France-based industrial products company Lafarge has become the first subscriber to Novacem’s, a UK-based cement maker that reduces carbon emissions, Green Cement Bond.
Investors in Novacem’s £1m bond are also expected to take equity in the company in its series A round after the company raised £1m ($1.5m) in seed money from venture capital firms last year.
The bond is for a nominal £1m through a combination of non-refundable engineering fees and convertible loan notes.
Novacem’s carbon negative cement is based on magnesium oxide and no carbon emissions are released from the magnesium silicate raw material used but some carbon dioxide is absorbed.
Novacem will use the money from the bond and the series A to construct and operate a semi-commercial Novacem Plant (up to 25,000 tonnes per year) to be co-located with an existing cement plant.
Stuart Evans, chairman of Novacem, said: "We have always known that we would need to work closely with the cement industry to urgently tackle the very serious carbon emissions problems that the industry faces. We couldn’t have hoped for a better first cement industry partner than Lafarge."