From Pilot to Practice: Lessons from LC3 Deployment in India

While India has established technical standards and initial commercial production for Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3), which can reduce emissions by up to 40%, widespread adoption is hindered by a lack of standardized concrete mix designs, inconsistent supply chains, and the absence of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). The document argues that scaling requires a regional strategy to compete with other supplementary cementitious materials, the identification of low-risk 'first-use segments' like non-structural elements, and demand aggregation to stabilize supply.

• LC3 concrete can reduce emissions by up to 40% compared to ordinary Portland cement, and India has established a formal technical foundation for its use through the Indian Standard code IS 18189:2023.
• A significant gap exists between cement production and concrete application; LC3 cannot be simply substituted into existing mix designs and requires optimization for variables like binder chemistry and local weather. Early pilots by Lodha Developers identified issues with workability and rapid slump loss within 60 minutes, which required specialized polycarboxylate ether–based dispersants and phosphoric acid modifiers to achieve a three-hour workability window.
• Supply chain reliability is currently opportunistic and depends on aggregated demand, making it difficult for plants to run dedicated production days. This creates uncertainty for developers and contractors regarding material availability for construction schedules.
• The adoption of LC3 is constrained by procurement processes that prioritize structural performance over embodied carbon and a lack of industry-standard Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for the material.
• To achieve scale, LC3 should target 'first-use segments' such as roads, pavement, and non-structural elements where risk is lower and volumes are high. Furthermore, a regional strategy is needed because LC3 is most competitive where other supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as fly ash or ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), are scarce.

APA

Pallerlamudi, S. S. H., Garg, T., & Singh, D. L. (2026). From Pilot to Practice: Lessons from LC3 Deployment in India. RMI. https://rmi.org/resources/from-pilot-to-practice-lessons-from-lc3-deployment-in-india/

Chicago

Pallerlamudi, Sai Sri Harsha, Tarun Garg, and Dr. Lav Singh. From Pilot to Practice: Lessons from LC3 Deployment in India. RMI, 2026. https://rmi.org/resources/from-pilot-to-practice-lessons-from-lc3-deployment-in-india/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pallerlamudi |first1=Sai Sri Harsha |last2=Garg |first2=Tarun |last3=Singh |first3=Dr. Lav |title=From Pilot to Practice: Lessons from LC3 Deployment in India |publisher=RMI |date=22 April 2026 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/from-pilot-to-practice-lessons-from-lc3-deployment-in-india/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pallerlamudi2026from, author = {Pallerlamudi, Sai Sri Harsha and Garg, Tarun and Singh, Dr. Lav}, title = {{From Pilot to Practice: Lessons from LC3 Deployment in India}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/from-pilot-to-practice-lessons-from-lc3-deployment-in-india/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }