Advanced and innovative materials as enablers of sustainability, circularity, resilience, and competitiveness in the EU construction sector
The study analyses how advanced and innovative construction materials (AdMA) can accelerate the transformation of Europe’s built environment towards sustainability, circularity, and competitiveness. The construction sector—responsible for about half of all extracted materials, over 35 % of EU waste, and up to 35 % of greenhouse-gas emissions—faces structural barriers that hinder the market uptake of low-carbon, durable and high-performance materials. Drawing on interviews with twenty European industry, research and policy actors, the report identifies systemic bottlenecks including fragmented value chains, under-resourced testing infrastructures, slow standardisation, and limited financing for scale-up. It highlights economic opportunities from lifecycle-based procurement, blended-finance models, and risk-sharing mechanisms to bridge the “valley of death” between R&D and market deployment. Policy recommendations call for performance-based regulation, dedicated demonstration infrastructures, skills development, and the alignment of green finance and procurement to reward innovation. Together, these measures can enable advanced materials to become a key driver of the EU’s green and digital transition in the construction sector.
PINTO SEPPÄ Isabel;
ALUNNI Andrea;
PISCAER Boudewijn;
LOMBARDI Giulia;
2026-03-13
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC145969
978-92-68-37746-8 (online),
OP KJ-01-26-078-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC145969,
10.2760/8142134 (online),
