Sources: LafargeHolcim, Chicago; CP staff
To address calls for streamlining embodied carbon in private and public work, LafargeHolcim plans to issue Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) covering shipments from its U.S. Aggregates and Construction Materials (ACM) and Cement businesses. It will enlist top auditors and EPD Program Operators to prepare, verify and host a library of ready mixed concrete or cement declarations abiding the latest criteria for quantifying carbon dioxide emissions throughout raw material, processing, delivery and finishing phases.
“The growth in sustainable construction is driving demand for low-carbon building products that can transparently demonstrate a decrease in our environmental footprint,” says ACM CEO Jay Moreau. “These new EPDs also push us to continue innovating as we consider the next generation of building materials.”
The first declarations will be developed for the ECOPact Green Concrete series, whose mid-2020 North American market debut followed the ready mixed brand’s France, Germany and Switzerland market launches. LafargeHolcim Ltd. CEO Jan Jenisch calls ECOPact “the industry’s broadest range of green concrete for high-performing, sustainable and circular construction … With the [ECOPact] rollout, we are accelerating the transition to more sustainable building materials for greener construction.”
Series mixes exhibit 30 percent to 50 percent lower carbon intensity than regional standard offerings. Formulated with varying levels of fly ash, GGBF slag and Type IL portland-limestone cement, they are premiering in seven Aggregate Industries Mid-Atlantic Region plants. ECOPact availability will soon be extended to three Aggregate Industries Northeast Region sister operations serving the Boston market. The ACM business will retain ASTM International and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association to verify CO2 factors and other declaration data, and host ECOPact series EPD files for architect, engineer, contractor and owner reference.
Concurrent with ECOPact promotion and technical support, the LafargeHolcim U.S. Cement business plans to publish EPD for Type I/II and branded OneCem Type IL cements produced at the Holcim plant in Hagerstown, Md., plus 12 sister mills across the U.S. The documents will be based on benchmarks and guidelines in the new North American Product Category Rule for Portland, Blended, Masonry, Mortar and Stucco Cements, published by Ann Arbor, Mich.-based NSF International and penned with Portland Cement Association and Cement Association of Canada oversight. LafargeHolcim will generate the documents with the assistance of two forerunners in construction materials PCR and EPD: Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, Ottawa, and Climate Earth, Berkeley, Calif.
Related article
Lehigh issues first EPD based on Cement Product Category Rule 2.0