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D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 4 | 9 Concrete P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E S Y H EI D EL B ERG M AT ER I A L S Facing rising sustainability demands, concrete producers innovate rapidly, creating eco-friendly solutions by ROBIN BRUNET T he term may be overused and maddeningly vague, but sustain- ability seems to be on the minds of most concrete producers, whether their discipline is cast-in-place, precast, pre-stressed, or in the additives and admixtures sector. With the growing demand for low-carbon con- crete and customers seeking materials that reduce embodied carbon without compromising strength and durability, companies are responding by transitioning to more environmentally friendly pro- duction methods and providing customers with environmental product declarations (EPDs). Also, some producers are leveraging AI technologies in order to tailor mixes to specific project require- ments, while minimizing carbon emissions. Technological innovation is especially prevalent in the cement and cast-in-place sectors, a case in point being Heidelberg Materials, which is experiencing more interest than ever for its evoBuild mixtures. Shane Mulligan, Heidelberg Materials' Calgary- based area technical sustainability manager, points out that his company and evoBuild are ideally suited to support developers as they face new regulations regarding embodied carbon, a prime example being the City of Vancouver's bylaw requiring a 10 percent reduction in embodied carbon for all high-rise devel- opments in its jurisdiction. The bylaw takes effect in January. "Such reductions are achievable using low-car- bon concrete strategies alone," he says. "Concrete typically represents 50 percent of a building's total embodied carbon footprint, meaning if concrete's contribution can be reduced by 20 percent, the over- all project target is achieved, and the local market including Heidelberg Materials has these types of concrete products available, along with the support- ing documentation using EPDs." A recent example of evoBuild's use in Vancouver is the Henry Hudson Elementary School project in Kitsilano, for which approximately 2,700 cubic metres of evoBuild low-carbon concrete was used. This deci- sion aligned with the City of Vancouver's specifications, particularly focusing on Global Warming Potential (GWP) values for each concrete element, ensuring sustainability and performance goals are met. Heidelberg Materials in other locales continues to achieve innovations related to the environment. In June it announced the successful conversion of its cement plant in Speed, Indiana to a slag grinding facility, the switch reflecting the company's commit- ment to achieving net-zero emissions across North America – and to generate 50 percent of its revenue from sustainable products that are either low-car- bon or circular by 2030. The following month, Heidelberg Materials was selected to receive up to $5 million in funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to create a cloud-based tool that can help concrete, cement, and aggregates producers facilitate the creation of high-quality EPDs. The project aims to introduce a tool that significantly enhances the EPD creation process by implementing full AI-based automation capabilities, thus reducing the amount of time-consuming manual tasks. Holcim enjoyed a busy 2024 on the low-car- bon front. In September it announced that it had invested in Sublime Systems, a leading low-car- bon cement technology start-up, to expand its range of highly engineered solutions to decarbon- ize buildings at scale. The partnership will advance Sublime's first commercial manufacturing facil- ity in Massachusetts, giving Holcim a large share of Sublime cement produced there through a binding Under Pressure Henry Hudson Elementary School, Vancouver, B.C.

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