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We serve the residents of San Jose, empowering them to turn everyday sidewalk repairs into meaningful climate action.
We bring together city departments, city engineers, local concrete supply companies, and local contractors to make low-carbon concrete part of the residential sidewalk repair program.
GOALS
EDUCATE
Educate residents, contractors, and city officials on the benefits of low-carbon concrete to reduce carbon emissions.
INCENTIVIZE
Incentivize residents and contractors to use low-carbon concrete for sidewalk repairs with a rebate or financial help.
STRATEGY
While industry efforts are underway to reduce emissions from concrete production, progress is extremely slow. Low-carbon concrete is available, but few know about it.
Pave the Way San Jose aims to engage a key overlooked market segment: everyday consumers.
Our strategy is to leverage the city’s existing sidewalk repair program to reach homeowners at a key moment when they’re told to fix their sidewalk. This channel is direct, measurable and time-bound—a rare window to turn a mandatory repair into meaningful climate action.
Each repair delivers immediate carbon reduction, with an even greater ripple effect powered by consumer demand that can shift markets faster than industry commitments alone.
OFFERINGS
Resident Empowerment: Residents are empowered to select low-carbon concrete contractors, ensuring that their sidewalks are repaired using sustainable options.
Advocacy for Low-Carbon Concrete: We advocate for the San Jose Department of Transportation to make low-carbon concrete part of their sidewalk repair program.
Collaboration with City, Suppliers and Contractors: By working with local concrete suppliers, contractors and the city, we help to ensure that low-carbon concrete is available and offered as an option to residents.
Administrative Support: We offer administrative help to both residents and the city, ensuring that all aspects of the program are fully resourced and successful.
MILESTONES
February 2025: Our first low-carbon concrete sidewalk repair completed for San Jose resident Jeff W. in Willow Glen!
November 2024: Identified 3 contractors willing to use low-carbon concrete. Found 3 residents who are willing to repair their sidewalk using low-carbon concrete. Working to get started on a pilot repair with one of the contractors and one of the residents.
August 2024: Working session with San Jose Trees & Sidewalks to finalize concrete mix design, drafted low-carbon concrete language for resident repair letter, agreed to create a flyer insert to build awareness, agreed to find additional contractors to partner with, agreed to find a local resident willing to do a pilot sidewalk repair.
June 2024: Worked with San Jose Department of Transportation to confirm that low-carbon concrete mix design from local concrete supplier meets the city’s specifications.
May 2024: Working session with local concrete supplier to formalize partnership and identify an issues we need to address before moving forward with a pilot.
March 2024: Meeting with Vice Mayor Pam Foley’s office to introduce the program and get support.
March 2024: Developed Pave the Way San Jose program and supporting materials through a capstone project for the Climatebase Fellowship, Cohort 5.
A Sidewalk Poem
By Heylu Wheat for Pave the Way San Jose
Great belching kilns
Render the sky a ghost
Safe sturdy paths
Leading right to your gate
Releases such carbon
But the heart, the glue
Can face change
And forge a new path
The grayness isn’t bleakness
Free the heart of carbon
Our children will thank us
Land Acknowledgment
Pave the Way San Jose advocates for innovation in building materials not for profit, but as a stewardship tool to reduce harm to soil, air, and water.
We acknowledge the traditional stewards of this land, including the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and the Tamien Nation. Inspired by their wisdom, we believe true sustainability means making decisions that serve the next seven generations. We use modern tools to honor ancient values: care, responsibility, and respect for all living things—right down to the sidewalks we walk on.
The durable low-carbon concrete we will pour onto this land will last for many future generations. Sidewalk repairs are a chance to model sustainability that future San Joseans will walk upon, building a future where sidewalks don’t cost the planet.
Pave the Way San Jose is a advocacy organization created by climate tech enthusiasts to address sustainability in the built environment.
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