ISA presents PoreShield business model at OECD meeting adjacent to United Nations Climate Change Conference

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Soybean Alliance gave a presentation at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Rural Regions Realizing the Net-Zero Opportunity Meeting. This meeting was adjacent to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ISA was invited to share the story of how the PoreShield business model creates rural opportunities, fosters a circular and bio-economy and is translatable and scalable through policy.

As a non-toxic, renewable and sustainable technology, PoreShield, a revolutionary concrete durability enhancer, is speeding the transition to a circular economy.

This high-performance technology is being adopted nationwide in the United States and attracting interest internationally to preserve and extend the life of new and existing concrete infrastructure.

This success is a result of a highly collaborative business model fueled by ISA, the United Soybean Board use of soybean checkoff dollars and the USDA.

“Biobased products are widely known for having a substantially lower impact on the environment compared to petroleum-based and other non-biobased products,” said USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Justin Maxson.

“Beyond being more responsible alternatives, these products are produced by an industry responsible for nearly 5 million jobs in the United States alone. Under the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is playing a key role in labeling biobased products so that consumers can make educated decisions for themselves, their families and their places of work.”

The PoreShield business model is built off an established infrastructure for soybean oil refining and its readily available soy methyl ester. In response to the Indiana Department of Transportation’s need for a high performance, cost competitive, carbon-reducing alternative to preventing premature failure of Indiana concrete infrastructure, ISA and Purdue University collaborated to develop and patent PoreShield. Additionally, unlike competing petroleum-based products, PoreShield is carbon positive.

Currently, ISA is working with leading suppliers of concrete products in the construction industry to meet the growing adoption of PoreShield among key concrete infrastructure owners, including governmental and private owners.

This growth is also catalyzed through policy including the USDA BioPreferred Program and the Mandatory Federal Purchasing requirements that give preference to bio-based products.

“At its heart, collaboration is what makes the PoreShield business model run as well as it does,” said Julie Ohmen, new uses consultant for ISA. “We were honored to share this business model at the Rural Regions Realizing the Net-Zero Opportunity Meeting in Scotland and hope that it inspires future adoption of this type of model as we all work towards securing global net-zero by mid-century.”