'Carbon-neutral concrete': Industry issues Open Challenge to start-ups worldwide

Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has this week launched a bid to tackle the construction industry's carbon footprint and develop "truly sustainable concrete and cement", with a call for start-ups the world over to pitch innovative new ideas for developing 'carbon-neutral concrete' through a global competition.

Dubbed Open Challenge, the new competition aims to bring together pioneering tech start-ups and major players in the cement and concrete industry to accelerate the "development of innovative new low-carbon technologies".

The hope is that it will serve to advance the development of a range of low carbon technologies that could be harnessed by the cement and concrete industry, such as carbon capture systems, calcination technologies for heating materials during the concrete manufacturing process, and methods for curbing CO2 emissions in the construction supply chain and enabling the recycling of concrete.

Successful start-ups will receive expertise, facilities, and investment to develop their technologies and speed commercialisation through a 12-month scheme run by GCCA's innovation programme, Innovandi. Techstars, a global entrepreneur network, will also help source companies for the challenge.

Achieving GCCA's global goal to produce wholly carbon-neutral concrete by 2050, will require "significant and complex changes in how we manufacture, use and recycle concrete," said Dinah McLeod, GCCA's chief executive.

"Innovation will be crucial at every stage, from new cement and concrete chemistries to kiln technologies, clinker production, and carbon capture," she added. "The Open Challenge will help ensure we are bringing the creativity of the best minds from outside the industry to tackle the climate emergency."

Selected applicants will have the benefit of access to a global cement and concrete market worth $333 billion, and a global construction market expected to grow to $15.5 trillion worldwide by 2030, the trade body said. Set up in 2018 to support the sector's contribution to sustainable construction approaches, GCCA members represent around 40 per cent of the global cement and concrete market.

Claude Loréa, GCCA's cement director and innovation lead, said the association was looking forward to matching "outside innovation with industry expertise" to accelerate the "sustainable transformation" of the industry.

"We are calling on start-ups, researchers and innovators from around the world to work with us to address the most challenging areas in decarbonising concrete and cement," he said.