A CSR initiative by Godrej Properties (GPL) that will identify, test, and validate low-carbon material innovations.
MUMBAI (India CSR): Godrej Properties and Xynteo have introduced Habitat Matters, a CSR initiative that will identify, test and validate low-carbon construction materials on active construction projects in India. This initiative aims to accelerate the adoption of low-carbon construction materials in India’s built environment.
India is in the midst of one of the largest construction booms of any economy in the world. By 2050, the country is expected to have approximately 34 billion square metres of new building stocks, with many studies estimating new construction almost doubling its current levels. Every building constructed in that window locks in its environmental footprint the moment it is built, making today’s material choices a decision with consequences that cannot be undone.
Cement, concrete, steel, glass, and blocks that form every wall account for a significant share of construction’s carbon impact, and remain among the least addressed challenges in the industry. Habitat Matters is designed to close the gap between promising low-carbon material innovations and their real-world deployment on a live construction project, by identifying credible innovations, piloting them, and evaluating their performance under real conditions.
Over the next five years, Godrej Properties aims to deploy such pilots, building a body of validated, on-ground evidence that can inform how the wider industry builds going forward.
“Godrej Properties has always been at the forefront of sustainability in Indian real estate, and Habitat Matters is our effort to take that a step further. We aim to bridge the gap between promising ideas and what can actually be deployed on a live site. Through this, innovators get engineering rigour, a real site to test innovations in agile and real-world dynamic conditions and evaluations that will help create new industry standards,” said Rohit Mohan, Chief Design and Sustainability Officer, Godrej Properties.
“India’s growth story over the next decade will be written in the choices we make about how we build. At Good & Green Labs, we exist to take on the big hairy problems the industry hasn’t cracked yet, and low-carbon construction materials is one of the biggest. We don’t believe in solving these in isolation; every solution we back is built in partnership with people who understand the science and the ground reality. We aim to build solutions that the wider real estate ecosystem can adopt, scale and take the entire industry forward,” said Pakzan Dastoor, Head, Good & Green, Godrej Industries Group.
Suman Jagdev, Partner, Xynteo, said, “India does not necessarily have an innovation problem in low-carbon materials. It has a deployment and adoption challenge. Habitat Matters creates the bridge that the market has been missing, connecting promising solutions with live construction projects, real site conditions and supported by enabling policy. It provides a platform that helps to establish commercial credibility based on proven performance and lays the foundation that can eventually deliver scale.”
Habitat Matters has opened a Request for Applications (RFA), inviting start-ups, research institutions, material manufacturers, and technology providers to apply. Through this open call, the programme will identify low-carbon material solutions and support their journey from lab-tested innovation to site-validated solution.
The programme focuses on five priority material categories — cement, concrete, steel, blocks, and glass — as well as bio-based alternatives and other deployable embodied carbon solutions. Innovations at TRL 5 and above are eligible to apply. Selected applicants will have the opportunity to pilot their innovations within active construction projects and will receive structured technical and commercialisation support to accelerate adoption.
Applications should be submitted to Habitat.Matters@xynteo.com in a maximum five-slide format (PPT or Word file) by 15th October 2026.
