Germany/Sweden: SSAB and Heidelberg Materials are entering a collaboration to develop electric arc furnace (EAF) slag into an alternative binder in cement mixtures. The research project brings together also leading expertise from universities and the Swedish metals research institute Swerim. The project aims to develop EAF slag into an efficient supplementary cementitious material (SCM) to reduce the CO₂ footprint of the cement sector. The project has been granted funding of €1.9m through The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth from the Just Transition Fund with national co-financing.  

The new four-year research project builds on knowledge from previous successful research and collaboration initiatives. By bringing together leading expertise from Luleå University of Technology, the University of Oulu, and Swerim, along with industry partners SSAB and Heidelberg Materials, the project forms a strong consortium with unique competence and capacity. The focus is on developing methods to optimise the slag, from laboratory to pilot scale, and on evaluating performance in cement and concrete applications. The goal is to create an industrially scalable solution that can be applied to future products. 

"This is a natural next step in our shared journey toward creating valuable solutions for our by-product,” said Marko Mäkikyrö, Director, Byproduct Sales & Development at SSAB. “We are transitioning to electric arc furnaces in Oxelösund with start of production planned for early 2027, in Luleå in 2029, and thereafter in Raahe, Finland. SSAB's goal is production in line with sustainable development and circular economy. Through this project, we are seizing these opportunities by combining strong expertise and long experience with a shared determination to drive change.”

"We see a good opportunity in including EAF slag from SSAB as part of our strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of our products. Through this collaboration, we unite leading expertise from industry and research with a common ambition to deliver the building materials of the future" said Magnus Ohlsson, CEO at Heidelberg Materials Cement Sverige AB.

Heidelberg Materials and SSAB have a long-standing collaboration on raw materials by using parts of SSAB's slag as input in cement production at the Slite cement plant in Sweden. This new project is an important part of a partnership as SSAB transitions its production to electric arc furnaces.

US: Amrize won two Slag Cement Association (SCA) Lower Carbon Concrete awards at the American Concrete Institute Convention in Chicago on 1 April 2026. One award was for an AI-optimised concrete mix supplied for the construction a Meta data centre in Rosemount, Minnesota. The other was for an EcoTect reduced-CO₂ concrete mix that was supplied for the construction of a Procter & Gamble production plant in Andover, Massachusetts.

Canada: CarbiCrete has received US$503,000 in funding under the government's Energy Innovation Project to scale its cement-free concrete technology, GasWorld News has reported. The technology sequesters CO₂ from flue gas using a process that mineralises steel slag into alternative concrete.

The developer previously deployed its technology at plants in Drummondville in Quebec, Port Colborne in Ontario and Hauts-de-France, France. It operates the French facility via a local partner, Saint-Gobain subsidiary Point.P.

EU: EU crude steel output fell by 3% year-on-year to a historic low of 126Mt in 2025, according to data published by the European Steel Association (EUROFER) in its 2026 Economic and Steel Market Outlook. The association reported record pressure from imports, which rose by 14% and reached a 29% market share in mid-late 2025. Full-year steel consumption grew by 2%, and is forecast to grow by a further 1% in 2026, attributable to 'exceptionally low' prior-year demand. Signs of demand-side recovery are ‘tentative,’ according to EUROFER.

Director-General Axel Eggert said "EU policymakers must agree the new steel trade measure quickly, without it being weakened, otherwise Europe risks losing more industrial capacity. The Iran crisis also shows how exposed European industry remains to global energy shocks. If the EU wants to keep steel production and green investment here, it must deliver both effective trade defence and affordable electricity."