Saint-Gobain and Ecocem join forces to speed up delivery of low carbon products

Saint-Gobain and Ecocem have announced a major partnership focused on accelerating the delivery of low carbon products to market. Designed to reduce CO₂ emissions from cement, mortar and concrete, these products will support the acceleration of the construction industry’s transition to a low-carbon economy.

Commenting on the partnership, Benoit Bazin, chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain, said, “As the worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain develops innovative materials and solutions that enable the sector’s transition towards a low-carbon economy. This pioneering spirit is also reflected in our policy of openness. For many years, we have been forging fruitful and innovative collaborations that enrich our low-carbon offers. This partnership with Ecocem is part of this history and is perfectly in line with our goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.”

Donal O’Riain, chief executive officer and founder of Ecocem, said, “The potential exists today to reduce cement industry emissions dramatically by 2030 and to align with the targets set by the Paris Accord. Ecocem’s new generation of scalable low-carbon cement technologies can deliver on this potential. Our deep partnership with Saint-Gobain will support our efforts to scale these technologies and demonstrate to the world how we can decarbonise the cement, concrete and mortar industries.”

An ambitious R&D cooperation between Ecocem and Chryso, Saint-Gobain’s construction chemicals unit, will accelerate the development of high-performance admixtures to enable low-carbon cements.This partnership will also cover Saint-Gobain’s mortar business Weber in Western Europe and the distribution and concrete manufacturing activities of POINT.P in France.

Ecocem has been developing, manufacturing and supplying low-carbon cements for over 20 years using a clinker substitute. The company’s innovative expertise has resulted in a new generation of scalable low-carbon technologies. As a 25 per cent shareholder, Saint-Gobain has been a significant investor in Ecocem for almost fifteen years, supporting its development and the delivery to market of new scalable, low carbon cement and concrete technologies, which are already in use in major projects in Europe, including HS2, a high-speed railway line in the UK, and the Grand Paris Express, a public transportation network in the French capital.

To fast-track the adoption of these technologies and demonstrate their impact, Saint-Gobain and Ecocem have agreed to deepen their cooperation in a move that will enhance Saint-Gobain’s ability to reduce the Scope 3 CO₂ emissions of its cement use and concrete sales, as well as its mortar production. Saint-Gobain is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. To do so, it has set intermediate targets for 2030 to reduce by 33 per cent its CO₂ emissions on Scopes 1 and 2 and by 16 per cent its Scope 3 CO₂ emissions. This new partnership will decisively contribute to reaching these goals, acording to the company.