Shanghai, September 1st, 2026 (China Composite Expo) - Tongji University's College of Civil Engineering - one of China's leading centers for civil engineering research and a globally recognized leading Civil Engineering faculty - today released a new whitepaper, Advanced Materials Transition under the Dual-Carbon Strategy, developed jointly with Aramco. 

The paper provides a practical roadmap for accelerating the deployment of nonmetallic and advanced building materials across China's construction and infrastructure sector, supporting the nation’s dual-carbon goals while improving resilience, durability, and lifecycle economics. By outlining a sustainable pathway to shift from conventional, carbon-intensive inputs toward high-performance nonmetallic, polymer-based composite materials, the white paper highlights how this transition can significantly reduce embodied carbon, lower maintenance costs, and extend asset life.

The Opportunity: Materials at the Heart of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Efforts

Construction and manufacturing together account for around six billion tons of global annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - among the top emitting sectors worldwide. Building and construction alone is responsible for more than a third of energy-related global GHG emissions. 

As the world's largest construction market and a major manufacturing base for advanced materials, China has an opportunity to shape the next phase of lower-carbon infrastructure. The white paper identifies a structural shift underway as China advances its 14th and 15th Five-Year Plans: national policy is redirecting raw-material demand from primary energy use toward higher-value chemical and materials applications. This “reduce-oil, grow-chemicals” direction - a structural shift where demand for oil as fuel gradually peaks, while refining demand for petrochemical feedstock continues to expand - creates a strategic opportunity for advanced nonmetallic materials at industrial scale.

Advanced Materials: Rewriting Infrastructure Economics

The paper reviews a range of materials that are already moving from laboratory research into engineering application. Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, including glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP), are lightweight, corrosion-resistant and suitable for reinforcement, repair and structural upgrading. In appropriate applications, they can help reduce material weight by up to 60%  while enabling extended structural service life in chloride-rich environment, supporting lifecycle carbon footprint mitigation efforts related to buildings.

The white paper also profiles advanced materials like Ultra-High-Performance Concrete, carbon fiber nonmetallic substitutes, and recycled materials - each offering measurable reductions in embodied and operational carbon.

The white paper highlights several areas where China's scale and policy alignment can help accelerate adoption. Existing infrastructure requires more durable, lower-maintenance solutions, particularly in coastal, humid, and marine environments where corrosion may shorten asset life. Advanced materials solutions could substantially be more cost-competitive than demolition and rebuilding. 

Materials Transition: From Hydrocarbons to High-Performance Materials

The white paper positions materials transition as a key area supporting GHG emissions mitigation efforts, citing the UN Environment Program 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction reporting that the building value chain accounts for 37% of global operational energy and process-related CO2 emissions - and that capturing the lower-carbon transition opportunity will require coordinated industry action on standards, materials innovation and investment at scale.

Across China, Aramco, a leading integrated energy and chemicals company, and its partners have piloted advanced materials in public and community infrastructure through the “Shoot for the Future” basketball court renovation program, which uses innovative techniques and partially recycled plastic flooring to upgrade public courts – pairing materials innovation with circular economy principles as nonmetallic move from specialist engineering into everyday public spaces. 

NEXCEL: Building China's Nonmetallic Innovation Ecosystem

Aramco also supports China's dual-carbon goals through NEXCEL - the Nonmetallic Excellence and Innovation Center - co-founded in Beijing in 2022 with the China Building Materials Academy (CBMA), the technology arm of China National Building Material Group (CNBM). NEXCEL is a joint platform for technology deployment, standards and guidelines, professional training and international outreach, designed to accelerate the industrial application of nonmetallic solutions across China's building and construction sector.

As the building and construction industry continues to grow, Aramco is committed to enabling innovation and developing sustainable materials in key markets, including China, considering its scale, pace of development, and ambition towards Dual Carbon Goals. Through NEXCEL, we aim to accelerate the development and adoption of lower-carbon building materials by combining Aramco’s leadership in advanced materials and CNBM’s expertise across the full value chain, from materials innovation to large-scale deployment.  

NEXCEL continues to foster cross-sector collaboration, advance industry standards, and introduce next-generation solutions with measurable impact, including enhanced performance, lower emissions and lifecycle costs.
- Khalid Y. Al Qahtani, Senior Vice President, Engineering Services, Aramco

Through NEXCEL jointly established by both parties, a total of 72 projects has been supported. We are confident that, through our continued collaboration, we will set a new benchmark for international cooperation on materials innovation and contribute to creating lower-carbon transition opportunities and advancing sustainable development goals of global construction industry.
-Dr. Zhi Xiao, President Assistant, China National Building Material Group (CNBM) / Chairman, China Building Materials Academy (CBMA)

Beyond infrastructure and industrial applications, NEXCEL's work on composite 5G communication towers illustrates the model in practice: compared with conventional steel towers, composite towers help reduce total weight by around 50% and each facility's physical footprint by around 30%, while improving corrosion resistance and reducing maintenance needs. NEXCEL has supported project deployments for towers in Guangzhou and internationally, delivering “technical innovation” for the telecom client, illustrating the wider potential for advanced nonmetallic in infrastructure development. 

As a founding partner, Aramco draws on global experience and sustained investment, working alongside CNBM to scale nonmetallic materials and support China's lower-carbon and sustainable development goals for its construction industry. Our team collaborates closely with institutions such as Tongji University and leading industry players to test materials under conditions ranging from marine corrosion to seismic loading - ensuring that what NEXCEL brings to market is not only innovative, but durable, cost-effective and ready for tomorrow's challenges.
- Dr. Li Juan, Program Director, NEXCEL

Since NEXCEL was founded, Tongji University has maintained close collaboration with the center, combining research, engineering and industrial practice to validate advanced materials in real-world conditions. These real-world conditions are precisely where Tongji’s long-standing research into advanced construction materials is focused.
- Prof. Jiang Xu, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University; of Steel Bridge Committee of China Construction Metal Structure Association; Council Member of Advanced Engineering Materials Committee of China Civil Engineering Society; Expert Committee Member of China Steel Construction Society

Looking Ahead

The white paper concludes that advanced materials are not a technical fix alone: carbon-market mechanisms, product carbon-footprint accounting frameworks and lower-carbon building-material certification must advance in step with materials innovation to support market-wide adoption.

The global advanced materials market is valued at approximately USD 4.5 trillion, with China-related industries projected to achieve a compound annual growth rate above 10%. The white paper calls on industry, government and academia to use this window of opportunity to help build global awareness and efforts in lower-carbon construction materials, drawing on China's manufacturing scale and policy alignment.

About Aramco

As one of the world's leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, our global team is dedicated to creating impact in all that we do, from providing crucial oil supplies to developing new energy technologies. We focus on making our resources more dependable, more sustainable and more useful, helping to promote growth and productivity around the world. https://www.china.aramco.com

About CNBM - China National Building Material Group

China National Building Material Group Co., Ltd. (CNBM) is one of the world's largest comprehensive building-materials producers and a Fortune Global 500 company. CNBM is driving low-carbon transition through its nonmetallic materials business, drawing on deep expertise in integrated low-carbon solutions. Its technology arm, the China Building Materials Academy (CBMA), is China's largest nonmetallic materials research institute, with eight specialist research institutes, seven state and industry key laboratories, and 23 national standardization technical committees. More information: www.cnbm.com.cn

About NEXCEL - Nonmetallic Excellence and Innovation Center

NEXCEL was co-founded in Beijing in January 2022 by Aramco and CBMA, the technology arm of CNBM. It serves as a central platform to expand and accelerate the deployment of nonmetallic technologies in building and construction, technology development, standards and guidelines development, professional training and certification, and international outreach. More information: www.non-metallic.net.

About Tongji University - College of Civil Engineering

Tongji University's College of Civil Engineering is one of China's most distinguished engineering faculties and a globally recognized center for structural and civil engineering research, with deep expertise in structural materials, disaster prevention and mitigation, bridge and tunnel engineering, and smart infrastructure. The College bridges academic research and large-scale engineering practice, with extensive partnerships across global industry and academia in pursuit of sustainable, resilient built environments. More information: civileng.tongji.edu.cn