Meta has signed a multi-year agreement to buy environmental attribute certificates tied to about 200,000 tons of Fortera’s low-carbon cement, Fortera announced on October 29, 2026. The deal supports a planned 300,000-ton-per-year plant in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.
Key points
- Meta will buy environmental attribute certificates (EACs) linked to roughly 200,000 tons of Fortera cement; financial terms were not disclosed.
- The certificates support Fortera’s planned plant in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, designed to make 300,000 tons of cement a year.
- Fortera says its ReAct cement, made with captured CO2, has 70% lower emissions than ordinary portland cement.
- According to Canary Media, the plant would cost roughly $150 million and is targeted to come online in 2028.
- Fortera’s pilot plant in Redding, California, can make about 15,000 tons a year.
How the certificate deal works
An EAC lets a buyer pay for the lower emissions of a product without taking delivery of the product itself. In this case, Meta buys the certificates, while the physical cement is sold to customers near the plant at market prices, Canary Media reports. Cement does not usually travel far from where it is made, the outlet notes.
Under the agreement, Meta can also use the cement in its own construction projects and may later increase the volume or extend the term, according to Fortera’s release. Devon Lake, Meta’s head of net zero strategy, said in the release that “a multi-year commitment is what gets a cement plant financed.” Fortera CEO Ryan Gilliam described the agreement as a first step in the two companies’ relationship.
The Missouri low-carbon cement plant and its technology
The Ste. Genevieve plant would sit next to a lime plant operated by MLC and use that plant’s waste CO2 as a raw material, according to Canary Media. Fortera says its ReCarb technology works with existing cement and lime plants, so partners can keep using their own kilns and limestone. Canary Media reports that the captured CO2 is chemically bonded into the cement. Fortera also says it can make cement at cost parity with portland cement; that is the company’s own claim.
The planned plant is small by industry standards. Canary Media notes that a typical cement plant makes about 1 million tons a year, more than three times Fortera’s planned output. Building materials company Ozinga plans to distribute the Missouri cement across the Midwest, and Fortera also plans to sell certificates to Microsoft, which invested in the startup in 2025.
| Redding, California | Ste. Genevieve, Missouri | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Operating since April 2024 | Planned, target 2028 |
| Capacity | About 15,000 tons per year | 300,000 tons per year |
| CO2 source | Neighboring CalPortland kiln | Neighboring MLC lime plant |
Why it matters
Cement and concrete account for roughly 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to RMI, which has published a framework for certificate-based “book and claim” trading in the sector. RMI says the model can unlock low-carbon investment while tying payments to verified emissions cuts.
The U.S. market is large and partly import-dependent. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the country used about 110 million metric tons of cement in 2025 and produced about 84 million, with net imports equal to 21% of consumption. Missouri is already one of the four leading cement-producing states, alongside Texas, California and Florida. Even at full capacity, the planned Fortera plant would equal less than 0.3% of U.S. consumption.
ESG Dive notes that the deal gives Meta access to lower-carbon cement for its construction projects. It also reports that Meta’s 2025 sustainability report showed data center emissions rising 22% in 2024, even as its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions fell 3.5%. Meta previously signed a similar certificate deal for low-carbon iron from the startup Electra. For background on how industries capture CO2, see our guide to environmental technology examples.
What’s next
- Fortera is targeting 2028 for the Ste. Genevieve plant to come online, according to Canary Media.
- Meta has an option to expand the agreement by volume or duration in later years.
- Meta has not yet released its report on 2025 emissions, ESG Dive notes.
Sources
- Fortera & Meta sign multi-year environmental attribute certificate (EAC) purchase agreement for low carbon cement — Fortera via Business Wire, October 29, 2026
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cement — U.S. Geological Survey, February 2026
- Book and claim for cement and concrete — RMI, 2026
- Meta strikes deal to help bring a low-carbon cement plant to Missouri — Canary Media, October 30, 2026
- Meta backs low-carbon cement with new Fortera deal — ESG Dive, October 30, 2026
