North America: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has partnered with consultancy WAP Sustainability to launch an on-demand environmental product declaration (EPD) service for concrete products. The partners say that their EPDs will allow concrete producers to show the impacts of their products across metrics including CO₂ emissions. This is in line with current market trends, including increasing Buy Clean initiatives in federal and state procurement under the Inflation Reduction Act.

GCCA's concrete and sustainable construction director Andrew Minson said “The cement and concrete sector is playing a key part in sustainable construction, but this requires transparent, objective and accessible data on the environmental impact of our products. Our collaboration with WAP will allow concrete producers to quickly and cost effectively produce EPDs that can demonstrate the contribution of their products to a sustainable world of tomorrow.”

WAP Sustainability’s EPD director James Salazar said “WAP’s partnership with the GCCA leverages the GCCA’s industry-leading computation engine with WAP’s easy-to-use software and full-service support. As requirements for EPDs grow, we’re excited to offer credible and low-cost solutions through close partnerships with industry leaders like the GCCA.”

France: Ireland-based Ecocem has entered into a new agreement with Saint-Gobain's France-based concrete subsidiary POINT.P. Under the agreement, Ecocem will supply its ACT alternative cement for use in POINT.P's precast and ready-mix concrete production. Ecocem said that the partnership is an opportunity for it to develop and market new low-carbon binders.

Ecocem executive director Olivier Guise said "This partnership with POINT.P is a natural extension of the alliance announced with the Saint-Gobain Group in October 2022. The shared objective is to accelerate the widespread deployment of low-carbon cements in France, both in the ready-mix concrete and precast concrete markets. By paving the way for the replacement of current traditional cements with ACT technology, our partner POINT.P has a real opportunity to meet its ambitious carbon reduction targets by 2030. We are firmly committed to this partnership and to working with a partner who shares our ambitions for rapid decarbonisation of the construction industry."

Ecocem is 25% owned by France-based Saint-Gobain.

Denmark: Finland-based Betolar has supplied its Geoprime additive for its maiden construction project in Denmark. Its customer IBF used the additive to produce low-cement paving stones for a 1.5 hectare expansion to the lorry park at the Port of Aalborg. The stones consisted of an 84mm-thick cement-free base made of Geoprime material, with a 6mm-thick cement-based concrete top. The supplier said that the use of Geoprime reduced the project's cement consumption by 90%. This more than halved the carbon footprint of the work.

Betolar's chief commercial officer Ville Voipio said "This shows that the circular economy solution we have developed, which utilises industrial side streams, also works in large construction projects. We have been doing development work with IBF for a long time. Now there is a product on the Danish market that radically cuts emissions compared to traditional products."

Denmark is committed to eliminating 70% of its annual CO₂ emissions between 2020 and 2030.

Japan: A team at the University of Tokyo has developed cement-free alternative concrete from ultra-fine sand and fly ash. NHK has reported that the process uses recyclable alcohols and has lower CO₂ emissions compared to concrete production using ordinary Portland cement. Research with industrial partners into possible construction sector applications is underway. Partnerships with Japanese ready-mixed concrete producers are reportedly also under discussion.

Further information is available from Yuzo Tobisaka, an independent Japanese consultant in the cement and ready-mixed concrete industry, at yuzo.tobisaka@gmail.com.