Finnish concrete manufacturer Lakka is investing in green concrete. The company plans to begin manufacturing significantly more climate-friendly concrete products at the beginning of 2026.
“This is a multimillion-euro investment for us. Our goal is that within the next couple of years, half of the production at our Joensuu plant will utilize CO₂ treatment,” says Juho Hiltunen, CEO of Lakan Betoni.
The concrete industry accounts for 8 % of human-induced CO₂ emissions, with 90 percent of those stemming from the production of cement, the binder in concrete.
Lakka is adopting Carbonaide’s technology, in which cement is partially replaced with carbon dioxide. CO₂ is added during the concrete’s curing phase. As it is permanently mineralized into the concrete, cement need is reduced by 20-50%.
“We will fairly quickly reach an annual pace of binding 1,000 tons of CO₂. If the method were in use at all our plants, we could bind well over 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide into concrete,”
Hiltunen states.
“In addition to carbon sequestration, carbonation accelerates the hardening of concrete by up to 50 percent, speeding up the entire production process. It also enables the use of entirely new types of binders. For example, slag generated during the production of stainless steel can be used as a substitute for cement. In that case, the concrete product could even become carbon-negative,” says Tapio Vehmas, CEO of Carbonaide.
The investment is supported by two major change drivers
“The price of cement has risen sharply in recent years, and at the same time, demand for environmentally friendly building materials has grown. Lakka’s investment comes at the right time in that sense—there’s clear interest,” Hiltunen assesses.
“Retail chain customers have started to reach out. They too are setting climate goals, which naturally extend to the products they sell. As the leading manufacturer of concrete products for hardware store distribution in Finland, this investment will significantly decrease the carbon footprint of concrete products sold to consumers.”
For Carbonaide, founded in 2022, Lakka is the first customer to adopt the second generation of Carbonaide technology.
“We were able to prove at Rakennusbetoni ja Elementti’s Hollola factory that the process works in an industrial setting. That plant is now operational, and Lakka’s investment will multiply the production capacity of carbonated concrete products in Finland,” Vehmas says.
“The company’s real growth markets are naturally outside of Finland. For international expansion, having solid domestic references is extremely important,” says Tapio Vehmas, who started developing Carbonaide’s carbonation method originally at VTT.
More information:
Juho Hiltunen
CEO, Lakan Betoni
+358 20 748 1251
Tapio Vehmas
CEO, Carbonaide
+358 40 591 1589
About Lakka
Lakka is a concrete product company founded in 1965, producing aggregate-based building materials and related services. The company has factories in Joensuu, Jalasjärvi, Varkaus, and Loppi.
About Carbonaide
Carbonaide is a technology company founded in 2022. Its concrete post-treatment method—originating from VTT—utilizes and stores carbon dioxide. The company’s goal is to significantly reduce global CO₂ emissions from the concrete industry, while enabling the built environment to transition from a source of emissions into a carbon sink.
