You started your career at Holcim in 2000-2004, to then return in 2018. Why come back to the cement industry now?
It is an interesting moment to come back. When I was in Holcim prior, I took a role in Philadelphia where I spent a lot of time trying to educate architects and engineers on the benefits of alternatives to cement, such as slag and fly ash in order to reduce concrete’s impact. These changes, for understandable reasons, were harder for many to accept years back. Concrete has to hold up to an 80 story building, and engineers have a hard time changing a product that has been standing the test of time for hundreds of years so efficiently—but it still can be done. Today, twenty years later, Holcim is proud to announce that by the end of the year most of our plants in the U.S. will be using Portland Limestone cement, which is a product with lower environmental impact.
Holcim is the market leader for cement in the United States, with the highest market share. It is our responsibility to drive this change. If we start producing lower impact cement, the environmental footprint of the whole concrete industry changes dramatically. This huge agency is one of the things that drove me back here, and it comes with a corresponding responsibility.
You are the first company in the world to produce cement made out of 20% construction waste, as part of the circular economy effort – is it enough?
We did that in Switzerland with a product called susteno, which is made from construction demolition waste. People do not realize that concrete is one of those products that is infinitely recyclable. You can make concrete, then remove it, crush it, and make concrete again, or use it for a base material avoiding the extraction of virgin material.
Concrete is composed of 50% unhydrated cement, which is basically unactivated cement. This might be seen as an intrinsic shortcoming of the substance, but it is also a huge opportunity. The activation of this 50% is possible through chemical admixtures; consequently, you need less of it in concrete. This is, from a technological perspective, a huge opportunity to improve efficiency. For years after placement, concrete contains un-hydrated cement, sometimes up to 20%. This means the cement is unactivated. Through innovation, we want to find a way to activate all of the cement in concrete, doing more with less. Making each particle more efficient means you can achieve higher strength and durability with the same concrete, or even better, decrease the amount of cement necessary.
How advanced is Holcim in carbon capture technology?
We have more than 20 carbon capture projects around the world. For example, at our plant in Richmond, British Columbia, we have one small-scale carbon capture unit that is fully operational. This is the test unit for a larger scale plant that we hope to get off the ground and operational within the next five years.
How are you looking to finance such projects, in the absence of supportive policy?
For these projects, it is vital that there is a business model . Otherwise, they fall within the cost of the product and ultimately on the people that buy the products. There are currently some uses for captured CO2, but more innovation is needed.
In the end, concrete is the second most consumed substance on the planet after water.
It is hard to imagine a world without concrete—it shelters us, transports us, builds bridges, holds back water, and more. There is no other material that is so inexpensive and also performs at such a high level. So, ultimately, society needs cement and concrete, and to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, we need to start thinking about it differently.
Where is Holcim heading globally in the next few years?
To net zero! We know that 38% of global CO2 emissions come from buildings—70% of that is from the life of the building and 30% comes from the building material. Urbanization and population growth will continue to drive these numbers if we do not make changes. We have the possibility to improve that 30% with low-impact products, and we can also affect the other 70% by considering the full building envelope and using more efficient materials. My division is precisely focused on bringing these types of solutions into Holcim’s portfolio, while continuing inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions We are also continuing inorganic growth. For instance, we recently added Malarkey Roofing Products to our building envelope portfolio, a shingle manufacturer with the most sustainable shingles on the market. They re-envisioned the classic asphalt product, and now produce PMA (Polymer Modified Asphalt) shingles, which not only last longer but contain up-cycled plastic bags and tires, and smog-reducing granules. This is a way in which we improve that other 70%, and only one of many possibilities in our goal to become the most innovative and sustainable building solutions provider globally.
