News Detail

Working Toward a Global Consensus on Low-Carbon Concrete

1/2/2024

Sustainability is at the forefront of many industries, but the concrete construction community has a remarkable, elevated opportunity to fundamentally change the way the world’s infrastructure is built. This was keenly brought into focus as ACI and NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete (NEU) participated in the Conference of the Parties (COP), held November 30-December 12, 2023.

COP is an initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and convened its 28th meeting in Dubai. COP has assembled member countries every year for nearly three decades to focus the world’s attention on climate change, quantify changes, and determine programs and responsibilities to slow the increase of global warming.

The 28th meeting (COP28) was an opportune moment for myself and Dean Frank, Executive Director, NEU, to inform a global audience about our latest sustainability landmark: ACI CODE-323-24, Low-Carbon Concrete—Code and Commentary.

ACI CODE-323-24 is the product of just less than a year’s amount of work, which shows the commitment of the Institute to develop what we strongly believe is the first code on low-carbon concrete. Credit goes to the members of ACI Committee 323, Low-Carbon Concrete Code, led by Chair Matthew Adams, Vice Chair Christopher Ferraro, and Secretary Andrea Schokker. The code is on track to be published later this year.

This document represents a “first answer” from ACI to the question: “What is low-carbon concrete?” Low-carbon concrete is a design goal that depends on the region of the world you’re in. And we must be cognizant that it is a constantly changing target, which means we are improving on what we’re doing on a daily basis. The document will include global warming potential (GWP) benchmarks from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA). Even though this data pertains to the United States, we believe it does not prevent use of the code in other parts of the world.

As Dean Frank has pointed out, global warming is affecting everyone. CO2 knows no boundaries or borders, so we all must deal with it. There are several roadmaps that have been created to guide the industry toward achieving reduced greenhouse gas emissions and carbon neutrality. There’s not one silver bullet that we all can rely on. It’s going to take a combination of things for the concrete industry to get to carbon neutrality.

The focus of NEU will be on accelerated—and appropriate—adoption of new technologies. We want to drive education awareness for professionals about the options for carbon-neutral concrete materials and technologies so they can make smart decisions during design and construction.

Knowledge transfer is where ACI comes into play. It’s fundamental to educate people at all levels, even the public. With government mandates, we will be able to make progress rapidly.

Our announcement of ACI CODE-323-24 was part of a joint event with the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) on December 6, 2023. Karen Scrivener, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), provided another global perspective. She discussed the work of the Joint Committee on the Global Consensus on Sustainability in the Built Environment (GLOBE). This expert group is trying to bring together the different parts of the value chain to achieve more sustainable construction. Six international engineering associations are participating:

• International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE);
• International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib);
• International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM);
• International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB);
• European Convention for Constructional Steel Work (ECCS); and
• International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS).

Andrew Minson, Concrete and Sustainable Construction Director, GCCA, moderated the session and panel discussion. The presentations and question-and-answer session can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzxGb7LS2Yw.

The future is bright. I will pass along more information as further developments come to light.

Antonio Nanni