Note: This article was produced for February’s Edition of Concrete Magazine – https://www.concrete.org.uk/
The cement sector is at a defining moment. Cutting carbon in cement is no longer a long‑term, strategic ambition; it is an immediate prerequisite for the industry’s licence to operate. With greenhouse gas emissions reaching record levels in 2025, the urgency has never been greater. Cement remains responsible for close to 8% of global CO₂ emissions and demand for concrete continues to grow as the world renews and expands its infrastructure.
Having worked in this industry for almost four decades, I have seen many cycles of promise and delay, but never a moment where the technology of low‑carbon cement and the climate imperative have aligned so closely.
Over the past decade, low‑clinker cements and other low‑carbon cement technologies have moved decisively from laboratory research into real‑world deployment. Large‑scale trials, demonstrators and commercial applications now show that deep decarbonisation of cement can be achieved without compromising strength, durability or safety.
The growing adoption of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) across Europe reinforces this point, supported by a rapidly expanding body of research, operational data and technical guidance. In short, the sector has crossed the threshold from proof of concept to proof of performance.
For those of us who have spent years trying to push this agenda forward, that threshold matters because it fundamentally changes the decarbonisation trajectory of the cement industry.
At Ecocem, we have deliberately focused on validating performance under practical conditions, recognising that innovation only matters if it works outside controlled environments. These efforts have built confidence that low‑carbon cement can be produced and used at an industrial scale. That shift from feasibility to scale is underway.
For example, in the UK, ACT – Ecocem’s low‑carbon cement technology – has been validated in a trial with Sisk in Wembley Park, with results showing a carbon saving of over 70%, while maintaining performance, demonstrating that deep decarbonisation can be delivered in real projects and at industrial scale.
However, Standards for cement and concrete in much of Europe remain overly prescriptive. This locks in historic formulations and slows the uptake of solutions that already meet performance requirements. This rigidity cascades through the value chain. Specifiers, insurers and regulators are reluctant to move ahead of Standards, even when the underlying science is robust.
The result is an inhibition of the sector’s progress towards meaningful and rapid emissions reductions. When policy sends clear signals, markets respond quickly. Public procurement requirements, embodied carbon benchmarks and clinker reduction mandates have all shown their ability to accelerate change. Conversely, policy and regulation that do not keep pace with technology undermine confidence and delay investment.
In Europe, a further risk lies in fragmented approaches across countries, which force technologies to repeatedly re‑establish compliance and insurance acceptance. This duplication consumes time and capital that would be better directed towards deployment.
Regulatory reform must now catch up with technological progress, with a shift towards performance‑based standards for cement and concrete. Specifying outcomes rather than composition enables innovation while maintaining safety and durability, and better reflects how engineers already assess cement and concrete in practice.
At EU level, the revision of the cement Standard EN 197 is underway, with an updated version expected around 2027. This is an important milestone, as it will modernise how cement constituents are defined and open the door to lower‑clinker solutions. In parallel, work has started on reforming the European concrete Standard, with harmonisation expected closer to 2028.
While in the UK, guidance already exists on how novel binders can be used in concrete, but only on a project‑by‑project basis. Activity is ongoing to integrate these approaches into the UK’s BS 8500 concrete Standard, but this process will still take several years.
Together, these processes signal a shift in the right direction. However, Standards reform moves slowly by design and the current reality for the market remains highly fragmented. Until these Standards are finalised and fully implemented, companies developing innovative binders must still navigate a patchwork of national rules and approvals.
Ultimately, if Europe wants to accelerate the deployment of low‑carbon cement and concrete, it must recognise that Standards reform is a long‑term commitment, not a one‑off fix. In addition, we must recognise that decarbonisation at scale cannot be delivered by technology in isolation. It depends on sustained collaboration among academia, industry, policymakers and regulators to close remaining innovation and market access gaps.
Last November at the second Ecocem Science Symposium, a gathering of some of the world’s foremost materials scientists, we formed the Ecocem Materials Science Advisory Council, reflecting a belief I have held for years – that independent science must become central to policy making if we are serious about change. Initiatives like these are needed to inform policy and regulatory change and ensure that research priorities reflect real market needs.
Low‑carbon cement technologies have advanced rapidly. What’s more, they are proven and can be deployed at scale without imposing prohibitive costs. Europe has the opportunity to lead in its rollout.
But this can only happen by adopting a new policy approach to Standards, procurement and investment. Importantly, the science now enables us to diversify away from a single‑solution obsession with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), a technology that is simply too expensive to play a significant role in the decarbonisation of the global cement industry, and instead prioritise a range of low‑carbon, cost‑competitive and rapidly deployable cements.
The reward will be a global cement sector, hitherto considered hard to abate, decarbonising in line with a 1.5°C global warming trajectory. If the coming years are a turning point for cement, 2026 should mark the moment when deployment finally catches up with ambition and low‑carbon cement becomes the default rather than the alternative.
By Ecocem Founder and CEO, Donal O’Riain.
The consortium of Cairn, UCD, Kilsaran, and Ecocem has secured €50,000 in funding from Construct Innovate, Ireland’s national Construction Technology Centre, to validate an innovative low-carbon cement capable of significantly cutting Ireland’s CO2 emissions from the construction sector.
Tata Steel IJmuiden (TSIJ) and Ecocem Materials Ltd. (Ecocem) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their collaboration on the development and potential use of two next-generation steelmaking slags in low‑carbon cement, mortar, and concrete applications across Europe.
