Our stories

Decarbonizing building

We are decarbonizing building end-to-end for a net-zero future, from our operations and low-carbon materials to making buildings sustainable in use and driving circular construction.

  • Building better with less
  • Making buildings sustainable
  • Circular construction
  • Green operations
  • All

Green operations

We are decarbonizing Holcim with green operations, from energy and mobility to product formulation, all the way to next generation technologies like carbon capture usage and storage. Our goal is to operate at least one net-zero plant by 2030.

We sat down with Holcim’s Poland CEO to learn how his team is addressing challenges facing the construction industry and decarbonizing building end-to-end.

Holcim launches the world’s first cement plant digital twin, a real-time 3D virtual model accurately replicating one of its sites in Switzerland.

Holcim prioritizes green energy, next-generation technologies and green mobility to accelerate our net-zero journey. Germany is leading the way.

Accelerating the shift to net-zero transport, we launched a fleet of 100% electric trucks with a 420 km range in Germany.

Building better with less

We are decarbonizing construction, enabling our customers to build better with less. Our low-carbon materials, from ECOPact concrete to ECOPlanet cement, deliver 100% performance delivering at least 30% less CO2. We are also deploying smart design systems like 3D printing that can reduce material use by up to 50%.

Carmen Díaz, Holcim Spain CEO, shares her experience of becoming a female leader at Holcim and how her country is decarbonizing building.

Holcim is providing ECOPact low-carbon concrete for the largest urban regeneration project in Europe: the Ellinikon, located outside of Athens, Greece.

14Trees has just completed the printing of 10 housing units in Kenya, becoming the largest 3D-printed affordable housing project to date.

Holcim and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are working together to make AWS data centers in the US more sustainable. The partnership follows AWS’s new design standards, which requires that its new US data centers use concrete with 20% lower embodied carbon versus standard concrete.

The highly demanding project, which is the biggest one in New Alamein City, reduced CO2 emissions by 45% thanks to our low-carbon ECOPlanet cement.

Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch sat down to talk about how the company is decarbonizing building with Mark Wiedman, host of BlackRock’s podcast The Bid, for an episode of his series “The Real Leaders of Net Zero.”

Making buildings sustainable

We are making buildings more sustainable in use, decarbonizing our cities. Our broad range of solutions, from roofing to insulation, is driving energy efficiency and green retrofitting. This is where the majority of our sector’s emissions are generated, with 70% of the CO2 emissions in construction coming from buildings in use.

70% of the built environment’s CO2 emissions are generated by heating, cooling and operating buildings in use. That’s why we are becoming an important player in roofing.

Insulating our buildings to improve their energy efficiency is one way to fight climate change. Discover four insulation solutions available from Holcim.

Malarkey Roofing Products launched the world’s first smog-reducing shingle that removes pollutant gasses from the air with the same effect as trees.

Enhancing energy efficiency of buildings, Elevate’s green roofing systems host complex ecosystems with trees, plants and irrigation in Asia's largest urban rooftop farm at Thailand’s Thammasat University.

Circular construction

We are driving circular construction to build new from the old. As a world leader in recycling, we are putting circularity at the core of everything we do, from recycling construction and demolition materials to upcycling plastic bags in roofing systems.

At this year’s World Economic Forum, which focused on “Cooperation in a Fragmented World,” Holcim gathered renowned architects to accelerate circular construction together.

Repurposing valuable materials already in our built environment is key to creating net-zero cities.

In 2021, Aggregate Industries UK (AI) recycled the aggregates and bitumen from worn out roads – 822,500 tons in total – and turned it into new ones.

Urban mining looks at waste material as a source of potential wealth, as opposed to landfill, incinerating or turning it into products of lower value.

Zephyr Ost in the Tech Cluster Zug is the largest construction project in Switzerland to date with climate-friendly concrete.

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We sat down with Shajay Bhooshan, ​Associate Director at Zaha Hadid Architects, to get his perspective on how the densification of cities can help in our fight against climate change.

A community center built on a sugar cane farm using sustainable design techniques such as the cement-bamboo frame technology and our low-carbon ECOPlanet cement.

Vincent Teissier, Head of Circular Construction for Holcim Europe, offers a deep-dive into circular economy.

Holcim is partnering with Seqens to build the world’s first fully recycled concrete building, using a custom concrete made with ECOCycle® technology.

Latin America is the second most urbanized region in the world. That’s why we are making construction circular across its lifecycle.

At Holcim, we take a science-driven approach to become a net-zero company with targets in line with the Science Based Targets initiative 1.5°C framework.

Duro-Last is a US leader in commercial roofing systems with a sustainability profile based on two pillars: energy efficiency and circularity.

On our mission to decarbonize our operations and drive circularity, we innovate to accelerate the use of alternative fuels.

Croatia's Istrian Y Motorway project is saving around 9,000 tons of CO2 emissions through the use of Holcim’s low-carbon concrete.

Carmen Díaz, Holcim Spain CEO, shares her experience of becoming a female leader at Holcim and how her country is decarbonizing building.

In just two years Holcim has built a USD 4 billion platform in the most attractive USD 40 billion North America market, led by Elevate in the commercial segment and Malarkey in residential.

Insulating our buildings to improve their energy efficiency is one way to fight climate change. Discover four insulation solutions available from Holcim.

Our purpose – to build progress for people and the planet – guides our business. We are committed to becoming a net-zero company by 2050, leading the transition to a circular economy, and conducting world-leading research and development.

Our teams around the world are driving this positive change. Our stories reflect the people and communities we work with, the innovative projects we lead, and our commitment to sustainability in all aspects of our business.

Read our inspiring accounts to discover how we’re building a greener world and becoming a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions.

DYNAMax, the ultimate performance concrete, was used in a modern new office quarter in Wiesbaden, Germany, ensuring high strength, outstanding durability, superior rigidity and a reduced carbon footprint.

ECOPact green concrete was used to build a state-of-the-art media library in Herblay-sur-Seine to achieve a CO2 emissions reduction of 50%.

GP Vivienda, one of Mexico’s biggest real estate developers and construction companies, used 50,000 m3 of ECOPact low-carbon concrete to build twelve residential developments across Monterrey metropolitan area.

Decarbonizing construction, the Spheres building in Seattle is LEED Gold certified, with a live rainforest and built with ECOPlanet, with 80% less CO2 inside.

One of the ways we are decarbonizing cement is by increasing our use of innovative low-emission raw materials, such as calcined clay.

Holcim has secured two investments from the European Union (EU) Innovation Fund for its breakthrough Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage projects in Germany and Poland.

Holcim enters offshore yacht racing with the launch of its first IMOCA race boat in Lorient, France on a mission to GO CIRCULAR.

Modern Structures and Equipment Co. used ECOPlanet low-carbon cement in the extension of the Al-Ain El-Sokhna Port in Egypt. The highly demanding infrastructure project has already reduced CO2 emissions by 45% thanks to our low-carbon cement.

BPM Architects and Bouygues Bâtiment Center Sud-Ouest construction group used ECOPact low-carbon concrete to build a modern middle school for the town of Le Pian-Médoc. The state-of-the-art building near the city of Bordeaux reduced CO2 emissions by 40% thanks to our low-carbon concrete.

The University of St.Gallen's SQUARE Learning Center was built with ECOPlanet Susteno, the first and only resource-saving cement in Europe with up to 20% construction and demolition materials inside.

 

Holcim announces its investment in COBOD International, a global leader in 3D construction printing, to advance world-class 3D printing materials, robotics and automation.

Casa Laguna, the largest affordable housing project in Ecuador to date, used ECOPact green concrete for a 3,500 unit housing development.

Ryan Roberts, Head of Sustainable Construction at Holcim, offers his insight and explains what is sustainable construction.

Switching to 100% renewables will require effective energy storage. Thermal concrete activation (TCA) systems are one of the most effective solutions to achieve that.

Launched in 2019, Holcim’s “Plants of Tomorrow” program is one of the largest roll-outs of Industry 4.0 in the building materials industry.

We are partnering with Italian Energy company Eni to advance our carbon capture portfolio, repurposing CO2 from our operations into our green cement.