Leading building materials company Holcim announced today that it has been granted €328 million for decarbonization projects through the European Union Innovation Fund.

The EU Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programs for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The European Commission announced late  last year that it will invest an additional €3 billion in cleantech projects through the fund, scaling up significantly from the fund’s first first two rounds of €1.8 billion and €1.1 billion, due to increased revenue from the auctioning of allowances under its EU Emissions Trading System.

Building materials companies are coming increasingly in focus in the fight against climate change, due to the carbon intensity of their primary products. Cement production, an ingredient in concrete, accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with over 900 kg of CO2 emissions generated for every 1000 kg of material produced.

According to Holcim, the funding will be used to accelerate development of two of its carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects in Germany and Poland. The projects are part of the company’s net zero roadmap, which includes plans for more than 50 CCUS projects worldwide. The company has recently announced several initiatives aimed at utilizing captured carbon for cement production, including a partnership with energy company Eni, and an investment in Blue Planet Systems, a provider of technology to sequester carbon emissions into aggregate that can make concrete carbon-negative.

Miljan Gutovic, Region Head Europe, said:

“As a global leader in building solutions, Holcim is on a mission to decarbonize the building industry. We are encouraged by these EU Clean Tech investments in our next generation technologies. They contribute to making our CCUS projects more viable and scalable, which can fundamentally change our industry for a net-zero future.”

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