The Portland Cement Association (PCA) is launching Shaped by Concrete, a new educational campaign to increase awareness of the sustainability, resiliency and durability of concrete made with cement. The campaign will feature stories based on these themes, exploring how these construction materials shape the world around us to make our communities, cities and country better, according to the association.

The association adds that with impacts from climate change, growing populations and accelerating urbanization creating demand for safe, affordable housing, there has never been a more important time to explain how and why concrete became - and continues to be - the material of choice for virtually every type of construction through its positive impacts on society.

 
"As we prepare for the challenges future generations face, concrete will be even more critical to building a sustainable world for tomorrow," said Mike Ireland, president and CEO of the Portland Cement Association. "Concrete is the most durable, resilient, available and affordable material in the built environment, supporting sustainable economic, social and environmental development priorities, and the Shaped by Concrete campaign is how we'll tell that story to stakeholders and partners."

Shaped by Concrete will focus on key themes often overlooked and underrepresented in conversations and media coverage of cement and concrete, including their ability to meet sustainable development goals, decrease costs from natural disasters, and assist with key societal challenges, such as our nation's housing crisis.

Concrete, made with the key ingredient cement, is the most widely used man-made material in existence. It is second only to water as the most-consumed resource on Earth. Once mixed, it can be molded into nearly any shape or use. As a sustainable building material, concrete provides energy efficiency, lower life-cycle costs and resilience following natural and man-made disasters.

Compared to other building materials, concrete is a low-impact material, with the amount of energy consumed to extract, refine, process, transport and fabricate, as well as the amount of carbon to produce it, being lower than other building materials.

"The industry has made major progress toward making concrete more sustainable, and it continues to push the boundaries of energy efficiency and emissions reductions through new research, technology and innovations," said Jeremy Gregory, executive director, Concrete Sustainability Hub at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Concrete will play a critical role in further decarbonization of the built environment, and I'm excited to see the stories of those advancements from 'Shaped by Concrete.'"
Cement and concrete have been foundations in advancing society from the earliest of civilizations dating back to iconic structures that are nearly 2,000 years old, such as the Pantheon and Colosseum in Rome.
Today, our country's most significant investments in infrastructure, transportation, culture and development were built with cement and concrete, according to PCA's press release. Infrastructure projects like the Hoover Dam and the Los Angeles aqueduct helped shape the western United States. World-class museums, such as the Guggenheim in New York are as stunning on the outside as the master works are on the inside. And our country's transportation system, from the Metro system in our nation's capital to the many airports that connect our world, show how cement and concrete are part of our lives every day.

"We are excited to share bold, compelling stories of how we can make the world a better place, shaped by concrete," said Ireland.