Major construction firms team up to get the carbon out of concrete

A consortium of construction firms, property developers and building engineers plans to use their collective heft to drive down the carbon emissions of one of the world’s most ubiquitous building materials. As part of the new ConcreteZero initiative, 17 companies have pledged to bring the proportion of ​“low-emissions” concrete they use to 30 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2030. The companies — which include major European construction firms such as Laing O’Rourke, Mace, Skanska UK and Willmott Dixon; property owners and developers such as Canary Wharf Group and Grosvenor; and engineering firms such as Buro Happold and Thornton Tomasetti — say they’ll use only zero-carbon concrete by 2050.