For Bryan Kalbfleisch, cement is a way of life. “I was born and raised in the ready-mix concrete business,” says the New Jersey-based chief executive, explaining his father worked in the sector for 40 years. “I was the kind of kid who could operate heavy machinery, before I could drive.”

Now he is doing something that he never imagined—developing a new type of concrete that can store carbon dioxide to help combat climate change.

The Solidia Technologies start-up that he runs is part of a growing number trying to solve one of the toughest problems in heavy industry: how to make concrete without producing a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.