What question did this study set out to answer?

Evaluate how circular economy strategies and alternative socio-economic transition scenarios can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts in the European Union cement and concrete industry toward 2050.

August 14, 2026The International Journal of Life Cycle AssessmentOpen Access

Circular futures of the cement and concrete industry in the European Union: enriching prospective life cycle assessment with participatory foresight

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Authors

AWAnna M. Walker CMCristian Matti PAPaola Federica Albizzati

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Overview

Prospective life cycle assessment demonstrates that circular economy strategies cut up to 43 Mt CO2-eq in the European cement and concrete sector, indicating reduce practices drive decarbonisation.

Key Points

Evaluate how circular economy strategies and alternative socio-economic transition scenarios can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts in the European Union cement and concrete industry toward 2050.
Conducted a prospective life cycle assessment using the Environmental Footprint (EF 3.1) method across status quo, decarbonized energy baseline, and ambitious circular economy scenarios for 2030 and 2050.
Quantified four normative socio-economic scenarios through stakeholder workshops and sensemaking sessions to assess epistemic uncertainty and actor agency.
The ambitious circular economy scenario achieved up to 43 Mt CO2-eq in greenhouse gas savings compared to the decarbonized baseline scenario.
Material reduction strategies drove the largest impact with a 33% emissions decrease, whereas reuse (8%) and recovery (3%) contributed smaller reductions due to material inflow-outflow disparities.
Circular economy practices across all alternative future scenarios yielded greater emissions reductions than energy decarbonization alone, with shrinking economy narratives matching or exceeding default circular economy savings.

Cite This Study

Walker et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a80cb8d9c481ec4444d52f6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-026-02699-w

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August 14, 2026The International Journal of Life Cycle AssessmentOpen Access

Circular futures of the cement and concrete industry in the European Union: enriching prospective life cycle assessment with participatory foresight

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

AWAnna M. Walker CMCristian Matti PAPaola Federica Albizzati

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Prospective life cycle assessment demonstrates that circular economy strategies cut up to 43 Mt CO2-eq in the European cement and concrete sector, indicating reduce practices drive decarbonisation.

Key Points

Evaluate how circular economy strategies and alternative socio-economic transition scenarios can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts in the European Union cement and concrete industry toward 2050.
Conducted a prospective life cycle assessment using the Environmental Footprint (EF 3.1) method across status quo, decarbonized energy baseline, and ambitious circular economy scenarios for 2030 and 2050.
Quantified four normative socio-economic scenarios through stakeholder workshops and sensemaking sessions to assess epistemic uncertainty and actor agency.
The ambitious circular economy scenario achieved up to 43 Mt CO2-eq in greenhouse gas savings compared to the decarbonized baseline scenario.
Material reduction strategies drove the largest impact with a 33% emissions decrease, whereas reuse (8%) and recovery (3%) contributed smaller reductions due to material inflow-outflow disparities.
Circular economy practices across all alternative future scenarios yielded greater emissions reductions than energy decarbonization alone, with shrinking economy narratives matching or exceeding default circular economy savings.

Cite This Study

Walker et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a80cb8d9c481ec4444d52f6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-026-02699-w

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