Leading building materials company Holcim North America announced an investment in Blue Planet Systems, a provider of technology to sequester carbon emissions into aggregate that can make concrete carbon-negative.

Building materials companies are coming increasingly in focus in the fight against climate change, due to the carbon intensity of their primary products. Cement production, an ingredient in concrete, accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with over 900 kg of CO2 emissions generated for every 1000 kg of material produced.

Blue Planet’s mineralization technology combines waste CO2 with calcium sourced from waste to produce synthetic limestone aggregate. The mineralization process can consume industrial waste, such as recycled concrete, cement kiln dust, and slag, and produce new aggregate products. Each ton of the aggregate has the ability to mineralize up to 440 kg of CO2, preventing it from emitting into the atmosphere.

Brent R. Constantz, Ph.D., CEO at Blue Planet, said:

“By focusing on the aggregate component of concrete, our technology can have a more impactful influence on the embodied carbon in concrete than the traditional focus on reducing cement component alone. Collaborating with Holcim enables us to apply our CO2 mineralization technology to large-scale cement operations where we expect it will more squarely address CO2 emissions.”

Toufic Tabbara, Holcim’s Region Head, North America, said:

 “Our investment offers a critical opportunity to influence the development of future technologies in the CCUS space while at the same time, we grow our network of like-minded companies with the same strong focus on net zero to amplify global efforts along with other Blue Planet’s investors.”

Holcim North America, comprised of building solutions companies Lafarge Canada and Holcim US, and Blue Planet plan to start a strategic collaboration to identify use of the mineralization technology to further lower the carbon footprint of companies’ cement, aggregates and concrete operations, with the possibility to expand to other operations in the Holcim Group.

David Redfern, President & CEO, Lafarge Canada, said:

“We look forward to advancing our Net Zero strategy by leveraging mineralization technology that allows us to use the CO2 from our own cement plants to produce carbon neutral or carbon negative sand and gravel products.”