evoZero Low-Carbon Cement: Net-Zero Concrete Explained

evoZero Low-Carbon Cement: What Net-Zero Concrete Production Means for Malaysian Construction

Key Takeaways

  • evoZero cement demonstrates how carbon capture and storage (CCS) can address emissions that are difficult to eliminate from cement manufacturing.
  • Heidelberg Materials’ Brevik plant in Norway operates the world’s first industrial-scale CCS facility in the cement industry, designed to capture around 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.
  • For Malaysia, developments like evoZero matter because embodied carbon, green building certification and lower-carbon material selection are becoming increasingly important considerations in construction.
  • evoZero should be viewed here as a global technology reference, not as a statement of its current availability in Malaysia.
  • Malaysian project teams can already explore lower-carbon construction materials and concrete solutions suitable for local project requirements.

Cement is essential to modern construction, but producing it creates significant carbon emissions that cannot be addressed through renewable electricity alone.

This is why carbon capture and storage (CCS) is attracting increasing attention across the cement industry. Heidelberg Materials' evoZero cement provides a practical example of how this technology can be applied at industrial scale.

For Malaysian developers, consultants and contractors, evoZero is particularly useful as a glimpse into where construction materials are heading: towards lower embodied carbon, greater carbon transparency and more measurable sustainability performance.

What Is evoZero Cement?

evoZero is Heidelberg Materials' carbon-captured cement concept built around CCS technology at its Brevik cement plant in Norway.

The Brevik CCS facility was officially inaugurated in June 2025 and is designed to capture around 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year, equivalent to approximately 50% of the plant's emissions. Commercial evoZero deliveries subsequently began across Europe in October 2025.

The key difference is that CCS tackles emissions at the cement plant itself rather than relying solely on reductions elsewhere.

Current Heidelberg Materials documentation describes evoZero as the world's first carbon-captured near-zero cement. Its carbon reductions are supported by chain-of-custody accounting and third-party assurance designed to ensure captured-carbon attributes are transparently tracked and not counted more than once.

For Malaysia, evoZero is best understood as a reference for what industrial-scale cement decarbonisation can technically achieve rather than an indication of local product availability.

Why Is Cement Difficult to Decarbonise?

Reducing cement emissions is more complicated than simply replacing fossil-fuel electricity with renewable energy.

A major portion of cement's carbon footprint comes from calcination, the chemical process in which limestone is heated to produce clinker. CO₂ is released as part of the chemical reaction itself.

Other emissions come from the high temperatures needed to operate cement kilns.

This means the industry's decarbonisation strategy needs several approaches working together, including:

  • reducing clinker content;
  • using supplementary cementitious materials;
  • increasing energy efficiency;
  • switching to lower-carbon energy sources;
  • optimising concrete mixes; and
  • capturing remaining process emissions.

Heidelberg Materials Malaysia already describes many of these approaches within its work on  low-carbon concrete solutions in Malaysia.

CCS becomes particularly important because it can address emissions that are otherwise difficult to remove from the manufacturing process.

How Does Carbon Capture and Storage Work in Cement Production?

In simplified terms, CCS follows three stages.

1. Capture

CO₂ produced during cement manufacturing is separated from the plant's exhaust gases before it reaches the atmosphere.

2. Transport

The captured CO₂ is compressed or liquefied so it can be transported safely.

3. Permanent Storage

The CO₂ is injected into suitable geological formations for long-term storage.

At Brevik, captured CO₂ is transported from the cement facility as part of Norway's wider carbon-storage infrastructure and stored beneath the North Sea.

The importance of Brevik goes beyond one facility. It demonstrates that CCS can move from a pilot concept towards industrial-scale cement production.

Does Near-Zero Cement Mean All Concrete Becomes Net Zero?

Not automatically.

Cement and concrete are related, but they are not the same product. Cement is one of the principal binding ingredients used to manufacture concrete.

A concrete project's total embodied carbon can also be influenced by:

  • cement dosage;
  • aggregates;
  • supplementary cementitious materials;
  • transportation;
  • mix design;
  • reinforcement;
  • construction processes; and
  • other building materials.

Therefore, using lower-carbon cement can significantly reduce one important source of emissions, but the carbon performance of the finished concrete and the wider building still needs to be assessed at project level.

This distinction is increasingly important as carbon reporting becomes more detailed and project teams move from broad sustainability statements towards measurable lifecycle performance.

Why Does evoZero Cement Matter for Malaysian Construction?

Malaysia does not need to wait for every emerging technology to become locally available before preparing for lower-carbon construction.

The direction of travel is already clear.

Embodied Carbon Is Becoming More Important

Embodied carbon covers emissions associated with building materials and construction processes across the lifecycle of a building or infrastructure asset.

Malaysian construction research is increasingly examining the carbon associated with material production, transportation and construction, with low-carbon concrete identified as one practical strategy for reducing embodied emissions.

For developers and contractors, this places greater importance on understanding not only material strength and cost, but also environmental performance.

Green Building Assessments Are Increasing the Focus on Materials

Malaysia already has established sustainability assessment frameworks that consider carbon and material performance.

GreenRE includes carbon emissions and resource management among its sustainability elements, covering both embodied and operational carbon. Recent GreenRE industry guidance has also highlighted green concrete and embodied-carbon management as increasingly relevant areas.

MyCREST, developed through CIDB, takes a lifecycle-based approach and provides carbon assessment tools covering the design, construction and operation stages of buildings.

The Green Building Index (GBI) also incorporates Materials & Resources criteria. Its newer assessment tools are placing greater emphasis on embodied-carbon declarations and third-party material data; for example, its Data Centre NRNC guidance includes embodied-carbon declaration and reduction requirements.

The exact criteria depend on the building type and assessment tool, but the broader trend is consistent: material carbon performance is becoming more measurable and visible.

Lower-Carbon Materials Are Becoming a Procurement Consideration

Sustainability is also moving beyond certification.

Developers, multinational companies, asset owners and consultants increasingly need clearer environmental data when setting project specifications and sustainability targets. GreenRE has noted that multinational occupiers are increasingly treating green certification as a tenancy consideration, while embodied carbon is receiving greater industry attention.

This can eventually influence decisions further down the supply chain.

Contractors may increasingly be asked questions such as:

What is the carbon footprint of this concrete?

Can lower-carbon alternatives achieve the required performance?

Is environmental performance independently documented?

Can the material contribute towards the project's sustainability objectives?

That makes familiarity with technologies such as evoZero and CCS commercially relevant even before they become standard practice across every market.

What Can Malaysian Projects Do Today?

The shift towards lower-carbon construction does not depend on one future technology.

Project teams can already evaluate opportunities to reduce embodied carbon through suitable concrete mix design, lower-carbon binders, supplementary cementitious materials and more efficient material use.

Heidelberg Materials Malaysia's evoBuild™ Low Carbon Concrete is one example of its current local approach. The company states that evoBuild products are formulated around lower carbon intensity while maintaining the performance required for different construction applications. Its Malaysian evoBuild offering has also received SIRIM Eco-Label certification and is registered with MyHIJAU.

This local work sits alongside Heidelberg Materials' broader global investment in technologies such as CCS.

From Lower Carbon Today to Deeper Decarbonisation Tomorrow

evoZero cement shows how far cement technology can move when carbon capture is applied at industrial scale.

For Malaysia, the immediate lesson is not that every project needs carbon-captured cement tomorrow. It is that carbon intensity is becoming another material-performance metric that developers, consultants and contractors will increasingly need to understand.

Today's practical steps include choosing appropriate lower-carbon concrete, improving mix efficiency and considering embodied carbon during material selection. Technologies such as CCS illustrate how these reductions could become significantly deeper as the global cement industry progresses towards net zero.

Heidelberg Materials Malaysia continues to develop lower-carbon solutions for the local construction sector. To understand which concrete solutions are currently available and appropriate for your project requirements,  contact Heidelberg Materials Malaysia to discuss your sustainability, performance and construction needs.