For Bryan Kalbfleisch, cement is a way of life. “I was born and raised in the ready-mix concrete business,” says the New Jersey-based chief executive, explaining his father worked in the sector for 40 years. “I was the kind of kid who could operate heavy machinery, before I could drive.”

Now he is doing something that he never imagined—developing a new type of concrete that can store carbon dioxide to help combat climate change.

The Solidia Technologies startup that he runs is part of a growing number trying to solve one of the toughest problems in heavy industry: how to make concrete without producing a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.

Concrete is one of the most used commodities in the world, second only to water, and among the most polluting. The industry accounts for about 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, or about 6 percent of global emissions. If it were a country, it would be the fourth-biggest emitter, just behind India, ahead of Russia and Japan.

Startups trying to produce low-carbon cement are attracting some of the most prominent tech investors, such as Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, as well as venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins. More than $100 million in venture funding has gone to cement startups in the past 12 months.

Large cement makers, including Holcim of Switzerland and HeidelbergCement in Germany, are also working on the problem.

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