Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2023

Breaking the Wall of Housing People while Minimising Climate Change

Karen Scrivener

Engineering & Technology

The nominating institution EPFL on the breakthrough:

Safe and affordable housing and infrastructure are key to sustainable global development and rely on construction materials such as cement. Cement production is responsible for ~8% of global CO2 emission. Limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) allows up to 50% reduction of CO2 emission during cement production and will have a huge impact on global CO2 production. LC3 can be made using low cost clays in existing plants, which facilitates local production, also in less developed countries.

Tags: Climate change, Engineering, Future /Green Cities, Green Tech.

Karen Scrivener

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Prof. Karen Scrivener, Professor at EPFL, has been working on cement and concrete for 40 years. Her career moving from academia to industry and back, gives her a unique insight into both the scientific fundamentals and practical realities of this fascinating material. Her main focus is on lowering CO2 emissions from this important material. This has led to the development of LC3 cement which can cut CO2 emissions by up to 40%. Through her roles in Journal editing, and leading think groups on sustainability she has become one of the most influential people in the field.

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