The complex path to market for low-carbon cement

Getting the construction industry to try a novel form of cement is like turning a giant ship. It’s hard to redirect the immense momentum behind existing ways of doing business, especially involving cement, the most energy-intensive ingredient in concrete. Industry insiders point to tight margins, concerns about messing with the ingredients that literally hold up buildings, and the long list of stakeholders will agree to try a new material. 

So how do you get a risk-averse construction supply chain to try low-carbon cement?

In this episode, Shayle talks to Leah Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Sublime Systems, a company that recently landed its first commercial deployment of low-carbon cement. (Shayle is an investor in Sublime). Shayle and Leah cover topics like:

• The long list of parties involved in a single pour of concrete
• Why the green premium is a burden for margin-squeezed contractors but “budget dust” for the building buyer
• How to align stakeholders, once there's buy-in from financers
• How a book-and-claim system could work for decarbonized cement
• How major concrete consumers, like governments, can create demand 
• Why the boom in data center construction creates a window of opportunity for decarbonized construction materials

Recommended resources

• Catalyst: Pathways to decarbonizing steel
• Catalyst: Fixing cement’s carbon problem
• ‍Latitude Media: With climate venture capital down, industrial investments had a ‘breakout year’ in 2023