Sustainable development of eco-friendly ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC): Cost, carbon emission, and structural ductility

•Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a high-tech concrete composite that swiftly grown in popularity worldwide.•The 2% steel fibers used in UHPC design accounts about 30% and 40% of material cost and carbon emissions.•UHPC requires higher initial materials cost than NSC due to its high OPC content, steel fiber, and lack of design regulations.•This paper systematically reviews the cost of raw materials, carbon emission, and ductility performance of UHPC.•This review can help to improve current design efficiency and standards for the cost-effective, and viable UHPC recipe.•More attentions are required to standardize curing, improve structural ductility, and set cost design guidelines for UHPC.