Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors

This report assesses the potential for 'book and claim' mechanisms to drive the growth of near-zero product markets in the steel and concrete sectors, exploring how decoupling environmental attributes from physical products can overcome supply chain and accessibility barriers.

• Companies face challenges in purchasing lower-carbon steel and concrete at scale due to a lack of direct contracts with producers or a lack of physical access to these materials for specific use cases, compounded by the high capital investment required for production technology transitions.
• The 'book and claim' model decouples a product's environmental attributes, such as carbon intensity, from the physical unit, allowing organizations to purchase certificates and claim those attributes. This system can expand the buyer pool and provide the demand signals needed for producers to finance lower-carbon infrastructure aligned with 1.5°C targets.
• Implementing book and claim in steel and concrete requires addressing specific sector challenges, including complex supply chains, the integration with existing EPD/PCR systems, and the wide variety of end products.

APA

RMI (2024). Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors. https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/

Chicago

RMI. Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors. 2024. https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors |date=15 July 2024 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2024structuring, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Structuring Demand for Lower-Carbon Materials: An Initial Assessment of Book and Claim for the Steel and Concrete Sectors}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2024}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/structuring-demand-for-lower-carbon-materials-an-initial-assessment-of-book-and-claim-for-the-steel-and-concrete-sectors/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }