Affordable, versatile, durable and easy to maintain - no wonder concrete is the most consumed substance on the planet, after water. This omnipresent material undeniably has laid solid grounds for modern civilization and its production is expected to grow to 5.5 billion tons by 2050 - particularly as 60% of the built environment that will be around then is yet to be built.
But whilst the importance of concrete in constructing the necessary infrastructure, buildings and other structures cannot be underestimated, neither can the material’s environmental impact. With concrete being the single biggest industrial causes of carbon pollution, advancing the sustainability agenda is paramount for the concrete and cement sector.
Holcim, Australia’s leading supplier of aggregates and ready-mix concrete, makes it their responsibility to do so - and their latest product range is an apt expression of these efforts.
Unveiled in May 2021, ECOPact is a low carbon concrete product range which replaces a high portion of cement with upcycled waste by-products. Its composition makes it better for the environment and can reduce embodied carbon of a project by 30 to 60%, compared to the Australian National Life Cycle Inventory Database base case. The innovative range is also underpinned by Holcim’s commitment to transparency, and each ECOPact product comes with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which provides the customer with third-party data on the impact of the material on their project.
Importantly, the new range ensures an improved environmental profile without compromising on the qualities of concrete building and construction sector relies on so heavily. “Whether you're an architect, a designer or an engineer, you might have some reluctance to use new products, or products that are labelled low carbon,” says Cyril Giraud, Head of Sustainability at Holcim Australia and New Zealand. “But the priority for us is that the product that we supply offers the same potential performance as our traditional product. This is our number one priority.”
Alongside ECOPact products that can help significantly reduce embodied carbon emissions of a project, Holcim offers a service called ECOPactZERO, which enables industry professionals to achieve carbon neutrality. The first of its kind in Australia, the service provides the industry professionals with an opportunity to offset any remaining embodied carbon from ready-mix concrete by using accredited carbon offsets through Climate Active, a partnership between the Australian Government and Australian businesses to drive voluntary climate action. As a result, the EcoPact component reduces embodied carbon by 30%-60%, with the remaining carbon being offset by Carbon Offsets.
With a range of mixes, strengths and potential applications, ECOPact can help improve the environmental profile of even the most demanding construction projects - and offer recognised benefits for GreenStar and IS rating criteria. And with Holcim’s specialist specifications’ team dedicated to providing support to the specifier community, choosing a low carbon concrete product for the next project is easy - a step, Cyril points out, which should be carefully considered very early in the project.
“Once concrete has been poured or used, the embodied carbon is locked for the life of the asset,” he says. “There is no turning back. So the decision making process very early on in a project is critical to make a difference because you don't know what you don't know.”
