US EPA grants $160 mil to bolster domestic clean construction materials, steel

The US Environmental Protection Agency selected 38 recipients of grants totaling $160 million to support clean steel and construction material manufacturing, a high-emitting sector commonly referred to as "hard-to-abate," the EPA said July 16.

This funding will help the 38 selected businesses in tracking CO2 emissions from extracting, transporting and manufacturing their products, the EPA said. The grants range from $250,000 to $10 million for the development of "environmental product declarations" that will allow buyers to compare the emissions associated with the product's development.

"These efforts will help standardize and expand the market for construction products with lower greenhouse gas emissions," the EPA statement reads. "They will make it easier for federal, state and local governments and other institutional buyers to ensure the construction projects they fund use more climate-friendly products and materials."

The construction materials sector, including the manufacturing of steel, concrete, asphalt, glass and more, accounts for over 15% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA statement.

"Cleaner construction materials like concrete and steel are increasingly essential for the nation's prosperity," EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said.

Some of the grant funding will be used to track emissions saved by switching from high-carbon components in manufacturing to recycled and "innovative" materials. Funds were also granted to universities to study emissions savings methods in the construction sector an develop the sustainable construction workforce.

"Selections are contingent upon completion of legal and administrative requirements and grantees are tentatively expected to receive their funding in late summer," the statement reads.

The EPA will further expand its efforts to assist businesses in tracking their environmental impact, the agency said July 16, starting with offering direct support to businesses like with the grants announced today.

The EPA is currently developing a program that would include a "robust" database of environmental product declarations, it said. More accurately tracking emissions data is key to establishing a market for "cleaner" construction products, the EPA says.

The agency's focus on developing environmental impact assessments is highlighted by one of the major grant announcements from today, where the EPA dedicate up to $10 million to the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment. The grant funds will be used to broadly establish CO2 emission life cycle assessment competencies and compile data.

The ACLCA's proposed project would "yield an adoptable framework to reduce embodied greenhouse gas emissions in construction materials and products," according to a statement by the nonprofit.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes billions in funds for reducing emissions from the construction sector, including $2 billion dedicated to low-carbon construction materials in federal building and $2 billion for these materials in transportation projects.

The US Department of Energy announced in March $1.5 billion to fund six low-carbon iron and steel demonstration projects, including hydrogen-fueled technology that "can eliminate the vast majority of steelmaking emissions," according to the DOE.

Up to $500 million was dedicated to steelmaker SSAB, which will partner with HyStor's Mississippi Clean Hydrogen Hub project to produce lower-carbon steel powered by green hydrogen. Another $500 million project in Ohio would demonstrate hydrogen technology in the replacement of one of the facility's seven blast furnaces.

The funding announcements "validate green hydrogen's role in deep industrial decarbonization," HyStor CEO Laura Luce previously said.