Sustainable Building Materials

Was zu erwarten ist

Developing more sustainable building materials is both a societal imperative and a huge market opportunity. Buildings and infrastructure are major contributors to climate change, not only from operational energy use but also more significantly from the emissions of manufacturing construction materials. Construction and demolition are the largest contributors to landfill waste in many countries. This Lux Ideathon will explore the opportunity to improve on the status quo with circular, low-carbon building materials, including both novel biobased materials and novel manufacturing processes for high-emitting industries like cement. The startup pitches and panel discussion will examine the obstacles to market adoption in the conservative construction industry and show how new approaches can reduce carbon emissions while remaining cost competitive. 

As companies evaluate the market opportunities in this sector, Lux’s Ideathon on Sustainable Building Materials will address the following questions: 

• How will the introduction of more sustainable building materials create new business opportunities (and threats) for adjacent sectors, for example, in the chemicals industry? 

• Which incumbent materials and product categories are most susceptible to disruption by sustainable alternatives? 

• What are the main barriers to market adoption of more sustainable materials? Will forthcoming policies and regulations change this picture?