Holcim Launches Sustainable Construction Academy

Mexico’s construction sector faces a sustainability skills gap, with 80% of industry professionals and 85% of small and medium-sized construction companies lacking sustainability training, according to the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC).

To address this gap, Holcim launched its Sustainable Construction Academy, a free, fully virtual Spanish-language learning platform that offers Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certification and technical training led by global experts.

The initiative has trained more than 9,000 people worldwide, including nearly 1,600 participants from Latin America, according to Holcim. The company said the platform aims to expand technical knowledge across the construction value chain and support the adoption of low-carbon materials and practices.

“To accelerate sustainable construction in Mexico, we must break the paradigm that low-carbon solutions are complex to implement. Materials technology has advanced substantially and now makes it possible to optimize thermal performance, durability and the CO₂ footprint of any project. This Academy serves as a bridge for transferring this technical expertise and ensuring that knowledge becomes a driver of sustainable construction in the country,” said José Alfredo Rodríguez, Innovation Manager, Holcim Mexico. 

The program includes 10 modules organized around four areas: sustainable construction fundamentals; low-carbon materials and circularity; advanced material properties; and innovation and regenerative cities.

The curriculum covers material life cycles, lower-carbon cement and concrete, circular economy principles, concrete thermal efficiency and lifecycle carbon analysis. It also examines pathways toward regenerative urban development.

The training initiative comes as the construction sector faces growing pressure to reduce emissions while accommodating urban population growth. An estimated 2.5 billion people are expected to move into urban areas by 2050. More than 80% of Latin America’s population already lives in cities, making building design and construction practices central to the region’s long-term climate strategy.

According to the United Nations, the buildings sector accounts for approximately 37% of global energy- and process-related carbon dioxide emissions and more than 34% of global energy demand. The sector includes energy used to construct, heat, cool and light residential and commercial buildings, as well as energy consumed by installed equipment and appliances.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that building efficiency policies could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% in developed countries and up to 80% in developing countries. However, the sector remains off track to reach its full mitigation potential, with approximately half of the buildings needed by 2050 yet to be constructed.

Because buildings and their heating, cooling and energy systems have long operating lifetimes, current design, material and purchasing decisions can influence energy consumption and emissions for decades. Future buildings will need to reduce emissions across their life cycles while improving resilience to climate-related and natural hazards.

Building decarbonization also represents an economic opportunity. The built environment accounts for approximately 7% of global employment and between 11% and 13% of global GDP, according to the United Nations. Every US$1 million invested in building retrofits and energy-efficiency measures for new construction could create an estimated nine to 30 jobs.

Efficient buildings are also projected to represent an investment opportunity worth US$24.7 trillion across emerging-market cities by 2030.

The UN identified four priorities for reducing emissions in the sector: minimizing excess floor area, reducing energy intensity, lowering the emissions intensity of energy use and decreasing embodied carbon from construction materials. Achieving these goals will require coordinated action from national and local governments, businesses, investors, financial institutions and the public, according to the organization.