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ECSN Webinar: Durability & Sustainability: Europe’s Next Steps Forward
Durability & Sustainability: Europe’s Next Steps Forward
This webinar is organized by the European Concrete Societies Network (ECSN)
26 February 2026
10:00–16:00 CET
Live from Oslo – broadcast directly from the Tekna Studio
Join us for a dynamic full-day webinar exploring how Europe is strengthening the future of its built environment while accelerating the transition to low-carbon materials. Featuring experts, real-world cases, and industry insights, this event is designed for anyone working with concrete, construction, infrastructure, or sustainability. Read more
ECSN Marks 30th Anniversary at Lisbon Board Meeting
Celebrating a legacy of European concrete cooperation and innovation
Lisbon, Portugal – May 16, 2025
The European Concrete Societies Network (ECSN) formally celebrated its 30th anniversary at its board meeting in Lisbon on 16 May. ECSN was launched on 17 March 1995 in Wiesbaden, Germany, at the initiative of Germany’s Deutscher Beton- und Bautechnik-Verein (DBV) (de.wikipedia.org). Since its inception, ECSN has brought together national concrete societies from across Europe. Initially, there were 13 societies, and by 2025, the number has risen to 19. In Lisbon, the board members reflected on three decades of ECSN’s contribution to broad European cooperation in a number of areas. The network’s overall goal is to encourage cooperation between its members and thereby promote the development of concrete technology and the use of concrete in Europe (ecsn.net).
Photo: ECSN was launched on 17 March 1995 in Wiesbaden, Germany.
In previous years, ECSN members worked together on several European projects. A notable milestone was a joint EU-funded research effort under the SPRINT programme: Germany’s DBV, the British Concrete Society and the Netherland´s Betonvereniging co-developed practical design aids for Eurocode 2 to help engineers apply the new concrete design standards (pdfcoffee.com). ECSN societies also participated in a Leonardo da Vinci vocational training project, collaborating with universities and industry partners to create advanced concrete-design educational tools (sirbnet.de).
Today, the following goals and objectives are stated:
- To share concrete best practice, training and educational material across Europe
- To share national experience and learning for our common benefit
- To collaborate in international initiatives to further national organizations goals
Now in its fourth decade, ECSN continues to unite the profession across 19 member societies. The network remains committed to promoting innovation, sharing technical knowledge, and supporting sustainable concrete technology. ECSN thanks all its member societies for their dedication to the common goal of promoting concrete construction in Europe and looks forward to continued collaboration in the years to come.
Photo and film clip: Lisbon Board Meeting – May 16, 2025.
Media contact: European Concrete Societies Network (ECSN) – www.ecsn.net
ECSN Webinar – 29 March, 12:30 – 16.30 p.m. (CET)
Video: Shutterstock.com
Join ECSN on the journey to more sustainable construction!
Binders and concrete for the next decade
The webinar is free of charge.
ECSN is the network of European concrete societies comprising 13 members. In this new webinar, we have brought together experts from within ECSN circles to present examples from various European countries on how the concrete construction sector can reduce its impact on the climate.
This is the second webinar that ECSN has organised in the field of sustainable concrete. The first webinar was arranged on 25 November 2021 on the topic ”Concrete and sustainability – an update on ongoing efforts in Europe”.
It is well known that the cement and concrete industry contributes significantly to global CO2 emissions. But at the same time, this industry is now making a huge effort to solve these challenges. Solutions are now being developed using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) or Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS), or a combination of both. Other solutions are to develop new composite cements where the clinker is replaced partly with new supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). Potential approaches are also to re-carbonate old binders to enable them to function as new SCMs. Examples of all these efforts will be presented and discussed in this webinar.
Welcome to the webinar and be a part of the future!
Program
Moderators: Børge Johannes Wigum – Chairman of Icelandic Concrete Association & Cecilie Hagby – Managing Director of Norwegian Concrete Association.
| 12:30 | Introduction: European Concrete Societies Network & Short update Richard McCarthy, Chair of ECSN & Managing Director of the Swedish Concrete Association (Sweden) |
| 12:40 | Circular concrete: CO2 mineralization combined with concrete recycling Jan Skocek, R&D Program Manager, Carbonation Technologies, Heidelberg Materials (Germany) |
| 13:00 | New binders – what happens now and in the future? Ingemar Löfgren, R&D Manager, Thomas Concrete Group (Sweden) |
| 13:20 | Review of life cycle analysis principles as they apply to building materials or why we should let trees grow Hervé Camerlynck, Director of FEBELCEM (Belgium) |
| 13:40 | Carbon capture and utilisation in the cement industry – Case power-to-methanol Ulla Leveelahti, Environmental Manager, Finnsementti (Finland) |
| 14:00 | Break |
| 14:10 | Volcanic pozzolan from Iceland – VPI Björn Davíð Þorsteinsson, Production Manager, BM Vallá mortar factory – Part of Heidelberg Materials (Iceland) |
| 14:30 | Carbon capture, utilisation and storage in the Irish cement industry Paul Monaghan, Group Head of Sustainability, Mannok (Ireland) |
| 14:50 | Low carbon concrete in the UK MPA Cement (UK) |
| 15:10 | Low carbon calcined clay-limestone cement – FUTURECEM Jesper Damtoft & Stefano Zampaletta, Cementir Holding (Denmark) |
| 15:30 | Break |
| 15:40 | The composite cements and their direct certification for use in concretes according to exposure resistance classes Jan Gemrich, Executive director, Czech Cement Association (Czech Republic) |
| 16:00 | Carbon capture and storage at the Brevik cement plant in Norway Vetle Houg, Sustainability Manager, Heidelberg Materials Norway (Norway) |
| 16:20 | Summary and general discussions |
| 16:30 | End of webinar |
Concrete and sustainability – an update on ongoing efforts in Europe
ECSN Webinar held in Nov, 25th
Join ECSN on the journey to more sustainable construction!
ECSN is the federation/network of European concrete societies comprising of 13 members. In this webinar, we have brought together experts from within ECSN circles to present examples of how the concrete construction sector can reduce its impact on the climate.
The earth faces great challenges. The UN Sustainable Development Goals set out a blueprint for achieving a more sustainable future for all of society, with Goal 13 requiring urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. The 2015 Paris Agreement further stipulates that the global temperature increase will be limited to below 2°C, with the aim of limiting it to 1.5°C. This is to be achieved primarily through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
An increasing global population requires societal development with necessary associated housing and infrastructure. Yet, climate change action also requires that all of society works to reduce their impact on the climate. In many areas, concrete is the only building material that can meet long term quality and durability requirements. Therefore, concrete continues to be an essential material for building sustainably, and for creating the welfare demanded by today’s modern society.
The purpose of this webinar is to demonstrate the potential of the concrete sector to do more to reduce its impact. For example, continuing research across the globe has resulted in real progress being made in developing binders with a lower impact on the climate. Work is also being progressed which aims to build more optimised and slender construction elements. Additionally, a review of overly stringent regulations may also be required to allow for reductions in cement contents in certain construction sectors.
In parallel with all of this, the development of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) is taking place. With Norway having more than 20 years’ experience of the geological storage of carbon dioxide, it is known that CCUS is technically possible. However, many challenges remain in its full development at scale. Other examples of the use of CCUS technology include new developments in the manufacture of concrete building blocks.
Our future requires that many solutions are needed; therefore, the whole of society must cooperate in meeting these challenges.
Program
Moderators: Børge Johannes Wigum – Chairman of Icelandic Concrete Association & Cecilie Hagby – Managing Director of Norwegian Concrete Association.
| 12:30 | Introduction: European Concrete Societies Network & Sustainability challenges for the concrete industry in Europe Richard McCarthy, Chairman ECSN & Managing Director of the Swedish Concrete Association (Sweden) |
| 12:45 | A general overview on decarbonisation and resource efficiency in concrete construction Lars Meyer, Managing Director of the German Society for Concrete and Construction Technology (Germany) |
| 13:05 | The path to circular economy in the cement and concrete industry Brian Gilmore, Sustainability Manager, Cement Manufacturers Ireland (Ireland) |
| 13:25 | Circular solutions within the concrete industry to reach climate ambitions Sigríður Ósk Bjarnadóttir, University of Iceland (Iceland) |
| 13:45 | Roadmap for climate neutral concrete in Sweden Malin Löfsjögård, Managing Director of the Swedish Concrete Federation (Sweden) |
| 14:05 | Break |
| 14:15 | Novel approaches used and future ideas of sustainability in Austria Konrad Bergmeister, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Austria) |
| 14:35 | NeoCem project – Fitness for use of new Belgian composite cements Filip Van Rickstal, Managing Directorof the Belgian Cement Research Centre (Belgium) |
| 14:55 | Development of low carbon classification for concretes Jouni Punkki, Concrete Technology, Aalto University (Finland) |
| 15:15 | How a classification system has lowered the carbon footprint for concrete in Norway Sverre Smeplass, Chief Advisor Skanska (Norway) |
| 15:35 | Break |
| 15:45 | Sustainable concrete structures – implementation of principles in a new fib Model Code 2020 Petr Hájek, Department of Architectural Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague (Czech Republic) |
| 16:05 | The UK concrete and cement industry road map to beyond net zero – an overview and update on progress of related initiatives Elaine Toogood, Head of Architecture, MPA, The Concrete Centre (UK) |
| 16:25 | Summary and general discussions |
| 16:40 | End of webinar |
ECSN-Award
Winner ECSN-Award 2018 Category Building: ÖAMTC Mobility Centre, Austria
F.l.t.r.: Harald Preinsberger & Patrick Ritz (Granit), Hannes Traupmann & Christoph Pichler (Pichler&Traupmann Architekten), Wolf-Dietrich Denk & Christian Nüssel & Christian Eckerstorfer & Dieter Pichler (FCP ZT), Michael Pauser (ECSN)
THE EUROPEAN CONCRETE AWARD 2018 GOES TO AUSTRIA AND THE NETHERLANDS
18 projects from 9 European countries have been evaluated against a set of criteria by an international jury. Among those criteria were: design, construction, visual appearance and harmony of the structure with its surroundings, properties of concrete exploited in the design, innovative use of concrete in composition, structure or form, workmanship and finish.
More than 60 international representatives of the owners, engineers, architects and contractors of the submitted projects came to the Finnish Concrete Day 2018 on the 1st of November in Helsinki to receive the award.
Download the “EUROPEAN CONCRETE AWARD 2018” brochure
Official Press Release – “EUROPEAN CONCRETE AWARD 2018”