n a world where sustainability isn’t just a buzzword but a crucial focus, particularly in the construction industry, Lafarge Canada is here to make a bold statement: achieving your ambitious sustainability targets doesn’t have to be a far-off dream. It’s a tangible reality you can grasp today, with the company at the forefront, leading the charge toward a greener future.
Lafarge is revolutionizing sustainable construction, particularly with its innovative low-carbon concrete solution, ECOPact. In doing so, they’re not merely setting the pace but establishing themselves as the go-to partner for realizing ambitious sustainability objectives.
Andy Unger, Vice President and General Manager of Ready-Mix Concrete (RMX) at Lafarge Canada (East), highlights the company’s important role in decarbonization and circular construction solutions. “We are ready and able to assist our clients in meeting their decarbonization goals today. With collaboration and transparency of goals and data, we are able to find practical sustainable solutions. With everyone working together, we can achieve ambitious decarbonization targets for the construction industry and get closer to reaching the Canadian 2030 targets,” he asserts, emphasizing their unwavering commitment to immediate and impactful action.
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The impact of ECOPact
Did you know that nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions stem from building activities, with about 30% occurring during the construction phase alone? It’s a stark reminder of the urgent need to decarbonize our built environment. Achieving Ontario’s net-zero targets requires active efforts to accelerate the transition. For construction projects, this means reducing CO₂ emissions wherever possible.
This is where ECOPact emerges as a game-changer, as the most extensive range of low-carbon concrete available, it has the potential to reduce embodied carbon in buildings, infrastructure, and homes by up to 90%. ECOPact offers many ranges of CO₂ reductions. Since schedule impact and cost are two of the most influential factors in the construction phase, Lafarge’s ECOPact offering allows clients to directly replace all standard concrete with the first ECOPact tier, offering 50% CO₂ reductions while maintaining similar performance and cost.
It can be easily handled, pumped and finished like conventional concrete, and used in a variety of structural components, including foundations, columns, beams, walls, driveways and walkways.
With ECOPact, you can:
Significantly reduce your project’s environmental footprint
Receive EPD III certification with every product
Achieve up to a 90% reduction in embodied carbon without offsets
Contribute to a circular economy by diverting waste from landfills
Obtain green building certifications while maintaining product quality
Access a wide range of mixes tailored to different strengths and applications
Certified sustainability
ECOPact’s sustainability is not just a claim but a certified reality. Third-party certification validates its reduced emissions across all stages, from raw materials to production and transportation. Extensive research and development went into its design and the product contains an innovative mix of supplementary cementitious materials and admixtures technology. It is produced locally, recyclable and supports a circular economy.
“ECOPact’s impact is undeniable, driving low-carbon construction and enabling green building certifications nationwide. It’s a testament to our collective ability to realize end-to-end decarbonization in construction, laying the foundation for a greener, more sustainable future,” says Rob Cumming, Head of Sustainability & Public Affairs, Lafarge Canada (East).
The Institute for Sustainability Africa (INŚAF) is an independent multi-disciplinary think tank and research institute founded in Zimbabwe in 2010 with the Vision to advance sustainability initiatives for Africa.