Clean Concrete Pledge Initiative
Commitments from buyers and suppliers to procure, demonstrate, or supply low-carbon concrete materials send a strong market signal to drive the US concrete industry's carbon pollution to zero.
Procurement Pledges
A strong, consolidated demand signal aligning public- and private-sector buyers to purchase clean concrete is critical to drive investments in decarbonization by material suppliers. This category will support scaling of best practices for concrete emissions reduction across the industry, while setting the stage for advance purchasing contracts for deeply decarbonized materials.
Buy Clean
Level 1
Adopt specifications requiring Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for concrete materials in:
- all building projects exceeding 25,000 sf
- infrastructure projects exceeding 50 cy of concrete
City of New York
Level 2
Adopt global warming potential (GWP) limits for concrete materials in:
- all building projects exceeding 25,000 sf
- infrastructure projects exceeding 50 cy of concrete
GWP limits to be set at 15% better than 2022 regional NRMCA benchmarks
City of Los Angeles
BXP, Inc.
Weldon Development
Level 3
Adopt global warming potential (GWP) limits for concrete materials in:
- all building projects exceeding 25,000 sf
- infrastructure projects exceeding 50 cy of concrete
GWP limits to be set at 30% better than 2022 regional NRMCA benchmarks
New York State
Beyond Buy Clean
Level 1
Specify, for 20% of all concrete procurement by volume (cy) or cost ($), concrete mixes achieving:
GWP limits >40% better than 2022 regional NRMCA benchmarks
Level 2
Specify, for 20% of all concrete procurement by volume (cy) or cost ($), concrete mixes achieving:
GWP limits >50% better than 2022 regional NRMCA benchmarks
OR
Execute 2 Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) that will deliver ready-mix concrete achieving the above benchmarks
Level 3
Join the First Mover’s Coalition (FMC) commitment for near-zero concrete and cement
OR
Execute 2 Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) that will deliver ready-mix concrete achieving the FMC benchmarks
Note:The NRMCA benchmarks will be updated over time. Given the lack of information available to predict how these benchmarks will change over time, organizations may continue to reference the 2022 NRMCA benchmarks as baselines for the purposes of this pledge framework. Alternatively, longer term coalition partners may choose to calibrate pledges against benchmarks developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its labeling program.
Demonstration Projects Pledges
Demonstration projects are essential to maintain progress toward long-term decarbonization goals, cultivate industry confidence in clean concrete mixes, and develop a workforce to implement emerging technologies. This category will raise the level of ambition for low-carbon ready-mixed and precast concrete through technology demonstration projects. This pledge category focuses on accelerating interest, testing, and supply of both emerging clean concrete technologies and near-zero OPC, PLC, or LC3 as these become available.
Ready-mixed Concrete
Level 1
Complete 5 demonstration placements and report performance results for concrete mixes achieving:
GWP limits >40% better than 2022 regional NRMCA benchmarks
City of Los Angeles
CEMEX
Level 2
Complete 5 demonstration placements and report performance results for concrete mixes achieving:
GWP limits >50% better than 2022 regional NRMCA benchmarks
Heidelberg Materials
Turner Construction
Ozinga
Sublime Systems
C-Crete Technologies
Pozzotive
Carbon Upcycling
Fortera
Level 3
Complete 5 demonstration placements and report performance results for concrete mixes achieving:
Near-zero emissions GWP benchmarks identified by the First Mover’s Coalition (FMC) commitment
National Ready Mixed Concrete Company
Precast Concrete Demonstration
Level 1
Achieve 5 demonstration projects that reduce cement content in precast concrete mixes by 15% compared to the code limits established by Marin County, California, and the City of Santa Monica, California
Level 2
Achieve 5 demonstration projects that reduce cement content in precast concrete mixes by 25% compared to the code limits established by Marin County, California, and the City of Santa Monica, California
Clark Pacific
Level 3
Achieve 5 demonstration projects that reduce cement content in precast concrete mixes by 40% compared to the code limits established by Marin County, California, and the City of Santa Monica, California
Note: The NRMCA benchmarks will be updated over time. Given the lack of information available to predict how these benchmarks will change over time, organizations may continue to reference the 2022 NRMCA benchmarks as baselines for the purposes of this pledge framework. Alternatively, longer-term coalition partners may choose to calibrate pledges against benchmarks developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its labeling program.
Note: Concrete mixes should leverage performance-based specifications and use alternative SCMs, alternative cements, or 1T ternary blended cements.
Cement Supplier Pledges
Supply-side investments to decarbonize cement and concrete production facilities will be essential to achieving the industry’s climate objectives. This category aligns suppliers around cement product and cement plant decarbonization goals. Suppliers can set goals around delivering blended cement products that reduce emissions-intensive clinker in concrete mixes. They can also develop comprehensive portfolio-level plans to decarbonize cement production plants over the next 25 years.
Cement Products
Level 1
Achieve a 25% reduction in total company-wide emissions from a baseline measured in 2020
AND
Achieve a >50% reduction in emissions for a single US-based plant
Heidelberg Materials
Level 2
Achieve a 40% reduction in total company-wide emissions from a baseline measured in 2020
AND
Operate 1 net-zero emissions cement plant in the US and supply product to the market
Level 3
Achieve a >50% reduction in total company-wide emissions from a baseline measured in 2020
AND
Operate 3 net-zero emissions cement plants in the US and supply product to the market
Cement Plant Decarbonization
Level 1
Supply blended cement products achieving a >20% clinker substitution (0.8 clinker factor)
Level 2
Supply blended cement products achieving a >40% clinker substitution (0.6 clinker factor)
Fortera
Heidelberg Materials
Level 3
Supply near-zero cement products, as defined by the First Mover’s Coalition (<184 kg CO e/ton)
Market Accelerator Pledges
Beyond demonstration, procurement, and supply, there is an important role for entities to catalyze market development to scale clean concrete application. The following commitment categories will support this market acceleration.
Startup Technology Vendors
Maintain robust and aligned data disclosure on environmental impact claims
Maintain transparency in sharing lessons learned from case studies/demonstration projects
Queens Carbon
Public Agency — Specifications
Establish a task force to review and update concrete specifications to remove barriers and prescriptive criteria that impede adoption of low-carbon concrete in the market (e.g., eliminate cement minimums and/or SCM maximums, allow ASTM C150, C595, and C1157)
Pilot performance-based specification and contracting, including GWP limits
Public Agency/ University — Testing Labs
Establish a task force to review and update concrete specifications to remove barriers and prescriptive criteria that impede adoption of low-carbon concrete in the market (e.g., eliminate cement minimums and/or SCM maximums, allow ASTM C150, C595, and C1157)
Pilot performance-based specification and contracting, including GWP limits
Public Agency/ University — Testing Labs
Provide access and testing equipment to facilitate performance validation of innovative low-carbon technologies (e.g., alternative cements and SCMs)
Finance
Invest in innovative companies in this space
All Stakeholders — Workforce Development
Develop educational programs to support workforce capacity building for designers, specifiers, contractors, and suppliers
TAKE THE CLEAN CONCRETE PLEDGE
Make a pledge to join our initiative
