ACI THE LOW-CARBON CONCRETE GUIDE : 2025

This guide offers a clear, evidence-based foundation for understanding the materials and mixture decisions that influence the carbon footprint of concrete. Focusing on the upstream stages of production, where specification choices most affect embodied carbon, it aims to help engineers, designers, contractors, and policymakers evaluate low-carbon options while maintaining the safety, strength, and durability of traditional concrete.

The guide examines concrete’s role in global carbon emissions, life-cycle thinking and carbon quantification tools, and a full spectrum of binder-level strategies, including SCMs, mineral fillers, blended cements, low-carbon portland cements, and alternative cements. It also introduces aggregate, reinforcement, and water-level pathways, along with supporting concepts such as mixture optimization and durability, and advanced concrete technologies to illustrate how material choices interact with long-term performance.

Designed to be accessible to newcomers yet valuable to experienced practitioners, this guide provides the context, background, and technical framework needed to understand low-carbon concrete materials and their implications for performance and sustainability.