Fuelling the Future: Golden Bay Recognised for Carbon Reduction Excellence

Golden Bay was recognised as the winning entry in the 2025 Carbon Reduction Award at the Concrete NZ Conference Awards for its leadership in pioneering alternative fuels to replace coal in cement manufacturing.

Aerial view of biomass fuel storage at Golden Bay’s Portland plant near Whangārei – part of the company’s transition from coal to renewable energy sources.

As New Zealand’s only fully integrated cement producer, Golden Bay has made sustained progress in decarbonising production through innovation, investment, and collaboration.

The transition began in 2004 with the introduction of biomass fuels - wood waste primarily sourced from the construction sector. Biomass now accounts for around 30% of total fuel use, significantly reducing emissions and diverting waste from landfill.

In 2021, Golden Bay expanded its programme by introducing end-of-life tyres as a replacement fuel, achieving substitution rates of up to 40%. This required extensive retrofitting of legacy infrastructure and new handling systems to ensure fuel efficiency and kiln stability.

Since early 2025, the company has begun using high-calorific waste streams - including hard-to-recycle plastics, expired medical waste, and industrial residues - as main burner fuels. This has lifted coal substitution rates to more than 65%, with a near-term target of 85-90%.

Supporting measures include onsite preprocessing via a multipurpose shredder, upgrades to control and laboratory systems, and partnerships with local businesses to generate renewable electricity.

Between July 2024 and June 2025, Golden Bay diverted over 85,000 tonnes of waste from landfill, produced 1,270 MWh of renewable power, and reduced CO₂ emissions by more than 20,000 tonnes - a clear demonstration of technical innovation and long-term commitment to New Zealand’s A Net-Zero Carbon Concrete Industry for Aotearoa New Zealand: Roadmap to 2050.

Atlas Concrete Head Office, Retail Space & Warehouse
Highly Commended Award

Atlas Concrete received a Carbon Reduction - Highly Commended Award in the 2025 Concrete NZ Conference Awards for its new head office, retail showroom and warehouse in Takapuna.

Atlas Concrete’s new head office, retail showroom and warehouse in Takapuna – a flagship example of how low-carbon concrete can deliver both performance and sustainability.

Designed by JWA Architects, engineered by MSC Consulting, and built by CMP Construction, the project forms the first stage of a long-term redevelopment of the Atlas Concrete site and demonstrates the company’s leadership in sustainable construction.

The project set out to demonstrate the full potential of concrete - showing how low-carbon mixes can be seamlessly integrated into mainstream commercial construction while retaining the material’s hallmark performance, durability and design versatility.

Focused on practical outcomes rather than symbolic sustainability features, the team conducted a detailed embodied carbon comparison between Atlas Concrete’s standard mixes, its Greenstone LCC products used, and recognised industry baselines to inform future low-carbon design and specification decisions.

Across approximately 2,600 cubic metres of concrete, Atlas Concrete achieved significant embodied carbon reductions - 20% compared with Atlas Concrete’s standard mix, 24% against the New Zealand Green Building Council baseline, and 39% relative to the Infrastructure Sustainability Council baseline. Importantly, the use of Greenstone LCC enabled these savings at no additional cost, confirming that low-carbon concrete is both commercially viable and scalable.

Beyond carbon reduction, the building delivers improved concrete finish quality, enhanced durability, and operational benefits including superior thermal performance and safer site circulation. The project demonstrates Atlas Concrete’s practical commitment to lowering embodied carbon and advancing sustainable design using local materials and expertise.

Entries in the Carbon Reduction Award category showcased how companies across the country are achieving measurable emissions reductions through innovation, collaboration, and the smart use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs).

• At Queenstown’s Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant, Allied Concrete, in partnership with McConnell Dowell, delivered the largest Ecrete pour in Otago/Southland using high-strength mixes with 30-35 percent fly ash. The result was a reduction of more than 270 tonnes of CO₂, proving that large-scale infrastructure can meet strength and programme demands while lowering embodied carbon.


• In Napier, Bridgeman Concrete’s 35 percent slag mix for Pan Pac’s Central Support Hub achieved a 46 percent reduction in embodied carbon, saving 66 tonnes of CO₂. The seamless 413 cubic metre pour showcased technical precision and collaborative delivery.


• For a Waikanae residential slab, Higgins Concrete partnered with Peter Fell Ltd to reduce cement content by more than 30 percent through targeted SCM trials, maintaining strength, finish, and colour consistency - showing how carbon reduction and architectural quality can integrate in residential design.


• Holcim New Zealand demonstrated national leadership in SCM adoption, achieving an average 8.8 percent replacement, with Auckland plants reaching 20.2 percent, and some validated mixes up to 70 percent, outperforming the 2024 industry average of 6.6 percent.


• Higgins Concrete achieved a national milestone in sustainable construction through the Parliament FAS Project - delivering a technically advanced 40 MPa low-carbon mix for the 1.4-metre-deep raft slab foundation within the Parliament precinct, showcasing innovation, collaboration and exemplary low-carbon performance in large-scale structural applications.


• At Te Unua Museum of Southland, Allied Concrete and Naylor Love employed low-carbon Ecrete E30 mixes and pour-specific Environmental Product Declarations to align sustainability with assured delivery and Green Star performance.


• The circular and sustainable structural pavement trial at Auckland Airport-led by Firth Industries and Brian Perry Civil-recycled old runways and taxiways into new pavement layers, cutting carbon emissions by 75 percent and costs by 31 percent, advancing the circular economy in infrastructure.