Alexandria, VA – October 13, 2026
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association members continue to lower their carbon footprint according to the 2026 Version 4 Life Cycle (LCA) report and Industry Wide Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) released yesterday. NRMCA has been tracking its members’ environmental impacts since 2014, equipping the industry with stronger data to back sustainable concrete solutions. Measuring carbon footprint over time is a major strategy for meeting the 2050 carbon neutrality goal for the concrete industry.
The LCA reports results for 18 geographic study groups: the national average, eight NRMCA regions, five states and four metropolitan areas, enabling stakeholders to rely on benchmarks that reflect regional materials, transportation and production conditions.
The 2026 Industry Wide EPD draws on 2023–2024 data from 1,238 participating facilities, up from 489 in Version 3.2 (2021), with facility counts disclosed for every reported dataset. The product schedule grows from 72 to 120 industry-average mixes covering normal-weight, lightweight and high-strength concrete, including strength classes up to 12,000 psi. The supporting LCA, aligned to the revised Product Category Rule for Environmental Product Declarations for Concrete released earlier this year, adds product-level statistics for key life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) indicators, including variability, precision and confidence intervals, giving users clearer insight into the range and uncertainty behind industry-average results.
The industrywide EPD and LCA Report complement producers’ product-specific EPDs, linking industry benchmarks to the environmental information individual projects need and supporting better-informed specifications and closer collaboration across the design and construction team.
“Our members are helping turn the industry’s commitment to sustainability into practical tools for the people who design and build with concrete,” said NRMCA President and CEO Jim Riley. “Version 4 gives them better information to pursue lower-carbon construction while delivering the strength, durability and performance our communities rely on.”
“Concrete is a local material and regional information matters,” added Tiffany Reed-Villarreal, NRMCA director, sustainability codes and standards. “These benchmarks help our members work with public agencies, designers and contractors to evaluate mix options that meet project performance requirements and embodied carbon goals.”
In addition to measuring progress toward carbon neutrality through its Industry Wide EPD and LCA report, NRMCA members continue to demonstrate leadership by publishing product-specific EPDs which are a more accurate representation of environmental impacts from concrete produced at local ready mixed production facilities. To date, nearly 90,000 product-specific EPDs have been published by concrete producers. This is by far the largest number published by any industry.
About NRMCA – NRMCA, a non-profit trade association based in Alexandria, VA, represents the producers of ready mixed concrete and the companies that provide materials, equipment and support to the industry. It conducts education, training, promotion, research, engineering, safety, environmental, technological, lobbying and regulatory programs. For more information on NRMCA’s Sustainability Initiatives, visit www.nrmca.org/sustainability.