Best of CASE Europe Region Award
 

Institution: University of Cambridge

Title of entry: Cement recycling method could help solve major climate challenges

About this entry: Of the many advances humanity has made toward net zero, one area where relatively little progress has been made is concrete. Concrete is the second-most-used material on the planet, after water, and is responsible for approximately 7.5% of total anthropogenic CO₂ emissions.

Professor Julian Allwood at the University of Cambridge may have come up with a solution, however. In a peer-reviewed article published in the journal Nature, he outlined a method to produce very low-emission concrete at scale – an innovation that could be transformative in the transition to net zero. The method, which Allwood calls “an absolute miracle”, uses the electrically-powered arc furnaces used for steel recycling to simultaneously recycle cement, the carbon-hungry component of concrete.

The writer worked with Professor Allwood, industrial partners and a spin-out company to highlight this important development and make it understandable and relevant to a lay audience. Making concrete exciting is a challenge for any writer, but decarbonising concrete is of vital importance for the future of the planet. In this short piece, the writer outlined the scale and significance of the problem, described the scientific advance in a concise and measured way, and charted a path forward for industry. Working with an in-house filmmaker, Professor Allwood also outlined the importance of this work in an accompanying short video.

The research received high-profile coverage, including the Washington Post, Le Monde and a segment on the BBC Six O'Clock News, and was named as one of the Sunday Times' 'good news stories of 2024.'