A Call to Action: Constructing a New Future with Carbon-Negative Concrete

At Partanna, we welcomed UN Environment Programme 's recent report, "Building Materials and the Climate: Constructing a New Future” which not only underscored the urgency of transitioning to sustainable building materials – and the consequences of our current practices – but that the built environment sector has only received a ‘small fraction’ of development funding, compared to other sectors.?

In this article, I explore the findings of the report and its recommendations and end with a clear call to action.??

The Environmental Toll of Traditional Building Materials

The entire construction industry has a profound impact on our environment at both a micro-level with concrete and asphalt contributing to the ‘urban heat island effect’, exacerbating the challenges of urban living in a warming world, and at a macro-level, driving climate change.??

As the report highlights, the share of greenhouse gas emissions from producing building materials grew from 15% in 1995 to 23% in 2015, whilst the cement industry accounts for 7% of total global CO2 emissions.

As a Bahamian, I saw first-hand the devastating effects of climate change when Hurricane Dorian struck the islands in 2019 causing devastating loss of life and leaving countless citizens homeless.??

?Compromises: CCUS & Biomaterials

Whilst urgent action is necessary and this report is full of valuable insight and recommendations, I take significant issue with a number of the recommendations regarding the steps to decarbonise cement and concrete.?

Carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS)

CCUS is not a feasible solution to decarbonising concrete. At best, it shifts the carbon emissions elsewhere in the supply chain. Vast amounts of energy are still needed to store, transport and utilise the carbon within concrete meaning that the carbon stored is almost entirely negated by the carbon produced during the CCUS process.?

As the report acknowledges, to achieve the International Energy Association’s standards for net zero, around 95 per cent of CO2 emissions from cement would need to be stored by 2050. That figure stands at just 0.1 per cent today.

Bio-based materials

The report offers bio-based materials such as bamboo, timber and biomass products as an alternative construction material. And whilst these remain viable options in highly-select circumstances, their use is also unrealistic in most cases where strength and resilience can make the difference between life and livelihoods and death and destitution.?

Put simply, bridges, hospitals and vital infrastructure cannot be supported by bamboo. And development must continue, especially in areas already ravaged by climate change disasters.?

Shifting to renewable energy and reducing the clinker-to-cement ratio

Whilst the Global Cement and Concrete Association puts great faith in electric kilns (avoiding the need for fossil fuels) and the report sourcing local binder and lowering the clinker-to-cement ratio, this recommendation presupposes that burning rocks and using kilns is even necessary.?

?It's not.?

Partanna's Solution: A natural, carbon-negative concrete

Against a backdrop of compromise and concession, Partanna's carbon-negative concrete emerges as a beacon of hope.?

Partanna ’s technology removes the need, entirely, for kilns and the astonishing amounts of fossil fuels needed to fuel them as it is processed at room temperature.?

And because like traditional concrete, Partanna absorbs carbon, it offers all the advantages of CCUS without just shifting the carbon emissions elsewhere in the supply chain.?

This technology isn’t just a pipe dream. It’s already being used in the Bahamas in the world’s first carbon negative housing development, in the United States of America and being explored for use in a multi-billion-dollar development in Saudi Arabia.?

A Call to Collaborate

Although I dispute some of the recommendations of this report, I wholeheartedly agree with the authors’ call for industry-wide collaboration, urgent policy review and highly needed policy intervention.?

The status quo cannot continue unchallenged. Partial-solutions like CCUS are at best sticking plasters and at worst illusions of change that will lead us to complacency.?

To the authors of the report and the broader community: The time for action is now. At Partanna, we have the technology and solutions to drive real change.?

But innovation in isolation isn't enough. We need collaboration across sectors, industries, and borders.

I invite stakeholders, policymakers, and industry leaders to engage with us at Partanna. Let's explore partnerships, research collaborations, and pilot projects. Let's set new standards for sustainability in the construction sector and champion solutions that are good for business and the planet.?