28 May 2025

Finland’s Lakka is making a bold investment to green one of the most carbon-intensive materials on Earth: concrete. The family-owned manufacturer, known for producing concrete products for the Finnish construction and retail sectors, is set to ramp up production of low-carbon concrete using a new process that permanently binds carbon dioxide into the material itself.

“This is a multimillion-euro investment for us,” says Juho Hiltunen, CEO of Lakan Betoni. “Our goal is that within a couple of years, half of the production at our Joensuu plant will utilize CO₂ treatment.”

Cement: The Concrete Industry’s Carbon Problem

The stakes are high. Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in the world—and one of the most polluting. The cement that binds it accounts for up to 8% of global CO₂ emissions, primarily due to the energy-intensive process of heating limestone to extreme temperatures.

Addressing this challenge is essential to achieving global climate targets. That’s where Carbonaide comes in—a Finnish climate tech startup spun out of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

From Polluter to Carbon Sink

Carbonaide’s technology reduces the need for cement by partially replacing it with captured CO₂, which is injected during the concrete curing phase. The CO₂ is permanently mineralized into the concrete, reducing cement use by 20–50% and binding carbon directly into the product.

“The carbonation process not only captures carbon—it also accelerates curing by up to 50%, speeding up production,” explains Tapio Vehmas, CEO of Carbonaide. “And by enabling the use of alternative binders—like industrial byproducts such as slag from stainless steel manufacturing—it opens the door to even carbon-negative concrete.”

Lakka’s new facility is expected to bind 1,000 tons of CO₂ annually in its early stages. If expanded across all the company’s plants, that number could rise to over 10,000 tons per year—a meaningful dent in the company’s carbon footprint.

Strategic Timing Meets Market Demand

Lakka’s move comes at a critical moment. “The price of cement has risen sharply in recent years, while demand for sustainable construction materials is climbing,” Hiltunen notes. “Our investment is well-timed, and the interest is there. Retail chain customers are already reaching out. They have climate targets of their own, and our product helps them meet them.”

As Finland’s leading supplier of concrete products to hardware retailers, Lakka’s decarbonization shift is poised to impact not just builders, but everyday consumers as well.

Scaling Up for a Global Market

For Carbonaide, founded in 2022, Lakka represents the first customer to adopt its second-generation carbonation technology. It follows an earlier successful industrial-scale deployment at Rakennusbetoni ja Elementti’s plant in Hollola, now fully operational.

“Lakka’s investment will multiply the production capacity for carbonated concrete in Finland,” Vehmas says. “And as we look toward international markets, having strong domestic proof points is key.”

Carbonaide's innovation reflects a broader trend in construction: the push to decarbonize not just how buildings are operated—but how they’re made. With visionary manufacturers like Lakka embracing cutting-edge carbon capture solutions, concrete may soon become a part of the climate solution rather than the problem.