The following has been produced by AFRY, Combient Pure's partner in organizing the 2026 Scope 3 Decarbonization Accelerator. Join us for the next event of the 2026 Accelerator, the Low Carbon & Resilient Materials Summit, in Helsinki on September 2, 2026 (open only to Combient Associated Companies). The Summit will bring together experts and company cases to explore how Combient Associated Companies can meaningfully reduce value chain emissions linked to material use.
Why are low-carbon materials a critical starting point for reducing Scope 3 emissions?
For many manufacturers, materials and product manufacturing account for 30–80% of lifecycle emissions, making product design one of the most important levers for addressing Scope 3 impacts and building long-term business resilience. Combient Pure’s Low Carbon & Resilient Materials Summit turns the spotlight to the materials that go into products, aiming to give insights and practical examples for cutting the emissions embedded in what companies design, source and sell. Much of a product’s carbon footprint is determined long before it reaches the customer, through decisions about the steel, aluminium, cement, or plastics used in its design.
The scale challenge of low-carbon materials
Moving from primary materials to recycled materials, increasing scrap content, or adopting emerging options can reduce the carbon footprint of products. However, many of the solutions needed to achieve deeper reductions, such as low-carbon steel, lower carbon concrete, and advanced recycled polymers, are not yet available at the scale needed to meet growing demand. Secondary supply is constrained, high-quality scraps are limited and demand is rising. As a result, the challenge is no longer only identifying lower carbon alternatives but securing them at scale while balancing carbon, cost, supply security and performance.
Companies therefore need close collaboration between procurement, engineering and sustainability teams, as well as early engagement with suppliers, to qualify new materials and secure access to future volumes.
From lower-carbon materials to lower-carbon products using Ecodesign
Material substitution is an essential starting point for decarbonization, but it will not deliver the scale of emissions reductions many companies are targeting on its own. The reason is simple, it is the same product, the same usage model and the same value-chain logic, only the input has changed. A material switch is necessary and valuable as a starting point, but it is only the beginning for the transformation that is required.
To unlock deeper reductions, companies need to combine material substitution with Ecodesign principles that reduce material demand, extend product lifetimes and improve resource efficiency.
Ecodesign focuses on the full lifecycle. Rather than optimizing a single phase such as material choice, real optimization pulls three levers together: fewer materials per unit of value delivered, longer functional lifetime and higher utilization across said lifetime. Regulation is moving in the same direction, with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Digital Product Passport driving transparency across the chain.
Join the Low Carbon & Resilient Materials Summit in Helsinki on September 2, 2026 to learn more (open only to Combient Associated Companies).