Building a greener world
Decarbonizing the built environment
Working towards a net-zero built environment, we play an essential role across a building’s entire lifecycle.
Four levers to green and circular construction
Climate action is at the heart of our strategy. We are working on four critical growth levers to accelerate the transition to net zero.
Sustainable building is possible today
Sustainable construction is essential to building a net-zero future that works for people and the planet – and our green building solutions are bringing this reality to life in cities around the world.
At the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, our ECOPact Max green concrete helped to realize a new public artwork about a greener future, reducing the carbon footprint by more than 70%. The Hope Sculpture (pictured right) is a 23-meter high installation by British designer Steuart Padwick that towers over Cuningar Loop woodland park on Glasgow’s East End. The Hope Sculpture is composed of long, elegant columns evoking the brick chimney stacks that once littered the area, atop of which sits a child figure reaching out to a greener future.
Driving circular construction
We are reducing the carbon intensity of our cement by substituting fossil fuels with pretreated non-recyclable and biomass waste fuels to operate our cement kilns. To increase this “thermal substitution rate” (TSR) we will be investing in our facilities to increase our TSR from 21.3% currently to 37% by 2030.
More than half our plants in the EU operate at a TSR above 50%, and one third above 70%. At our “star” plant in Retznei, Austria, we have achieved 100% TSR.
World’s 1st green cement with
20%
CDW inside
54 million tons
Waste recycled in 2021
6.6 million tons
CDW recycled in 2021
Smart design
In July 2021 we launched Striatus, the first-of-its-kind 3D concrete printed bridge, at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Realized with Block Research Group, Zaha Hadid Architects and incremental3D, this project established a new language for concrete that is digital, environmentally advanced and circular by design.
The structure is composed of 3D concrete printed blocks that stand together solely through compression, with no reinforcements, no mortar and no binders, applying computational design and 3D printing for minimal material use and maximum strength. All the blocks are entirely recyclable.
STRIATUS
An arched 3D-concrete printed masonry bridge. Project by the Block Research Group (BRG) at ETH Zurich and Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group (ZHACODE), in collaboration with incremental3D (in3D), made possible by Holcim.
Next-generation technologies
CO2 from our Lägerdorf plant in Germany will be transformed into green methanol and further on to a synthetic fuel through the WestKüste 100 project, to supply (for example) at nearby airports. This ten-company consortium is focused on the development of end-to-end sustainable business practices across industries to avoid waste in all sectors. This integrated approach is an industrial example for the required sector coupling in the energy transformation process.
As part of the HyScale100 consortium, the proposal has been officially designated as an ‘important project of common European interest’ (IPCEI).
Nature
We are committed to building a nature-positive future. The launch of our nature strategy in 2021 places us among the first 1% of the 500 largest global companies with science-driven biodiversity targets and the first in our sector with a freshwater replenishment commitment.
People
We are committed to respect human rights and to empower people and communities to build a better future. In 2021, Holcim announced its 2030 people strategy to continue creating shared value and uplifting the well-being of communities worldwide.
