Insights

Implementing a commercial retailer’s low-carbon concrete strategy

Challenge

Almost all modern commercial construction depends on concrete. However, the embodied carbon from cement alone, the binding ingredient of concrete, accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With lower carbon alternatives to traditional cement and concrete products now entering the market, corporations have a unique opportunity to drive progress and boost long-term resilience across this hard-to-abate sector.

Our commercial retail client recognized the opportunity of decarbonizing its real estate portfolio, with a binding Scope 3 emissions target and a sizable embodied carbon footprint from cement and concrete. Given the rapidly narrowing price gap between low-carbon and traditional concrete products, executives from the construction team were motivated to pilot low carbon concrete in new facilities. However, the retailer was facing several barriers to implementation:

Concrete pours involve a large number of stakeholders across construction, architecture, and engineering, and a rotating cast of general contractors and subcontractors by project and region. Gaining buy-in from all parties involved can be a challenge, especially when piloting new technologies and materials.

Large concrete batch plants – those capable of delivering the quantities our client needed – operate in a consolidated market. Furthermore, many large batch plants upcharge to distribute green concrete, as it’s made with cement materials that often compete against their own products. Our client struggled to identify batch plants that could deliver large quantities of concrete made with third party green cement without significant upcharging.

Construction stakeholders had little knowledge about green cement and questioned the necessity of working with new materials, which made it challenging to align on one vendor or solution. For instance, many were unsure whether low-carbon cement was as strong, durable, and workable as regular cement or could be finished similarly.

Skilled-trade subcontractors, who manage the cement installation process and are typically liable for any warranty issues, often view cast-in-place green concrete projects as an unnecessary risk. Given the challenges in aligning stakeholders to pour low-carbon concrete, our client needed to engage the full value chain of involved partners well ahead of the pouring date to develop a shared understanding of the project's goals.

With sizable operational growth plans, the retailer engaged Earth Finance to conduct market research, identify and vet vendors, and execute green concrete pilot projects as part of its broader low-carbon building materials strategy.

Our approach

Our team partnered with the retailer's construction stakeholders to develop a robust pipeline of green cement pilot projects, starting with manufactured blocks (CMUs) and expanding into cast-in-place concrete. Here’s a closer look at our process:

1) Stakeholder education and alignment. Given the construction team's limited education and in some cases skepticism about green concrete technologies, our team first created in-depth training materials and conducted an in-person presentation. This education process was critical to aligning on concrete as a priority focus area in its embodied carbon strategy and uncovering green concrete’s role in reducing overall climate risk.

2) Low-carbon concrete vendor research & due diligence. Even after 5-10 years of operation, many low-carbon concrete startups are just now at the point where they can produce enough cement to support a large-scale pilot project. Our team identified 40+ potential vendors and vetted them on technical and business details. For instance, does the vendor have its own product, or does it want to be licensed by a larger manufacturer? Does the material deliver on its promised GHG reduction? How secure are the supply chains for its manufacturing inputs? Based on this due diligence, we narrowed the list to 5 leading vendors for potential pilot projects.

3) Technical validation with architectural engineering. Next, we worked with our retail client’s architectural engineering partners to conduct technical validation on the leading low-carbon concrete vendors. This included 1-7-28 day strength tests, durability tests via simulated weathering, slump tests, and additional validation of each vendor’s embodied carbon claims.

4) Initiation of pilot projects. Based on the due diligence and technical validation conducted, we proposed specific vendors for piloting. Combining the vendors‘ regions of service with our client’s construction list, the locations for the pilots were shortlisted and then selected based on geographical proximity and willingness of key projects partners to participate. To date, pilot projects have resulted in:

Sales floor expansion

A sales floor expansion of an existing Southeast facility to pilot 50% reduced carbon manufactured concrete blocks (CMUs).

New facility walls

A second project testing the 50% reduced carbon CMUs in a new East Coast facility's walls.

Cast-in-place concrete pour

The first pour of 90% reduced carbon cast-in-place concrete for a high-use trailer pad, paving the way for this same mix to be used in all site concrete for a new West Coast facility breaking ground in Spring 2026.

With several successful pilot projects under their belt and an expanding list of regional subcontractors willing to work with low-carbon concrete, our client is actively looking for larger cast-in-place projects with additional vendors. Currently, they have 10+ new pilot projects in the pipeline combining both low-carbon blocks and cast-in place solutions.

Project outcomes

Our retail client moved from a place of skepticism on the value of low-carbon concrete to full executive buy-in, proving that business resilience investments like green concrete can be made without sacrificing return on investment (ROI), even in hard-to-abate sectors.

Following this project, the team is equipped to:

Support goal attainment and climate resilience in a cost-effective manner.
Position itself as a built environment market leader in the retail industry.
Help catalyze a market shift toward globally scalable green cement solutions.
Gain deep buy-in from key construction executives.
Build an ecosystem of trusted contractors and subcontractors capable of installing low-carbon concrete.

Key wins

$60k

Dollars saved by using green cement blocks instead of traditional ones at an East Coast facility

40-90%

Emissions reductions of current low-carbon cement solutions in evaluation and piloting

40+

Low-carbon concrete vendors evaluated during the initial market screening

10+

New pilot projects in the pipeline testing both low-carbon products

For our retail client, the low carbon building materials journey is just beginning. They’re continuing to test materials, develop a network of willing partners, and gather a track record of bids and performance to support their long-term vision of reliably implementing low-carbon concrete projects in any region. Thinking bigger, they’re even exploring solutions that replace gravel and sand aggregates in concrete with processed woody biomass, turning concrete into viable long-term carbon sinks.

Interested in developing an embodied carbon strategy for your organization? Our team specializes in building pipelines of materials that support a cost-effective, low-carbon real estate portfolio.

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