Roads or bridges, tunnels or high-rise buildings – concrete has so far been an integral part of construction. But the cement it contains is very harmful to the climate in the current production method. As an interim step, manufacturers are working on lower-emission solutions that partially replace the CO2-intensive cement with other materials that function similarly well in terms of construction technology – such as mineral waste products such as gravel washing sludge, rods from quartz mining or previously unused waste products from bauxite mining.

But other building materials are also energy and resource intensive to produce. That is why greater resource efficiency is one of the important transformative steps taken by building material manufacturers. It is important to save raw materials in production, for example by replacing primary raw materials such as oil, metals, gravel, sand or natural stone with recycled materials. Environmental effects promise recycled concrete, which can advance circular construction.

Building material manufacturers are rethinking. New material systems offer transformative opportunities that turn buildings into carbon sinks through wood and wood hybrid construction. Alternative fuels for production plants also reduce process-related emissions. New business models also offer potential, such as material bank approaches, in which materials are reclaimably installed and inventoried and can therefore be returned to the cycle more easily.

The industry includes, for example, the production of building materials including cement, concrete, lime, gypsum as well as processed building materials.