Sustainability, standards and innovation

Sustainability has long ceased to be an afterthought for concrete and asphalt projects. Rijkswaterstaat aims to be fully climate-neutral and circular by 2030, with 50% less use of primary raw materials, and increasingly more municipalities and provinces impose comparable requirements. In tenders, concepts such as EMVI, MKI, MPG and the CO₂ Performance Ladder help determine who is awarded a project. Fibre reinforcement of concrete and asphalt speaks directly to these themes: it extends service life, lowers environmental impact and delivers project-specific figures to substantiate that gain in a bid. On this page we bring the knowledge together — from circularity and CO₂ savings to the tendering instruments, standards and the challenge that lies ahead.

Circular construction and CO₂ gains

The environmental gain from fibre reinforcement runs along two tracks that Rijkswaterstaat explicitly names in its 2030 objective: extending the service life of the existing asset base and developing new circular materials. Fibres contribute to both. They make concrete and asphalt tougher and more crack-resistant, so structures last longer and maintenance can be deferred — value retention rather than replacement.

On top of that comes a direct raw-material and emissions gain. Every kilo of CO₂-intensive steel reinforcement replaced by a lighter alternative delivers an environmental benefit, and that benefit can be made visible with a concrete worked example per m3 of concrete. In asphalt, fibre reinforcement and emission-free construction reinforce each other: the equipment on site and the mix itself both count. In this way fibre reinforcement touches circular construction, CO₂ reduction and the emission-free construction site all at once. The article on sustainable asphalt shows how fibres let a standard bitumen replace PMB, so the mix can be produced 15 to 20 °C cooler, and how that combines with zero-emission plant on site.

Tendering: EMVI, MKI, DuboCalc and the CO₂ Performance Ladder

Sustainability claims are only convincing once they are measurable and traceable — and in a tender they become so through a fixed set of instruments. In an EMVI tender (best price-quality ratio), a quality score counts alongside the price, and sustainability is almost always one of its award criteria. In civil engineering, Rijkswaterstaat, provinces and municipalities calculate that sustainability through the Environmental Cost Indicator (MKI) in DuboCalc, in which every kilo of steel or CO₂ saved counts directly — provided you have your verified environmental data and EPDs in order. For buildings, the same reasoning runs through the MPG calculation (Environmental Performance of Buildings), on which fibre reinforced precast and floors without steel mesh score favourably.

The CO₂ Performance Ladder — used by Rijkswaterstaat, among others, as an award criterion with a notional discount — additionally requires concrete, project-specific substantiation of scope 3 reduction, precisely what fibre reinforcement can deliver. The articles in the Standards & certification section cover each instrument separately: what it is, how the calculation works and how fibre reinforcement helps you score on it.

Technical standards, certification and the challenge ahead

For the technical substantiation there is international backing. fib Bulletin 105, published in late 2022 by the international concrete federation fib, bundles state-of-the-art knowledge on fibre reinforced concrete and fills a gap left open by Model Code 2020. For the fibre itself, the product standard EN 14889 sets out the fibre classes and the conformity framework behind the CE mark. When procuring fibre materials, inspections and declarations such as the ATG inspection also play a role; knowing what best to request prevents surprises in a sustainability report. The guide to EN 14889 explains part 1 for steel fibres and part 2 for polymer fibres, conformity systems 1 and 3 and what the CE label and Declaration of Performance must state. The checklist for the environmental certification of steel fibres and other fibre materials then shows which documents to request, such as an EPD under EN 15804+A2, the NMD category, ATG approval and the OPWA listing.

At the same time, a major challenge is taking shape. Rijkswaterstaat calls the renewal of bridges, tunnels, locks and roads from the 1950s and 60s the largest maintenance challenge in its history, and at municipalities and provinces, too, major road maintenance is piling up — to be carried out with scarce budgets and manpower. In that challenge, every measure that extends service life or speeds up maintenance counts. There is also movement on the materials side: basalt fibre is gaining ground as a fourth main category of reinforcement fibre alongside steel, aramid and polyacrylonitrile, and is one of the five trends set to shape sustainable road pavement in the coming years. The articles below each work out one of these topics in more detail.