"One of the biggest challenges to decarbonizing cement isn’t technological. It’s getting builders to trust the alternatives."

"Companies are finding more environmentally friendly ways to make cement, which accounts for about a twelfth of global carbon dioxide emissions, making it worse for the climate than flying.

Now they have to convince builders that their climate-friendly cement will hold just as well as the conventional stuff.

An Oakland-based company called Brimstone broke through that hurdle. On Wednesday, it announced it received third-party certification that its carbon-negative cement is structurally and chemically the same as regular cement. The company says it is the first carbon-neutral or carbon-negative cement to meet that building requirement.

“Being able to fit into existing standards,” said Anu Khan, a carbon removal expert at the environmental nonprofit Carbon180 that is unaffiliated with the company, “is really powerful for commercialization.”"

Dino Grandoni reports for the Washington Post July 13, 2023. [2]