The urgent need to decarbonize construction materials has accelerated interest in replacing high-clinker Portland cement with sustainable alternatives and industrial by-products, while maintaining or enhancing performance across infrastructure applications. This critical review synthesizes sustainable cementitious and binder materials including fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), silica fume (SF), cement kiln dust (CKD), and other waste-derived resources from a cross-disciplinary perspective that links low-carbon cementitious design with geotechnical soil stabilization. The review consolidates evidence on mechanical performance and serviceability (strength and stiffness development), durability under cyclic and aggressive exposures, and the microstructural mechanisms governing binder reactivity and long-term integrity. Particular emphasis is placed on reaction pathways (hydration, pozzolanic activity, and alkali-activation/geopolymerization), binder–soil/mineral interactions, and synergistic effects in hybrid systems, supported by microstructural indicators such as gel formation and matrix densification. Sustainability is assessed beyond CO₂ only, with emphasis on harmonizing life-cycle boundaries and functional units to allow meaningful comparison across studies and materials. Finally, the review identifies key barriers to large-scale deployment, including limited field validation, the lack of standardized mix-design and performance criteria, and weak integration between microstructure, performance, and life-cycle assessment (LCA), and proposes a research agenda to accelerate the reliable adoption of low-carbon materials in both cementitious construction and stabilized ground systems.
Ahmed et al. (Mon,) studied this question.