Saint-Gobain accelerates in construction chemicals and supports the development of breakthrough decarbonization technologies

March 14, 2024

Saint-Gobain Construction Chemicals is expanding its efforts to deploy new additives for lowcarbon cement and concrete. These low-carbon technologies open up tremendous opportunities for co-development with new partners in fast-growing markets and to accelerate Saint-Gobain’s profitable growth in construction chemicals.

Two partnerships illustrate this move:

-       Saint-Gobain has participated in the fund raising of Fortera, a start-up that has developed a process for making low-carbon cement by recycling CO₂ emitted during production. Cement production currently accounts for around 8% of the world's annual CO₂ emissions. By investing in Fortera, through NOVA, its venture capital activity, SaintGobain is supporting cutting-edge technologies that curb CO₂ at source. Founded in 2019, Fortera has developed a groundbreaking technology that integrates with existing cement plants, leveraging their limestone resources. Through the patented ReCarb™ process, Fortera is able to mineralize CO₂, reducing direct carbon emissions of existing cement plants by 70%. This paves the way to net zero carbon cement production (scope 1 and 2) when the process is combined with green energy sources.

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As a shareholder, the Group also supports Ecocem, European leader in low-carbon cement technologies, in its development and marketing of new cement technologies for large-scale application. Its groundbreaking ACT technology, compatible with all supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) has just obtained a European Technical Assessment. Based on published environmental product declarations, the carbon footprint of the ACT product has been assessed to be 70% lower than the carbon footprint* of an average CEM II cement sold within the European market.

These developments are in line with Saint-Gobain’s “Grow & Impact” strategy aiming to both strengthen the Group’s leadership and accelerate its growth by enriching its range of solutions for light and sustainable construction.

* Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) indicator “total Global Warming Potential” (GWP) assessed from cradle to gate - based on the following published 3^rd party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPD):https://cembureau.eu/media/f2ubx2lk/epd-for-cement-cem-ii.pdf; https://www.mrpi.nl/epd-files/epd/1.1.00486.2023_MRPI-EPD_ACT%201%20_FINAL.pdf

 

About Saint-Gobain

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Group’s commitment is guided by its purpose, “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME”. 

 

€47.9 billion in sales in 2023

160,000 employees, locations in 76 countries

Committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050

For more information about Saint-Gobain, visit www.saint-gobain.com and follow us on X @saintgobain

Tour Saint-Gobain • 12 place de l’Iris • 92400 Courbevoie • France • Tél. +33 1 88 54 00 00 • www.saint-gobain.com

Tour Saint-Gobain • 12 place de l’Iris • 92400 Courbevoie • France • Tél. +33 1 88 54 00 00 • www.saint-gobain.com