Industry Takes ‘Unified Approach’ to Decarbonization

such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, modernized to accelerate cement and concrete’s path to carbon neutrality. This would also ensure concrete made with cement remains the sustainable building material of choice, the association maintains.

PCA said its comprehensive approach will allow for the industry to continue aligning with private partners, government, industry and technology leaders on solutions, regulations and policy changes. This effort would result in empowering the industry and others to realize this shared societal mission, according to the organization.

Daunting Journey

“What gives us hope is the fact that there is a big rise in ambition across the industry,” said Radhika Lalit of sustainability consulting firm Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI).

“Companies, corporations, real estate players, anybody who’s constructing new buildings, new ports, new highways, new roads, is looking into these materials.”

She said a coalition of more than 65 corporate buyers, known as the First Movers Coalition, is leveraging the purchasing power of the customers in industries such as cement and concrete.

But to meet the targets of net-zero by 2050, the industry will require some carbon capture in the process, she cautioned.

“It is impossible to fully eliminate process emissions in the cement-making process, and carbon capture will have to remove the remaining CO2,” said Lalit. “We estimate that we need around 20 to 30 carbon capture and storage [CCS] plants in operation by 2030. And we have zero plants with CCS at commercial scale right now.”

Pilot projects are up and running, she said, but the industry currently lacks a plan that uses CCS technology in full-scale operation. “And we are going to need to get to at least 20 within the decade.”

She said many large cement producers are beginning to make investments into CCS and other innovative technologies to reduce their emissions. She is encouraged but is concerned about the lack the speed and scale to fast-track the transition.

“So, I think I’d say we’re cautiously optimistic because we see great momentum, but it is a daunting journey.”

She believes the industry can see the biggest impact in reducing emissions by focusing on the three Cs: clinker, cement and concrete.

Manufacturers can start by reducing the carbon in the clinker-making process. Limestone is the primary raw material, she said.

“You could use other materials such as calcium silicate, magnesium silicate, steel slag, recycled clinker, mining tailings, crushed concrete waste, as well.”

With machine learning and design software, contractors could utilize less concrete in the laying phase, she believes.

Lalit noted that mineralization startups currently store the CO2 in concrete aggregates.

“Supplementary cementitious materials, such as fly ash, slag, volcanic ash and calcined clays have little or no associated emissions and can be introduced into the cement blend to replace a portion of clinker,” she said.

Limestone calcined clay cement — calcined clays, limestone, gypsum and clinker — and other innovative cement blends, can “immediately” help reduce carbon emissions by up to 40 percent, she believes.

It would be a cost-effective move that would cause no major changes to the traditional cement plant, she added.

“These innovations are at different technology readiness levels,” Lalit cautioned.

Some of them are in concept states, some of them are in large prototype demonstration stages.

“But the key to solving the decarbonizationchallengefortheindustryisseeingsome of these innovations achieve commercial success at industrial scale within the next three to five years so that their costs can go down,” Lalit added.

Incentives to Reduce

In January, the New Jersey Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Leadership Act (LECCLA) was signed into law to offer a performance-based tax credit to certain concrete producers.

Chris Neidl, policy consultant of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said the new policy is a state-led approach to eliminating embodied carbon emissions.

This is the first program of its kind in the United States and had overwhelming bi-partisan support, said Neidl.

“Public procurement is the focal point of the policy,” he said, adding that the aim is mobilizing the influence of state agencies as the single largest purchasers of concrete in New Jersey.

It also focuses on the state’s position as lead regulator of specifications, standards and codes related to the material and its use.

“But LECCLA will leverage market dynamics to realize both short- and longterm carbon emissions reductions in this essential industry,” said Neidl. “Beginning in 2024, concrete producers who supply at least 50 yards for state-funded construction projects will be eligible for a performancebased tax credit.”

That credit applies if the concrete also delivers quantifiable reductions in embodied carbon, said Neidl.

The total amount of tax credits that can be issued each year is $10 million, to be issued on a firstcome-first-served basis. And no single concrete producer can claim more than $1 million in credits per year.

Not only does LECCLA introduceanincentiveforconcreteproducers to overperform, but it can build upon other policy advancements, said Neidl.

For example, low carbon concrete specifications and performance-based specifications have gained hold in New York State.

In South Jordan, Utah, Eco Materials is manufacturing cement using coal waste. The result is a product that lowers carbon emissions by 99 percent.

Several exhibitors at World of Concrete showcased their environmentally sustainable products and processes.

“The gauntlet has been thrown down to be more sustainable and reduce carbon,” said Grant Quasha, Eco Materials CEO, talking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “This industry really has to use technology and innovation to meet future challenges and see advancement.”

Improving emissions from making cement will be key to achieving future emission goals.

That’s because cement is the most used material in the world behind water, said Eric Ferrebee, senior director of technical services of the American Concrete and Pavement Association (ACPA).

California startup Brimstone has discovered the world’s first carbon-negative cement, made from calcium silicate rocks.

“We’re just making the same thing from a different rock,” Cody Finke, CEO of the Oakland, Calif.-based company, told CBS News.

He said calcium silicate rocks are approximately 200 times more abundant than the limestone traditionally used to make cement.

Calcium in limestone serves as the binding agent in cement. It also contains the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

The industry is working to make concrete cleaner, said Steve Regis, cement operations for the CalPortland Oro Grande Cement Plant in southern California.

Brimstone is trying to quickly scale up its cement-making process. The company believes it will be just as reliable as traditional cement, only cheaper.

“We’re quite confident that the chemistry works and we can make the same material,” Finke said.  CEG see CHART page 64

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