With global warming becoming increasingly visible around the world, it is now crucial for every industry to tackle the challenges of reducing CO2 emissions. Responsible for around 8 % of global CO2 emissions, the cement industry needs to drastically reduces its carbon footprint. One solution is to substitute the clinker of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) with oxides of lower calcium content. These oxides inevitably have a lower reactivity than clinker but if they contain enough calcium, it can be activated by an external source of alkalinity that can be either a residual part of clinker or an added alkali activator. This latter case corresponds to alkali-activated cements made from clays or various industrial by-products such as ground-granulated blast furnace slag. This material is already regularly used to partially replace clinker in cements and is consequently interesting in itself but it also represents a good model for all alkali-activated cements formulations based on Ca-poor glasses of low hydraulicity.