Pennsylvania launches high-performance concrete initiative to boost durability

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Team Pennsylvania and the EFI Foundation recently announced the launch of a High-Performance Concrete Initiative, which is geared to accelerate the adoption and deployment of more durable and longer-lasting concrete across the state. 

“Pennsylvania helped build this industry, and we have everything we need to shape what comes next,” said Abby Smith, president & CEO of Team Pennsylvania. “Through this initiative, we are bringing together the right partners to align policy, market signals, and implementation so that the commonwealth can lead in growing our economy while pursuing practical, demand-driven industrial decarbonization strategies.” 

Team Pennsylvania had a cross-sector task force of industry leaders, public agencies, and technical experts work to shape the initiative which aims to align supply- and demand-side partners to enable the conditions to deploy high-performance concrete more widely. 

“Our work shows that the low-carbon concrete market is ready to scale,” said Alex Kizer, executive vice president at the EFI Foundation. “With the right market signals and procurement practices in place, Pennsylvania will unlock private sector investment and accelerate adoption in its backbone infrastructure. This initiative is about putting those pieces in place.” 

The partners said efforts to reduce emissions must be pursued in a way that preserves and strengthens the state’s industrial capacity and competitive advantage. 

“Low-carbon concrete is not a new or unproven technology,” said Ryan Harcar, president of The Lindy Group. “These solutions have been tested and used for years. What’s been missing is coordinated demand and consistent market signals. This initiative creates the conditions to move from isolated use cases to consistent, large-scale deployment across the commonwealth.” 

Through mixture optimization, high-performance concrete delivers longer service life and remains an additional revenue stream. Using alternative materials to Portland cement, like slag and fly ash, reduces emissions for concrete production and can also reduce cost, the partners said. 

The High-Performance Concrete Initiative aims to address barriers that have historically slowed adoption, including fragmented supply chains, permitting challenges, and lack of coordinated market demand. It also aims to dispel common misconceptions about high-performance concrete by highlighting projects that demonstrate performance, durability, and create long-term economic value.  

 Initial efforts will focus on showcasing pilot projects that demonstrate performance, cost, and emissions benefits, while also supporting efforts to modernize procurement approaches, streamline permitting and approvals, and strengthen market signals that incentivize deployment.