to build the supply chain for net-zero-emissions materials. This will involve incentivizing investment in distribution networks for clinker substitutes, and in the additional processing equipment and storage infrastructure that may be required; and scaling up best-practice dissemination and support to make the use of novel products viable.
Industry stakeholders, governments and research funds should expand the portfolio of next-generation materials by providing sustained funding for R&D; supporting and collaborating on large-scale demonstration projects; enhancing joint R&D capacity (e.g. through innovation challenges, patent pools and patent legislation); and developing effective diagnostic and field-based detection tools for assessing the strength and durability of concrete.
Material-science laboratories, universities, cement companies and engineering firms should work with leading technology firms and internet platform providers to harness digital disruption in the sector. Their collaboration should explore the beneficial uses of machine learning and wider AI, and establish open innovation platforms for assessing the potential of digital technologies in the sector. Collaboration will also necessarily entail building the stack of digital assets, so that real-time decision tools, supply chain optimization and lesson-sharing from experience can be integrated into the development and commercial roll-out of new materials and blends.
Governments, cement companies, construction companies and cities should establish partnerships for climate-compatible pathways. They will need to agree international commitments on a net-zero-emissions, resilient built environment; set science-based targets as soon as possible and work together to achieve them; mobilize a coalition to explore what it would mean to have a ‘circular’ built environment and scale up finance for sustainable infrastructure.
Further reading
Discover the seven reasons why the cement sector needs to change
