Cement is one of the most widely used construction materials in the world, but its production is a major source of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Holcim, a global leader in building materials, is working to change this. The company has officially launched the OLYMPUS project in Milaki, Greece. This project uses advanced carbon capture technology to reduce emissions and aims to set a new standard for the cement industry.
This big move in sustainable building aims to create a modern carbon capture plant. It will make 2 million tons of near-zero cement by 2029. Backed by the Heracles Group, the project plans to reduce CO₂ emissions significantly. It will also create over 1,000 jobs, benefiting both the environment and the local economy.
What Is the OLYMPUS Project Trying to Achieve?
Traditional cement production heavily impacts the planet, releasing about 8% of global CO₂ emissions. This is because making cement involves heating limestone at very high temperatures. This releases a large amount of carbon dioxide into the air.
Holcim wants to change this with its OLYMPUS project. The new plant in Milaki will use advanced carbon capture technology. Its goal is to produce 2 million tons of near-zero cement each year starting in 2029. This means that the cement made at the site will have very low carbon emissions compared to traditional cement.
The project supports the European Union’s wider target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. It also backs the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across industries. Holcim’s initiative will do more than meet environmental goals. It will also create job opportunities for local economies during the entire project lifecycle.
Miljan Gutovic, CEO Holcim Group said:
“Holcim is on course to make near-zero cement and concrete a reality at scale this decade, as the leading partner for sustainable construction. The OLYMPUS project in Greece is one of our seven large-scale, European Union-supported carbon capture, utilisation, and storage projects that are setting the Clean Industrial Deal in motion. Together, these will enable Holcim to offer over 8 million tpy of near-zero cement across Europe by 2030.”
How Carbon Capture Works at OLYMPUS
The OLYMPUS plant will use two cutting-edge systems: OxyCalciner and Cryocap™ FG. These technologies trap carbon dioxide from cement production and store or reuse it. Together, they can capture about 1 million tons of CO₂ per year at full capacity. This significantly lowers harmful emissions from the cement-making process.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an approach recognized by experts and policy leaders as essential to fighting climate change. The European Union sees CCS as a key part of its strategy to decarbonize industries like cement, steel, and chemicals.
Holcim’s adoption of CCS also reflects a growing trend in the construction sector to adopt cleaner, tech-driven practices. Producing 2 million tons of near-zero cement each year helps lower emissions in construction. This supports countries in reaching climate goals and cutting pollution from buildings.
Along with its environmental goals, the plant will have a strong economic impact. The effort will require an investment of €400 million, including €125 million from the EU Innovation Fund.
Moreover, it will bring over 1,000 construction jobs and over 100 long-term roles once operations begin. The plant will support hundreds of families and strengthen the local economy.
This initiative is also a big part of Holcim’s commitment to decarbonize its operations and reach its net zero goal.
Holcim’s Net Zero Journey: Progress and Initiatives
Holcim has committed to becoming a net-zero company by 2050, with a clear, science-based roadmap aligned with the 1.5°C climate goal validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The company’s net-zero strategy covers all greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain, including:
- Scope 1 (direct emissions), Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased energy), and Scope 3 (other indirect emissions such as those from supply chains and product use).
Key Targets and Progress:
- Near-term goals: Holcim aims to reduce gross Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 26.2% per ton of cementitious materials by 2030 (from a 2018 baseline) and Scope 3 emissions by 25.1% per ton of purchased clinker and cement by 2030 (from a 2020 baseline).
- Long-term goals: By 2050, Holcim targets a 95% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 90% reduction in absolute Scope 3 emissions.
The company has already made progress, reducing its CO₂ emissions intensity per ton of product and increasing its use of alternative and renewable fuels.
Major Emission Reduction Initiatives:
Holcim’s net-zero journey is driven by several initiatives:
Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS): Holcim plans to invest CHF 2 billion by 2030 in CCUS technologies, aiming to capture over 5 million tons of CO₂ annually and produce 8 million tons of net-zero cement per year. Projects like OLYMPUS in Greece and GO4ZERO in Belgium exemplify this commitment.
Alternative Fuels and Raw Materials: The company is replacing fossil fuels with biomass and other waste-derived fuels in its cement kilns, reducing reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources.
Low-Carbon Products: Holcim offers green concrete (ECOPact) and green cement (ECOPlanet), which have significantly lower carbon footprints than traditional products. These products enable customers to reduce their own emissions in construction projects.
Circular Economy and Recycling: Holcim is a world leader in recycling construction and demolition waste, having recycled 6.8 million tons in 2022 and targeting 10 million tons by 2025. This reduces the need for virgin raw materials and lowers overall emissions.
Smart Design and Digital Innovation: Technologies such as 3D printing allow Holcim to build with up to 70% less material without compromising performance, further reducing embodied carbon in construction.
Holcim’s net-zero journey combines ambitious targets, significant investments in carbon capture and renewable energy, innovative low-carbon products, and circular economy practices. These initiatives show measurable progress and a comprehensive plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
What Do the Market Trends Show for Cement and Carbon Capture?
The global demand for cement is expected to rise due to urbanization and infrastructure development. However, this growth presents challenges for reducing emissions. Without changes in production methods, CO₂ emissions from cement could reach 3.8 gigatons in 2050. CCUS technologies can reduce life cycle CO₂ emissions from cement production by nearly 70%.
The market for carbon capture is growing rapidly. The experts predict that global CCS market could reach $7.5 billion by 2026, with an annual growth rate of 25.2%. Governments want greener industry practices.
Thus, the demand for cleaner materials and emissions technology is rising. Projects like OLYMPUS prove that we can cut emissions significantly. They can also shape future policies and boost investments in green technologies.
Adopting CCUS technologies requires significant investment. The cost of cement is expected to rise from $90–$130 per ton today to at least $160–$240 by 2050 as carbon capture systems are integrated.
Major producers are still investing in CCUS, despite the costs. Successful projects like Holcim’s OLYMPUS can boost innovation and encourage more adoption in the industry.
Setting an Example for the Construction Industry
Holcim’s OLYMPUS project shows that it is possible to produce cement with much lower emissions using current technology. By investing in carbon capture and producing near-zero cement, Holcim is setting a benchmark for the global construction market.
This effort helps meet climate goals. It also boosts the local economy and sets an example for the global construction industry. As demand for cement rises, projects like OLYMPUS prove that it would be possible to build a cleaner, more sustainable future for people and the planet.
The post Concrete Change: Holcim Launches €400 Million OLYMPUS Project for Near-Zero Cement appeared first on Carbon Credits.
For most businesses, the emissions that matter most sit outside their own walls. Scope 3 emissions, everything generated across your value chain, from the suppliers who make your inputs to the customers who use your products, typically make up the majority of a company’s total carbon footprint. Under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), those value-chain emissions now have to be measured and disclosed with a rigour that spend-based estimates alone struggle to satisfy. This guide sets out how to improve Scope 3 data accuracy for CSRD: the calculation methods open to you, how to move from estimates to verified supplier data, and how to govern that data so it holds up to audit.
A carbon credit is a commitment that extends well into the future. The tonne of CO₂ compensated for today from a nature-based carbon project must remain out of the atmosphere for good, which means the forest behind the credit has to remain standing long after the transaction is complete. For any buyer, this raises a defining question: What ensures that the forest endures?
What replaced the cheap REDD credit on the boardroom slide deck, and why procurement is leading the rewrite.
Three years ago, a corporate slide showing a portfolio of cheap REDD+ credits could carry a board meeting. The number was big, the price was low, and the press release wrote itself. Today, that same slide gets sent back with questions. The questions are uncomfortable, the answers are unclear, and your general counsel is suddenly in the room.
Conventional carbon offsets are not dead. The voluntary carbon market retired 202 million tonnes in 2025, and the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing survey published in January 2026 confirmed that interest from corporate buyers remains substantial. What changed is the credibility threshold. The integrity floor has risen, the disclosure scrutiny has tightened, and the buyer profile has shifted. This article tracks what changed, what sophisticated buyers now ask before signing, and what serious corporates are putting on the board slide instead.
What boards used to buy, and why it stopped working
The 2020 to 2022 model was simple: buy a large tranche of avoidance credits at low single-digit prices, retire them against the company footprint, announce the carbon-neutral claim, and move on. Most of those credits came from REDD+ projects, renewable energy installations in countries where the renewable energy was already economic, or methane projects with thin documentation.
Several things broke that model. Academic research published in 2023, including a widely cited Science paper, found that the majority of REDD+ credits issued under the most common methodologies did not represent additional reductions when tested against rigorous counterfactuals. The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative published its Claims Code of Practice, which sets requirements for what companies can credibly claim from credit use. The European Union finalised its Green Claims Directive, restricting how companies can describe products as climate-neutral. France’s Décret 2022-539 already restricts carbon neutrality advertising. California’s AB 1305 imposes disclosure requirements on any company making net-zero or carbon-neutral claims while doing business in the state.
The collective effect: the cheap credit no longer buys the announcement, and the announcement now carries litigation risk.
The integrity reset: ICVCM, VCMI, and what changed
The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market published the Core Carbon Principles in 2023 and began assessing methodologies against them in 2024. The first methodologies received the CCP label later that year. The point of the label is to give corporate buyers a defensible quality screen they can cite in disclosure.
The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative complements this on the demand side. Its Claims Code of Practice defines what a buyer can say (Silver, Gold, or Platinum claims, with associated requirements) based on the quality of credits used and the underlying decarbonisation strategy. Together, CCP and VCMI build a quality stack: CCP on the supply, VCMI on the claim, with the science-based target sitting underneath both.
The reset is not a ban on offsets. It is a ratchet. Credits that meet the new bar continue to clear; credits that do not, do not. The Morgan Stanley survey found that 61% of current buyers like the CCP label concept but that supply of labelled credits remains limited. That supply constraint is now visible in pricing.
What sophisticated buyers ask before they sign
The questions on the procurement scorecard have changed. A 2022 buyer might have asked about price, vintage, and project type. A 2026 buyer asks five different questions before any of those.
- What does the counterfactual look like, and who validated it.
- What is the permanence regime, and what is the buffer pool exposure.
- What is the leakage risk, and how is it mitigated.
- What rating has the project received from the independent ratings agencies (Sylvera, BeZero, Calyx Global), and what was the rationale.
- What is the documentation discipline that survives an audit four years from now when the procurement team that signed the contract has moved on.
If the vendor cannot answer those five questions on a first call, the conversation ends. Conversely, if the vendor can answer them with documented specificity, the conversation often expands beyond a single transaction toward a multi-year engagement.
Where this leaves your near-term commitments
You probably have near-term commitments that pre-date the integrity reset. Public targets to be carbon neutral by 2025 or 2030. Product-level claims that ran in last year’s marketing. Disclosed reduction trajectories that assumed continued access to cheap credits.
You have three workable paths. The first is to re-baseline your strategy, replacing the most exposed credits with higher-quality alternatives and adjusting the public language to match what you can defend. The second is to shift the underlying spend from offsetting outside your value chain to investing inside your value chain, where reductions count against Scope 3 directly and the audit trail is cleaner. The third is to keep the strategy and absorb the risk, which is increasingly the most expensive option once you price in litigation, restatement, and reputational exposure.
Most serious buyers are choosing the second path. It moves the carbon spend from a compliance cost to a procurement and resilience investment, and it removes the central failure point of the legacy model: the disconnect between where the emissions occurred and where the reductions sat. Nature-based supply chain investments, structured under the GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard and aligned to the SBTi FLAG Guidance, are the asset class that fits this brief. They generate inventory-grade reductions, they produce audit-grade documentation, and they survive the new claim restrictions because the carbon math sits inside the value chain that the disclosure already covers.
If you are reassessing a carbon strategy under the new integrity bar, or rebuilding a board narrative that has to survive a more skeptical audience, the carbon and sustainability experts at Carbon Credit Capital can help. The Dual-Value Model gives you a defensible alternative to legacy offset purchases, with the documentation and operational integration that survives the procurement scorecard and the audit. Schedule a consultation.
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