A Complete Guide to Low Embodied Carbon Concrete

With more focus than ever on embodied carbon in construction, demand for low embodied carbon concrete and other climate-smart building materials is on the rise. But what exactly is low embodied carbon concrete—and how can it be adopted more widely to help the industry meet its carbon reduction goals without negatively affecting performance or cost?

Looking for tools and resources to start your low embodied carbon strategy? Visit the Embodied Carbon Hub →

This blog post addresses all these questions and more: 

• What is Low Embodied Carbon Concrete?
• Why Traditional Concrete Has a High Carbon Footprint
• Growing Demand for Low Embodied Carbon Concrete
• How to Produce Low Embodied Carbon Concrete
• Case Study: Low Embodied Carbon Ready Mix Concrete
• Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Projects

What is Low Embodied Carbon Concrete?

Low embodied carbon concrete is produced with a significantly smaller carbon footprint than traditional concrete. It performs the same—but has a reduced environmental impact.

To produce low embodied carbon concrete, producers can implement a series of relatively low-impact changes to their production processes and mix designs. For example, switching their fuel source, replacing some cement content with mineral compounds like calcined clays, fly ash or blast-furnace slag, or using proven technologies like CarbonCure.

Learn more about how you can support the advancement of low embodied carbon concrete in our Embodied Carbon Hub.

Why Traditional Concrete Has a High Carbon Footprint

Concrete plays a vital role in our daily lives through many diverse applications and usages. It shapes the built environment around us, from schools, hospitals and housing, to roads, bridges, tunnels, runways, dams and sewage systems. In fact, concrete is the most used man-made material in the world, with three tons used annually for each person on the planet. Worldwide demand for concrete is second only to water.

Cement—the key ingredient that gives concrete its strength—is produced by burning limestone in kilns at 2,300° to 3,000° F (1,260° to 1,650° C). The process typically uses powdered coal or natural gas as fuel, consuming a large amount of energy and releasing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the combustion. 

• One ton of Portland cement produces roughly one ton of CO₂ emissions
• Cement manufacturing contributes an estimated 7% of global CO₂ emissions, making it one of the highest-emitting industrial processes.
• Concrete is responsible for 50-85% of the embodied carbon in any building project
• If it was a country, the concrete industry would be the third-highest emitter of CO₂ after China and the United States.

As factors like population growth and urbanization drive increased demand for concrete, there will be increased pressure to reduce the carbon footprint of the industry.

Growing Demand for Low Embodied Carbon Concrete

Governments, contractors, and architects are increasingly specifying low embodied carbon concrete—driven by transparency requirements like Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), green building certifications, and “Buy Clean” policies.

Learn more about EPDs and how they support embodied carbon tracking.

How to Produce Low Embodied Carbon Concrete

Production of lower carbon concrete requires a portfolio of solutions. Concrete is made up of many ingredients, so there are lots of ways to reduce the carbon impact of the individual components and processes.

Most of the carbon reduction effort is focused on three key areas: low-carbon fuels, low-carbon blended cement, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies. 

Each of the following strategies plays a role in producing low embodied carbon concrete—without compromising performance:

1. Low Carbon Fuels

Cut CO₂ emissions from cement manufacturing by using alternative or waste fuels.

2. Low Carbon Blended Cements

Reduce clinker content with SCMs like slag or fly ash.

3. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Technologies

Use innovative tech (like CarbonCure) to permanently mineralize CO₂ within concrete.

Case Study: Lower Carbon Ready Mix Concrete

Lauren Concrete has always been an early adopter of new technologies that can help the company on its mission to deliver world-class service to customers, employees and its communities. With a growing emphasis on sustainable building in the markets it serves, Lauren Concrete saw an opportunity to gain first-mover advantage with lower carbon concrete.

Following the successful implementation of new technologies like GPS tracking to enhance fleet optimization, software for real-time quality monitoring and sensors for gathering strength and temperature data, Lauren Concrete was eager to explore technologies to deliver greener concrete to its customers. CarbonCure was the next logical step on Lauren’s innovation journey. 

CarbonCure licenses technologies across the concrete industry that introduce captured CO₂ into fresh concrete to reduce its carbon footprint without compromising performance. Immediately upon injection, the CO₂ mineralizes and becomes permanently embedded within the concrete material. This results in economic and climate benefits for concrete producers—truly a win-win. 

To date, Lauren Concrete has produced more than 182,000 truckloads of concrete with CarbonCure's technologies and saved a total of more than 17,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions —that’s equivalent to the annual carbon sequestration capacity of more than 20,000 acres of trees.

Lower Carbon Concrete Projects

These projects show the real-world impact of low embodied carbon concrete at scale:

Amazon HQ2

Amazon HQ2 is part of the Metropolitan Park site, an urban renewal and development project in National Landing.

The “ground-up” construction features the redevelopment of a block of vacant warehouses into two new LEED Platinum-certified buildings, new retail space for area businesses and plenty of open space for the community to enjoy.

Miller & Long and Vulcan Materials delivered an estimated 106,555 cubic yards (81,467 cubic meters) of concrete made with CarbonCure, saving more than 1,000 metric tons of CO₂.

725 Ponce Street, Atlanta, Georgia

Thomas Concrete delivered 48,000 cubic yards (36,699 cubic meters) of concrete made with CarbonCure to 725 Ponce Street in Atlanta, Georgia—a USD $190 million mixed-use development clocking in at 360,000 square feet (33,445 square meters). The use of CarbonCure on the project diverted hundreds of metric tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere—equivalent to 888 acres of forest absorbing CO₂ for a year. Rob Weilacher, Engineer of Record at Uzun+Case said, “We specified Thomas Concrete with the CarbonCure Technology to reduce the carbon footprint of 725 Ponce...while maintaining our high-quality standards for concrete.” 

Infosys Technology and Innovation Hub

For Phase 1 of the Infosys project, Irving Materials Inc. (imi) used 8,000 cubic yards of 3,000, 4,000 and 6,000 psi mixes made with CO₂. The success of the phase was celebrated by imi and project developer Browning Construction. 

“We pride ourselves at Browning for not only understanding how a building functions for a client, but how it fits into their corporate culture and core values. In addition to constructing a sustainable building, working towards pollution prevention is one of Infosys’ environmental protection initiatives. Utilizing CarbonCure's technology was a great fit,” said Scott Hirschman, AIA, NCARB, President of Construction, Browning Investments

Footage of the project also caught the eye of Bill Gates, and was featured in a video on his blog Gates Notes.

Want to explore more? Visit our full project library or head to the Embodied Carbon Hub to dive deeper into carbon-smart construction.

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✔️ Sustainability and procurement teams: Explore our Embodied Carbon Hub for tools and guides →

✔️  Architects, engineers, and general contractors: Learn about specifying low embodied carbon concrete →