Lafarge Canada and Holcim in the US support low carbon cement solution across North America

Across North America, market demand for and adoption of low-CO₂ cements remains inconsistent despite the availability of environmentally friendly cement products. The decisions around material selection are generally left up to local specifiers, who set the construction standards, and customers, who have deep experience with limited product mixes.

The cement industry - traditionally carbon intensive - is now seeing a significant change in how specifiers, architects and customers are looking at building materials through the lens of environmental impact. The OneWay Forward campaign highlights five leaders in the engineering and building industry who are advocating for the use of environmentally friendly materials, specifically OneCem, across a variety of built applications.

“Concrete is the most widely-consumed material after water, and so we consider it our responsibility to do everything we can to lower the carbon footprint of the cement we produce,” said Rene Thibault, Head of North America. “Our goal is to educate and encourage architects, engineers, contractors and ready-mix producers to adopt more sustainable products in order to lower the industry’s carbon footprint.”

“The built environment plays a central role in the transition to a low carbon economy. The most cost-effective CO₂ reduction will be achieved by improving the carbon efficiency of buildings - and we can do that with OneCem,” explained Travis Butler, President and CEO of Butler Concrete in Victoria, BC.

Standard cement, also called ordinary Portland cement (OPC), typically comprises 90 – 90% clinker, which is the component that is made when limestone is superheated. Because it is the process of superheating limestone that causes CO₂ emissions, the companies’ focus has been to find ways to lower the percentage of clinker per ton, thereby lowering the CO₂ footprint and global greenhouse gas emissions.

Portland limestone cement, (OneCem®) is a blended cement, manufactured with up to 15% per ton of finely ground high-quality limestone. OneCem is an engineered product that has been rigorously tested and proven to be a durable, high-performance product.

The ‘Heroes’ featured in this campaign share their motivation for choosing lower carbon solutions, as well as their experiences using OneCem. They include ready mix concrete producers, structural engineers, and precast concrete materials producers.

From ultra-low carbon cements such as EcoPlanet, through to continual validation with external parties via EPDs, the organisation has made sustainability their guiding principle.

“This is how we build now,” said Thibault. “We owe it to ourselves, future generations, and the communities where we live to maximise the use of low carbon cement wherever we can.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/22092021/lafarge-canada-and-holcim-in-the-us-support-low-carbon-cement-solution-across-north-america/