Zero Carbon Earth-Based Composite Material: KAERA

An exciting new zero carbon building material with high compressive strength (25 MPa) and made mostly from soil has just come to market. The material is called KAERA and - full disclosure - is invented by a good friend of ours, Dr. Kody Kato.

Dr. Kody Kato holds up KAERA product sample at IEN office, 18 Dec 2025

We were impressed by this environmentally friendly material that makes use of a waste product - in line with the circular economy principles.

Apart from soil materials and bio-materials, KAERA only consists of about 2% chemical additives. The manufacturing process only requires heating of 500-600 degree Celsius without process-related CO₂ emissions from chemical reactions, which helps to keep the carbon footprint low. In fact, when KAERA cures, it absorbs enough carbon from the air and locks it in the material to give the product a net negative carbon footprint. For example, when using KAERA to construct a 100mm thick wall, the carbon footprint is –0.0647kgCO₂e per square meter wall. Or about -0.05 kgCO₂e/kg of the KAERA material used.

Read more about the KAERA earth-base composite material, which can be cast in situ at construction sites, or be pre-fabricated, at their official website: https://officede.co/material-science/kaera/

Gallery with some photos from Kody's soft launch of KAERA:

Dr. Kody Kato presenting KAERA, a earth-base composite material with a negative carbon footprint

Dr. Kody Kato presenting KAERA sample

Dr. Kody Kato presenting KAERA, a earth-base composite material with 25MPa compressive strength

Dr. Kody Kato holding KAERA sample, a earth-base composite material with a negative carbon footprint