In a far-reaching all day educational conference in Toronto on low-carbon concrete, a broad spectrum of contractors, design professionals, manufacturers and other industry representatives heard and discussed several solutions to reach net-zero emissions.
The Lower Carbon Concrete Symposium, which was held at the Toronto Reference Library and organized by Concrete Ontario and the Carbon Coalition, also featured talks by representatives of the Cement Association of Canada and Concrete Ontario.
In his presentation titled Road Map to Net Zero and Progress, Cement Association of Canada construction innovation vice-president Rob Cooney expanded on the cement and concrete industries efforts to reduce emissions and stay competitive at the same time.
Innovation, productivity and sustainability are mutually compatible goals that have to be embraced by the cement, concrete, and related industries. Otherwise, those goals will be forced upon them by a combination of both internal and external factors, he warned.
“Climate action is part of competitiveness. They are irrevocably linked,” said Cooney, whose presentation included a global map illustrating where carbon policies have been implemented at either the national or subnational level (such as in California).
Canada’s trading partners are taking aggressive action to protect their gains through buy clean, carbon adjustments and other policies and that could mean doors are closed to Canadian goods, “without a matched level of ambition.
“If we (the industry) don’t define what net-zero is, others will do it for us.”
Governments, think-tanks and technologies are attempting to: “prescribe their vision and solutions for cement and concrete production.”
Government policies do play a critical role in determining if Canada maintains and expands its role as a cement supplier in North America or “cedes” investment and control of the supply chain to other markets, he pointed out.
“So we (the cement association) proposed solutions to meet changing market and regulatory demands in a way that makes sense for your own operations.”
By solutions he was referring to the Concrete Zero action plan co-launched by the association and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada in 2022. Official progress reports are planned to be released every five years, he said.
Cement producers have been developing and initiating major improvements to components to the clinker, which is the primary ingredient in cement and the cement process.
The most energy-intensive phase of the “concrete value chain” occurs at the cement plant.
Helping to drive down emissions at that stage is the use of new cement blends, such as Portland limestone cement, supplementary cementitious materials and blended cements, he said.
Carbon reductions in other sections of that value chain can be achieved through the use of locally used materials, waste reduction policies and procedures, by accelerating innovations in cement and concrete products and by implementing “carbon accounting.”
Elements of carbon accounting include improving the availability, consistency, compatibility and comparability of carbon data across the value chain and moving towards commercially comparable Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for cement, said Cooney.
Implementing and improving EPDs — which tells the life cycle story of a product in a single, comprehensive report — is an initiative the concrete industry has been focused on for some time, said the symposium’s second speaker.
“Environmental Product Declarations are (the) key to concrete’s sustainable future,” said Concrete Ontario’s technical services director Alen Keri.
In 2017 the Canadian Ready-Mix Concrete Association released a member industry-wide EPD for a Canadian Ready-mix Concrete report.
But that national report did not take into account different geographic conditions, materials and other local factors in different parts of the country. In early 2022 it was replaced with seven regional EPDs for Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, he said.
However, those reports will expire in 2027 and planning for new ones, which will take into account factors such as material improvements, is now underway. An RFP for a consultant was issued in early April, with the award scheduled near the end of June, he said.
Data based on 2025 production records will be collected in 2026 with the EPD implemented in 2027. A number of issues have to be addressed in the Ontario industry-wide report including pump primes and unshrinkable fill, said Keri.
A majority of ready-mix producers in Ontario are aware of EPDs and Concrete Ontario has been connecting with sustainability consultants WAP Sustainability and Climate Earth.
“We want to educate our members.”
Further evolutions in EPDs should be expected, notably Type 111, which are material specific and will change if the materials at a ready-mix plant change, he said.
In a short interview after the symposium, Keri said he believes the Type 111 EPD will eventually become mandatory in bid documents. The symposium was the end result of months of planning and collaboration between Concrete Ontario and the Carbon Coalition, he added.
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