EPA Awards NRMCA Multi-Million Dollar Grant Aimed at Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions

NRMCA is thrilled to announce that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded it a $9.63 million grant aimed at Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Construction Materials and Products. The grant, which will fund a five-year project managed by NRMCA and is supported by its Build With Strength initiative, includes a team of concrete experts to educate the architectural and engineering communities on designing and specifying low carbon concrete.

Through this five-year project, NRMCA proposes to increase the quantity and robustness of ready mixed concrete Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) by providing grants to producers to create EPDs from an additional 3,000 plants (up from 1,500 currently). NRMCA plans to provide data quality management oversight and training as well as education for producers through the training of additional EPD verifiers and certifying up to 500 EPD specialists through an online education system. NRMCA also plans to enhance its existing low-carbon concrete tool and host five low-carbon concrete training workshops per year for five years. NRMCA will also work to improve the Product Category Rules (PCRs) for concrete and data availability for critical inputs, including cementitious materials, aggregates and admixtures.

Through this initiative, NRMCA will collaborate with various partners, including state ready mixed concrete associations, national material supplier organizations, state agencies and academic institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through the Concrete Advancement Foundation.

For more details, visit www.nrmca.org/EPAGrant. The NRMCA staff contact is Lionel Lemay, llemay@nrmca.org or 847-922-7995.