The Minnesota Departments of Administration and Transportation announce grant awardees for the State of Minnesota’s Buy Clean EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) Grant Program. The grants will assist in the development of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for manufacturers of eligible materials utilized in Minnesota construction, such as concrete and asphalt.

The three grantees are the Aggregate and Ready Mix Association of Minnesota (ARM of Minnesota) – a non-profit industry organization representing producers with over 166 concrete plants in Minnesota, the Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association (MAPA) which includes over 43 asphalt producer/contractor members, and McNamara Contracting which produces asphalt at their Rosemount plant. Over $260,000 in grant funding has been allocated to the grantees to support the development of robust, third-party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).

“Minnesota’s producers of ready mixed concrete, crushed stone, sand, and gravel are committed to continuing efforts that lower carbon emissions from the manufacture of our products. For several years, we have been actively exploring and testing changes to the constituents in our mixes and the means of production that will bring us to carbon neutrality,” said John Cunningham, Executive Director at the Aggregate and Ready Mix Association of Minnesota (ARM of Minnesota). “The State of Minnesota’s EPD Grant Program provides essential funding for our industry to begin uniform, statewide measurement and reporting for each concrete mixture’s global warming potential (GWP). Thanks to this important grant, we will soon begin measuring and reporting GWP for mixtures across Minnesota. From there, we can move quickly to identifying those modifications that best reduce embodied carbon while maintaining the highest material performance standards.”

“By normalizing low-carbon benchmarking and driving innovation at the plant level, the program is helping shift the asphalt market toward cleaner construction,” said Abbey Bryduck, Executive Director at the Minnesota Asphalt Pavement Association (MAPA). “The grant also addresses capacity limitations that often challenge smaller producers, ensuring the entire industry can continue progressing toward meaningful decarbonization.”

“The Buy Clean EPD Grant Program is a critical step forward in aligning Minnesota’s construction industry with broader climate and sustainability goals. By bringing transparency to material emissions through verified EPDs, the program empowers contractors to make more informed decisions that prioritize low-carbon materials,” said Joe Hannaman, Pit Manager at McNamara Contracting. “Producing EPD’s will be great not just for compliance, but as a competitive advantage in producing asphalt the most efficient way possible. This grant helps the suppliers to participate in the clean materials market, and it’s laying the groundwork for a future where emissions data is as fundamental as cost or schedule in project planning.”

The emissions data collected as a part of the Minnesota Buy Clean Grant program will be instrumental in generating robust, third-party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which will soon become a mandatory requirement for certain construction materials utilized on eligible state-funded projects. The grant program is designed to not only facilitate compliance, but also to significantly increase material transparency across the supply chain, ultimately driving substantial carbon reductions within the state’s construction sector and setting a precedent for broader industry adoption.

The grant program is a pivotal step forward in our state’s dedication to environmental stewardship and sustainable development, further accelerating Minnesota’s progress toward decarbonization. By investing in collection of essential emissions data and mandating the use of verified EPDs, we are not only ensuring accountability in our state-funded projects, but we are also fostering a more transparent and carbon-conscious construction industry that will benefit all Minnesotans.