High-Performance Concrete Initiative Launch
TEAM PENNSYLVANIA AND THE EFI FOUNDATION LAUNCH HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONCRETE INITIATIVE TO ACCELERATE DEPLOYMENT ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH
HARRISBURG, PA – April 16, 2026 – Yesterday, Team Pennsylvania and the EFI Foundation announced the official launch of the High-Performance Concrete Initiative, a collaborative effort to accelerate the adoption and deployment of more durable and longer-lasting concrete across the commonwealth.
“Pennsylvania helped build this industry, and we have everything we need to shape what comes next,” said Abby Smith, president & CEO of Team Pennsylvania. “Through this initiative, we are bringing together the right partners to align policy, market signals, and implementation so that the commonwealth can lead in growing our economy while pursuing practical, demand-driven industrial decarbonization strategies.”
Over the past six months, Team Pennsylvania has convened a cross-sector task force of industry leaders, public agencies, and technical experts to shape the initiative. Through this process, participants have developed a scope of work that aligns supply- and demand-side partners to enable the conditions to deploy high-performance concrete more widely. The initiative includes four workstreams: Industry Coordination & Market Alignment, Pilot Design and Deployment, Procurement Systems and Tools, and Permitting, Standards, and Approvals.
“Our work shows that the low-carbon concrete market is ready to scale,” said Alex Kizer, executive vice president at the EFI Foundation. “With the right market signals and procurement practices in place, Pennsylvania will unlock private sector investment and accelerate adoption in its backbone infrastructure. This initiative is about putting those pieces in place.”
Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the nation’s cement industry, has the industrial heritage, research and innovation ecosystem, and public procurement influence to impact how high-performance building materials are developed and deployed across the commonwealth. Efforts to reduce emissions must be pursued in a way that preserves and strengthens the state’s industrial capacity and competitive advantage.
“Low-carbon concrete is not a new or unproven technology,” said Ryan Harcar, president of The Lindy Group. “These solutions have been tested and used for years. What’s been missing is coordinated demand and consistent market signals. This initiative creates the conditions to move from isolated use cases to consistent, large-scale deployment across the commonwealth.”
Concrete made with alternatives to Portland cement has been used for decades, with increasing quantities of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) contributing to higher performance and durability. Through mixture optimization, high-performance concrete delivers longer service life and remains an additional revenue stream. Using alternative materials to Portland cement, like slag and fly ash, reduces emissions for concrete production and can also reduce cost.
The High-Performance Concrete Initiative aims to address barriers that have historically slowed adoption, including fragmented supply chains, permitting challenges, and lack of coordinated market demand. It also aims to dispel common misconceptions about high-performance concrete by highlighting projects that demonstrate performance, durability, and create long-term economic value. By aligning stakeholders across the value chain, the initiative builds on Pennsylvania’s strengths to enable broader and faster uptake of high-performance concrete.
Initial efforts will focus on showcasing pilot projects that demonstrate performance, cost, and emissions benefits, while also supporting efforts to modernize procurement approaches, streamline permitting and approvals, and strengthen market signals that incentivize deployment.
To learn more about Team Pennsylvania and the High-Performance Concrete Initiative, and to explore opportunities to participate in this work, please visit https://teampa.com/energy.
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To get involved with Team Pennsylvania, visit teampa.com or email info@teampa.com.
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Team Pennsylvania is a statewide nonprofit working to accelerate Pennsylvania’s long-term economic future. As the commonwealth’s trusted public-private partnership, we bring together leaders from business, government, nonprofits, organized labor, and academia to solve big challenges and seize transformational opportunities.
The EFI Foundation tackles today’s toughest energy challenges. We are an innovation energy lab driving conversations, testing groundbreaking ideas, and delivering actionable solutions.