Last month, I had the pleasure of co-leading a webinar with my colleague Steve Bryan, Managing Director of Ecocem Americas, that was hosted by NEU, a center of excellence for carbon-neutral concrete established by the American Concrete Institute (ACI). The webinar, titled “The Cost-Effective Solution to Concrete’s Carbon Problem,” brought together industry professionals from across the sector to explore practical, scalable approaches to reducing emissions within the concrete value chain—and without disrupting existing processes and practices or business models.
At Ecocem, we are focused on innovation that works within the realities of the industry. This webinar showcases how our ACT technology provides a path to decarbonize the global cement and concrete industries cost-efficiently and at speed—helping to solve some of the most pressing challenges facing concrete producers in the U.S. today.
For those unfamiliar, NEU is a leading voice in the U.S. cement and concrete industry. As an initiative of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), NEU’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of proven technologies that can move the industry toward carbon neutrality. But their focus isn’t just on innovation for innovation’s sake—it’s about practical, validated solutions that can be implemented now, at scale, cost-efficiently and with measurable results.
NEU’s platform brings together key stakeholders across research, manufacturing, and construction; a key forum to talk about ACT: a technology that is not just technically sound, but commercially and operationally viable for today’s market. It is an organization with a mission that is very much aligned with ours here at Ecocem.
The cement and concrete sectors face a well-known challenge: in the U.S. alone, roughly 67 million metric tons of CO₂ are emitted annually from cement production. The vast majority of these emissions—more than 90%—come from the production of clinker, the reactive ingredient in cement.
While the problem is clear, the solution has often felt elusive. During the webinar, Steve and I focused on what can be done today to move the needle—quickly and affordably. Our message is simple: the best way to reduce emissions at scale is to use clinker more efficiently, and to do so with technology that does not demand major process changes or significant investments.
We discussed current policy trends, the growing focus on MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification), and the evolving role of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). All of which are shifting greater accountability onto the concrete industry to reduce embodied carbon without passing the problem upstream or downstream.
At the heart of our discussion was Ecocem’s ACT technology—a next-generation, low-carbon cement innovation capable of delivering a globally scalable 70% reduction in the cement industry’s carbon footprint by 2035. It does so without significantly increasing production costs, while also reducing energy and water use.
ACT is not a single product, but rather a suite of proprietary process innovations, chemical admixtures, and mineral admixtures that enhance the efficiency of cementitious materials in concrete. The result? Concrete that performs as well—or better—than traditional mixes, using significantly less clinker and cementitious material overall. In fact, ACT enables producers to reduce clinker content in cement to as low as 20%, delivering substantial carbon reduction without affecting performance. And most importantly, this is all possible using existing plant infrastructure and standard construction practices.
Because ACT is designed to work with locally available SCMs and mineral fillers like limestone, it offers U.S. producers a new level of independence from imported materials. The U.S. currently imports about a quarter of the cement it needs. ACT technology can play a major role in reducing this dependency on imports by improving the efficiency of all domestically produced cements. That’s not just good for sustainability—it’s a win for supply chain resilience, cost control, and long-term competitiveness.
During the session, I also shared some insights from our work with Innovate UK—a national innovation agency supporting real-world deployment of decarbonization technologies. Ecocem’s in a demonstrator project developed in partnership with Sisk and their client, Quintain, at the iconic Wembley Park site in London.
This project is the first full-scale application of ACT in the construction sector and initial test results demonstrated over 70% of carbon savings compared to standard concrete. Independent evaluators and the concrete producers the consortium worked with described concrete made with ACT as “boring” in that it performed exactly as traditional cement in terms of workability, strength, and durability, with one crucial difference: it produces 70% fewer emissions.
Over the next several months, we’ll be working closely with partners across the supply chain to test, validate, and refine this approach—both in the lab and on-site. It’s a powerful example of what’s possible when innovation is paired with collaboration and commitment on the ground.
For those who couldn’t attend the webinar live, the full session is now available to stream on NEU’s website. I encourage you to watch it to learn more about how ACT is already reshaping the concrete industry—and what it could mean for your business, whether you’re a materials producer, contractor, or project owner.
We know the path forward won’t be one-size-fits-all, but technologies like ACT show that there are solutions within reach that can make a real difference today.
Thanks to the NEU for the opportunity to share our work, and to everyone who joined us for the discussion. We’re just getting started!
If you’d like to discuss a possible project, get in touch here
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