GCCA: What They Do, And EPD Coverage
The Global Cement and Concrete Association is not a manufacturer. It is the industry’s coordination hub for decarbonization and advocacy. If you sell cement, concrete, or related materials, GCCA shapes the rules of the road while its member companies battle for specs. Here is how their world maps to EPDs, where coverage is strong, and where missed declarations still cost bids.
GCCA in one minute
GCCA is the global industry body for cement and concrete, founded in 2018 to coordinate sustainability, standards, and advocacy. Its members account for roughly 80% of global cement volume outside China, with several Chinese producers also inside the tent (GCCA, 2021). Their Net Zero Roadmap is the headline act and it pulls policy, technology, and procurement into one playbook.
What products are in scope
Member companies produce the ingredients and finished materials that show up on project submittals. Think clinker and cement, ready mixed concrete from thousands of local plants, precast elements, masonry units, aggregates, and supplementary cementitious materials like slag or calcined clay. At plant level, portfolios span tens to hundreds of SKUs, since mix designs, strengths, and exposures vary by region and owner requirements.
EPD coverage today, where it is strong
Concrete EPDs are most visible in North America and Western Europe, where project teams ask for them as a condition of modeling and carbon accounting. In France, the INIES database shows large and active use, listing 5,507 FDES for construction products and 1,779 PEP for equipment as of December 19, 2025, with hundreds of thousands of commercial references mapped to those records (INIES, 2025). The International EPD System crossed 10,000 valid EPDs back in 2024 and has kept growing, which mirrors market pull across construction categories (EPD International, 2024).
Where coverage still lags
Gaps tend to appear in two places. First, plant specific cement EPDs are uneven outside North America and the EU, especially where program operator infrastructure or verifier capacity remains thin. Second, aggregates and some precast ranges can be patchy, since teams often start with ready mixed concrete and postpone the rest. None of this is a technology problem, it is an execution and prioritization problem.
A likely best seller missing an EPD, and what that costs
Ordinary Portland Cement from a high volume plant is a classic revenue driver. When it lacks a plant specific EPD, specifers on LEED v5 oriented projects often default to conservative generic factors that penalize submittals, which nudges purchasing toward suppliers who disclose. Several multinationals already publish cement EPDs for specific plants in the United States under NRMCA’s program, for example Heidelberg Materials notes plant product specific cement EPDs across most sites, which makes side by side comparisons straightforward for design teams (Heidelberg Materials, 2024). If your cement or your region is invisible, you compete on price and delivery windows instead of performance.
Competitors on the jobsite
Concrete competes directly with structural steel and engineered wood in frames, and with asphalt in paving. These sectors also publish widely. The International EPD System’s scale signals how common it is for steel and wood suppliers to show up with third party verified declarations ready for download, while country databases like INIES make those records easy to model in building LCAs (EPD International, 2024, INIES, 2025). When alternatives arrive with specific EPDs and you do not, you invite conservative defaults to do the talking.
The GCCA link to EPDs
GCCA’s role is to coordinate decarbonization, share roadmaps, and align with national associations. Their Net Zero Concrete pathway is credible and widely cited, but publishing product specific EPDs still sits with individual producers and their local operations teams (GCCA, 2021). Treat EPDs as a sales enablement asset that removes friction in submittals rather than a compliance chore.
How manufacturers can close the gap fast
Start with an internal map by plant, region, and mix family. Prioritize high volume mixes and any cement or precast lines that regularly appear on public works or corporate campuses. Pick the PCR your customers already see on competitor declarations, then select a program operator that matches how project teams source data in that geography, for example NRMCA in the United States and IBU or the International EPD System in Europe. Use pre verified tooling where possible to generate families of mix EPDs quickly, then verify and publish in the registry the design team actually uses.
What this means for commercial teams
An EPD shifts you from being an unknown quantity to a modeled quantity. That shortens approval cycles, keeps your product in the spec when carbon budgets are tight, and reduces the number of last mile clarifications your team has to answer. The cost is usually paid back by a single mid sized project win, which is why speed, clean data collection, and dependable verification matter more than headline day rates.
Bottom line for GCCA watchers
GCCA sets the direction of travel, yet the market rewards the plants and mixes that publish early and keep records current. If your portfolio still has cement, aggregate, or precast gaps, move them into the same EPD cadence as your ready mixed products. When the next RFP lands, you want the submittal to read like a playlist, not a scavenger hunt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GCCA a product manufacturer and can it publish EPDs for members’ products?
GCCA is an industry association, not a manufacturer. It sets roadmaps and coordination, while each member company publishes its own product‑specific EPDs through operators such as NRMCA, IBU, or the International EPD System (GCCA, 2021).
Where is EPD coverage for cement and concrete currently strongest?
North America and Western Europe. France’s INIES lists thousands of construction FDES used directly in RE2020 modeling, and the International EPD System surpassed 10,000 valid EPDs in 2024, reflecting broad adoption across construction categories (INIES, 2025, EPD International, 2024).
What should a producer prioritize first if they have no EPDs yet?
Target high‑volume mixes and any plant‑specific cement with meaningful sales. Mirror the PCR and operator used by your most frequent competitors, leverage pre‑verified tools for speed, and publish in the registry your customers actually pull into LCA software.
About the Author
With a passion for sustainability and a love for complex data, Toby helps manufacturers efficiently collect data from across their organization and get their EPDs done right. He’s especially interested in how AI can support human expertise, helping R&D and factory teams work faster, smarter, and with less friction.
