Front page: Marine Biobased Building Materials
New techinal handbook on green and blue building materials

Marine Biobased Building Materials

15-05-2024

The publication “Marine Biobased Building Materials” assesses the development of regenerative maritime building materials and highlights the challenges that may exist for commercial adoption. It also showcases how materials like algae, seagrass, and reeds offer significant growth potential to support the green transition of the Nordic construction sector.

New waves in construction materials

With resource consumption expected to double by 2060 and current CO2 emissions accounting for nearly 40% of the world’s total, drastic measures are necessary to keep the global construction and infrastructure sector within planetary boundaries.

Maritime building materials, derived from sources such as algae, reed beds, chitin, and seagrasses, hold enormous potential. If produced in large volumes with a low CO2 footprint, they could replace existing, highly carbon-intensive materials, especially concrete.

Overview of existing materials and the scalability 

The technical handbook serves as a professional guide for decision-makers across the Nordic countries. It includes a catalog of existing marine-based biomaterials available in the Nordic market and provides insights into their applications in the built environment, including scalability.

Read the report "Marine Biobase Building Materials" here