How cement and construction impact the environment – and could become ecologically viable

No other building material has shaped our world quite like concrete — and no other building material causes so much damage. Some 40 percent of all human-made substances on our planet are cement-based: the “liquid stone” is poured into structures such as bridges, dams, apartment blocks, and data centers. The AI boom literally rests on a concrete foundation. Responsible for between eight and nine percent of all global CO2 emissions, devastated ecosystems, polluted air, sinking cities, and mountains of rubbish, concrete’s toll is truly devastating. But despite this, production and consumption continue to grow: 25 billion tonnes a year and rising.

The study “Concrete Destruction: Costs and Damages of the Concrete and Cement Industry and the Future of Construction” by Tom Ackers, Conrad Kunze, Paulina Orozco, Matthias Schmelzer, and Nils Urbanus reveals that cement is the obvious lubricant of “imperial construction.” A great deal of effort goes into ensuring that the material’s adverse effects remain concealed. And this is no coincidence, given that there are powerful industry players who have a vested interest in keeping things that way.

Cement facilitates relatively inexpensive, rapid, scalable construction — and with it, the growth of a type of construction that, according to architecture professor Werner Sobek, contributes more than 50 percent of all CO₂ emissions if transport, demolition, and recycling are taken into account. Concrete is not a neutral material. It is the very stuff of which the imperial mode of living is made, both at the expense of our natural world and on the backs of workers — such as on building sites, around the world and above all in the Global South

This can be clearly seen in the case of one of the biggest players: Heidelberg Materials, which is among the world’s largest cement manufacturers, operates factories and quarries via its Israeli subsidiary not only in the occupied Palestinian territories (the West Bank), but also in places like Western Sahara. Farmers in Pakistan are suing the company on the grounds that its emissions are destroying their livelihoods, as evidenced by the devastating floods that tore through the region in the summer of 2022. Collapsing bridges the world over reveal the dark side of cheap mass construction: concrete has a relatively short lifespan, is not built to last, and ultimately ends up in landfill. Every year, ten billion tonnes of concrete waste are either downcycled or discarded. This is not a fault in the system; it is by design.

The ecological crisis is not a distant future prospect; it is our current lived reality. Carrying on with business as usual is not an option — and neither is a strategy of “build, build, build” that focuses solely on financial figures. Concrete not only reinforces buildings and road infrastructure; it also consolidates structures of power and exploitation, as well as an imperial mode of living that has long since exceeded the planet’s limits. This study exposes the costs. The time has come to shake the foundations

[From the introduction by Ulrich Brand and Stefan Thimmel]

Authors:

  • Nils Urbanus has a background in physics and holds an MA in economics and social design. He is a climate justice activist and founding member of the group End Cement
  • Tom Ackers trained in philosophy and now writes about political economy and ecological transition, with a focus on the built environment. He is a PhD student at New York University.
  • Conrad Kunze is a scientist specializing in renewable energy systems transformation research and European car cultures and motorways. He holds a PhD in Sociology and was a founding member of the German climate justice group Ende Gelände .
  • Paulina Orozco (a pseudonym) is a chemical engineer working in the cement industry in South America. She is working on finding alternative materials with lower CO2 emissions for the construction industry.
  • Matthias Schmelzer is an economic historian, transformation researcher and social theorist. He is Professor for Social-Ecological Transformation at the University of Flensburg and director of the Norbert Elias Centre for Transformation Design & Research.
Download

The report was launched in Berlin on May 18, 2026. Watch the presentation here:

Top photo: Adobe Stock/geargodz