Saint-Gobain’s Chryso and Ecocem have launched a combined low‑carbon system pairing Ecocem ACT cement, which cuts cement emissions by up to 70%, with Chryso’s new superplasticiser EnviroMix 3150 ACT, formulated for this binder chemistry. The admixture–cement combination enables concrete mix designs achieving over 50% carbon footprint reduction, meeting GWR5 and above, while maintaining high flowability, low viscosity at low water–cement ratios, and workability retention beyond 90 minutes without segregation. On the former John Lewis HQ refurbishment in London, around 1,300 m³ of C20/25 and C30/37 ACT concrete is being pumped using EnviroMix 3150 ACT to validate performance under site conditions.

Texas startup Hertha Metals has raised $133.65 million in Series A funding, including $65 million from the US government’s IBAS programme, to build its Hertha Chalyx plant targeting 10,000 tonnes per year of steel-grade and magnet-grade high-purity iron. The facility will deploy the FLEXHERS process—a single continuous hydrogen/natural-gas reduction reactor coupled with electric arc furnace technology—claiming 25% lower production costs than blast furnaces and emissions cuts of 50% (natural gas) to up to 98% (hydrogen). Chalyx, alongside the existing 360 t/y Pi100 pilot in Conroe, aims to create a fully domestic feedstock source for NdFeB magnet and defence manufacturers.

We Recycle Solar will build the US’ first end-to-end critical materials recovery facility for retired solar panels on a 10-acre campus outside Dallas, targeting Q3 2027 start-up. The Arizona-based firm says the commercial-scale plant will process one panel per minute and recover up to 96% of contained silver, copper, silicon, aluminium and glass through a proprietary extraction process that avoids any offshore smelting. WRS plans a further $100 million investment in four additional US facilities within four years, aiming to capture value from an $80 billion projected 2050 solar-panel waste stream.