Ukraine: The International Finance Corporation has estimated that Ukraine requires US$3.86bn of investments in ‘advanced building materials’ to meet demand during its eventual full reconstruction following the on-going Russian invasion. This is 0.7% of a projected US$500bn over a decade of rebuilding.

Ukraine Business News has reported that the nation requires an additional 6Mm²/yr of precast concrete (projected costs: US$1.5bn), 8Mt/yr of geopolymers (US$1.36bn), 700,000t/yr of basalt wool (US$420m), 100,000t of basalt reinforcement (US$420m), 1Mm³/yr of autoclaved aerated concrete (US$100m), 8Mm²/yr of glazing (US$72m), US$50m of 3D printing construction equipment and 500,000t/yr of hemp concrete (US$20m). All this would generate an estimated 17,000 new jobs.

Uzbekistan: The government will mandate the processing or disposal of all construction and demolition materials (CDM) generated nationally from 1 June 2026. Daryo News has reported that the incoming law will require construction and demolition firms to complete design documentation for their projects to assess expected volumes of CDM and to designate handling plans. The Ecology Committee, the State Environmental Supervision Inspectorate and the Supervision Inspectorate in the Field of Technical Regulation will monitor compliance.

Uzbek building materials production has a projected value of US$5.2bn for 2025, with US$3.5bn of additional on-going or planned projects.

UK: CRH subsidiary Tarmac will launch five electric heavy goods vehicles to transport cement, precast concrete blocks, aggregates and asphalt in London and South East England in early 2026. Transport and Energy News has reported that DAF Trucks and Renault Trucks will supply the vehicles. Tarmac has partnered with Innovate UK for the initiative, which will receive a portion of €227m of Department of Transport funding under the Zero-Emission HGV and Infrastructure Development programme. Tarmac and charging partner Voltempo will build a new ‘London-wide’ electric vehicle (EV) charging network in support of the fleet.

Voltempo founder Michael Boxwell said "Tarmac's leadership and willingness to invest in electric HGVs and charging network infrastructure, including Voltempo's ultra-rapid HyperCharger MCS, is exactly the kind of ambition we need to drive real change across the sector. We're proud to have Tarmac as a founding partner in the eFreight 2030 EV consortium and look forward to working together to accelerate the transition to zero-emission road freight."

Europe: EU member states deployed 32.5Mt of steel by-products in building materials production and construction in 2024, according to newly released data from regional slag association EuroSlag. 20Mt of granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) entered cement production and 1.5Mt served as aggregates, while 11Mt of steelworks slag (SWS) served in roadbuilding and other construction applications. EuroSlag said that this, alongside all other applications, prevented the emission of 11.4Mt of CO₂ and the extraction of 40Mt of minerals. Domestic steel production yielded 19.6Mt of GBFS and 16.5Mt of SWS across the bloc in 2024. A further 38Mt of slag became available through extraction from temporary stores.

Cumulatively, circular applications of slag in the EU prevented the emission of 319Mt of CO₂ and the extraction of 1.21Gt of minerals between 2000 and 2024.

EuroSlag Chair Thomas Reiche said "Even in a difficult global political and economic environment, ferrous slag makes an important contribution to resource conservation, climate protection and the circular economy. EuroSlag will continue to work at all levels to intensify practice-orientated research and adapt national and European regulations."