Saudi Arabia: Partanna has supplied its carbon-negative concrete for the construction of the Diriyah tourism hub. The US$63.2bn hub expects to attract 27m visitors annually from 2030. Partanna produces its concrete from waste streams, mineralised with CO2 from the water desalination sector. Saudi Arabia is currently 70% reliant on desalination for its water consumption.

Partanna co-founder Rick Fox said "This partnership marks a new era in sustainable construction. Our carbon-negative binder technology is poised to fundamentally transform the way the world builds and represents an environmentally restorative and cost-effective alternative to cement. Since launching our business at COP27, we have sought to scale our business by partnering with organizations who are committed to less talk and more action on combatting climate change. The world needs solutions like ours and that’s why we’re delighted to have identified a partner in Diriyah that combines vision with decisive action.” He concluded “Together we are proving that it’s possible to delink development from pollution. The world is watching, and our journey has just begun."

US: Carbon Built’s proprietary technology for the production of reduced-CO2 concrete blocks won awards across three categories at the Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards 2023. The product won the Circular Design, Materials and Sustainability prizes. Carbon Built’s technology enables existing concrete block plants to use common alternative raw materials to produce blocks with 70 – 100% lower CO2 emissions than ordinary Portland cement-based blocks.

Spain: Topcret has added to two new products to its decorative microcement coatings range. BabaxEco and EcoCemento both comprise cement, fine sand, polymers and pigments. Topcret was the first microcement coatings producer to obtain environmental product declarations (EPDs) for its products.

US: Block-Lite plans to install a system to cure concrete blocks using direct air capture (DAC)-sourced CO2 at its Flagstaff, Arizona, concrete block plant. The upgrade will implement CarbonBuilt’s low-CO2 concrete production technology and AirCapture’s modular DAC technology, across five or six capture units. Direct air capture will thus remove 500 – 600t/yr of CO2 from the atmosphere, while process changes will reduce CO2 emissions from the Flagstaff plant by over 2000t/yr. The project has attracted fundraising from the 4 Corners Carbon Coalition (4CCC), with a goal of US$50,000. The Arizon Daily Sun newspaper has reported that Block-Lite plans to supply its first shipment of low-CO2 blocks to a 50-home development by Habitat for Humanity in Flagstaff.

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