As the need to stem climate change gains in urgency virtually by the day, new environmentally sensitive practices and policies targeted at limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels are essential. This is particularly relevant in the manufacturing of cement – the key ingredient in concrete. The world is in the midst of an infrastructure and building boom as new economies emerge and developed economies expand. Concrete, already the most consumed human-made resource on Earth, will continue to be the material at the centre of these construction activities. The problem is, cement manufacturing is responsible for approximately 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Absent significant steps to reduce CO₂ emissions caused by concrete products and the construction projects they form, meeting ambitious climate change goals will be extremely difficult.

As global demand for infrastructure and building projects increases, green public procurement will play a critical role in driving demand for low-carbon concrete in order to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint. To facilitate a concerted campaign for low-carbon concrete and construction procurement, the Concrete Action for Climate (CAC) Initiative, a coalition led by the World Economic Forum and Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), has collaborated with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to jointly author this Low-Carbon Concrete and Construction: A Review of Green Public Procurement Programmes report.