The event
On October 1, 2024 Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and representatives from the Biden-Harris Administration and Mass DOT, join senior leadership from Sublime Systems, WS Development, RMI (founded as Rocky Mountain Institute) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the first-ever commercial application of low-carbon Sublime Cement™ in Boston’s largest net-zero-carbon office building.
This event comes as the final in a regional series that RMI, NRDC, NRMCA, and partners, in collaboration with the White House, have hosted to highlight progress on and shape the future of low-carbon concrete in the U.S. Speakers’ remarks at the ribbon cutting will touch on the important role leaders in the public and private sector play in spurring adoption of low-carbon cement as a tool for fighting global climate change.
The project
The project at WS Development’s One Boston Wharf, Boston’s largest net-zero-carbon office building, in the Seaport district., represents the first commercial application of concrete made with low-carbon Sublime Cement™, in both indoor and outdoor settings. The first interior placement is located in the primary interior public space, called the Paseo. The Sublime Cement™ floor is marked with educational materials explaining the significance of decarbonized cement in combating global climate change. The Paseo will lead pedestrians from the Fort Point Channel Landmark District to a new one-acre public space called The Rocks at Harbor Way, recently completed with WS Development’s 111 Harbor Way building. This new park is a focal point of the future Harbor Way, a 1/3-mile public promenade that will connect Summer Street to the water’s edge — a plan conceived of by the world-renowned landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations. In July, Sublime pour its first sidewalk within this outdoor space, which will be highlighted during the ribbon cutting.
Event speakers
One Boston Wharf is the largest net-zero-carbon office building in Boston
One Boston Wharf is the largest net-zero-carbon office building in Boston, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90% below code requirements and eliminating 5.1 million pounds of CO2 emissions annually. WS Development’s commitment to achieving net-zero-carbon status for One Boston Wharf is complemented by its purchase of renewably generated electricity for all electric power serving its Seaport portfolio. In a transaction announced in 2021, Amazon has leased the entirety of the office space within One Boston Wharf, creating a total footprint of over 1 million square feet within WS Development’s expansive 33-acre Boston Seaport development.
Sublime’s projects with WS Development helped catalyze further commercial transactions
After demonstrating its product’s performance with WS Development and integrating with the construction value chain, Sublime continues to gain commercial traction. It announced Vineyard Offshore has reserved Sublime Cement™ for its Vineyard Wind 2 project, adding the broad base of customers for the cement produced at Sublime’s forthcoming first commercial plant in Holyoke, MA.
At New York Climate Week, Sublime announced a combined $75 million in investments from global building materials leaders Holcim and CRH. These collaborations span binding off takes of Sublime Cement™ and equity investment that will help fund construction of Sublime’s first commercial site. Additionally, Sublime is forming separate joint development teams with Holcim and CRH to accelerate future megaton plant scale-up in multiple regions once Holyoke in complete.
Sublime also signed an MOU with Microsoft with the intent of selling the environmental attributes of its cement in a book and claim model, one of the first of its kind in the cement and concrete space.
This all follows the up-to $87 million award Sublime was selected for by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) earlier in 2024.
About Sublime Systems
Sublime Systems is on a mission to have a swift, massive, and enduring impact on global CO2 emissions by decarbonizing cement. Unlike net-zero solutions that rely on carbon capture or removal, Sublime’s fully electrified, “true-zero” approach avoids the industry’s legacy fossil-fueled kilns and limestone feedstock. Sublime’s electrochemical process instead extracts reactive calcium and silicates from an abundance of raw materials at ambient temperature, to make ASTM C1157-compliant Sublime Cement™, a drop-in replacement for ordinary portland cement in concrete. Sublime was founded at MIT by Dr. Leah Ellis and Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, both respected experts in materials science, electrochemical systems, and sustainability research. The company has raised over $200M in funding from leading climate tech investors, global cement incumbents, and cooperative agreements with the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, IEDO, and OCED award programs. It currently operates a Somerville, MA-based pilot plant with a >250 TPY nameplate production capacity and is developing its 30,000 TPY first commercial facility to open in Holyoke, MA as early as 2026. Learn more at sublime-systems.com.
About WS Development
Massachusetts-based WS Development is a mixed-use developer with a singular mission: creating places people want to be. With an approach that values art, science, innovation and, above all else, people, WS strives to engage each community it serves with best-in-class experiences, designed with our customers, tenants and partners in mind. Established in 1990, WS is one of few vertically-integrated real estate companies that conceptualizes, owns, operates and leases more than 100 properties that range from cutting-edge urban spaces to lifestyle and community centers. With over 22 million square feet of existing space and an additional nine million square feet under development, it is one of the largest privately-owned development firms in the country. For more information, visit www.wsdevelopment.com, call 617.232.8900 or follow WS Development on LinkedIn
About Boston Seaport
Culture, industry and community converge making Boston’s Seaport district a dynamic and vibrant area that has quickly emerged as one of the most exciting neighborhoods and destinations in the country. Seaport is currently Boston’s single largest development project. WS Development is transforming 33 acres of waterfront land with a carefully selected mix of residential, hotel, office, retail, entertainment, civic and cultural uses, and public open space across the district. Combining the best of historic and modern-day Boston, Seaport is the destination for fashion, culture, arts, dining and entertainment, and technology and life sciences, expanding Boston’s position as one of the top cities in the world for innovation, science, and quality of life. For more information visit www.bostonseaport.xyz, follow Boston Seaport on Facebook, and @SeaportBos on Instagram and Twitter.
