India is building at a scale the world has rarely seen. By 2050, the country is expected to have approximately 34 bn sq m of building stock, with many studies estimating new construction almost doubling its current levels. The materials that go into that expansion will lock in India’s environmental footprint for the next half century.
India is not short of innovation in low-carbon materials. What is often missing is the bridge between a promising solution and its first real-world deployment within a live construction project. Access to projects, real site conditions, and credible validation opportunities remain major barriers to adoption. Habitat Matters aims to help bridge that gap.
Apply to Habitat MattersWhy Habitat Matters
Reducing embodied carbon in construction materials is one of the most consequential and under-addressed challenges facing our industry today. It is also an area where developers of scale have both the responsibility and the ability to drive meaningful change. ‘Habitat Matters’ is the response to that responsibility. The name carries a deliberate dual meaning: habitat refers to the homes, communities, and ecosystems we shape through the act of building; matters refers to the materials from which those habitats are made. Both matter, and through this programme we aim to improve both.
About the programme
Habitat Matters is a Godrej Properties (GPL)-led CSR initiative, managed in partnership with Xynteo, working at the intersection of innovation and deployment to accelerate the adoption of low-carbon construction materials across India. The programme, piloted through Godrej Good & Green Labs, the innovation arm of Good & Green, Godrej Industries Group, will identify promising low-carbon material solutions from start-ups, research institutions, and technology providers across India and globally. Selected innovations will be piloted on active construction projects, where they will be tested under real-world conditions via Good & Green Labs, rigorously evaluated, and refined. The learnings from these pilots are also intended to support broader industry awareness and adoption, recognising that the challenges being addressed are industry-wide in nature.
Who can apply
Start-ups, deep-tech ventures, research institutions (in advanced stages of development), and technology providers
Technology stage
TRL 5 and above, with preference for solutions ready for pilot deployment
Grant support
For select innovations
Focus materials
Cement, concrete, steel, blocks, glass, and bio-based alternatives
Focus areas
While Habitat Matters targets solutions that demonstrably reduce embodied carbon across five priority material categories—cement and concrete, steel, blocks, glass, and bio-based alternatives—we also welcome deployable solutions that reduce whole-building embodied carbon through improved material efficiency, construction methodologies, or system integration, where a clear pathway to commercial adoption can be demonstrated.
What we offer
- Pilot opportunities within active construction projects across the Godrej Properties and partner ecosystem
- Grant support for select innovations, structured around pilot needs
- Commercialisation support
- Market access
- Ecosystem access
How it works
- Submit a short five-slide overview covering your solution, emissions impact, readiness level, commercialisation pathway, and pilot fit
- The comprehensive application will be assessed by the programme’s Technical Advisory Committee
- Chosen innovations will be onboarded for structured pilot deployment
Why apply
- For innovators, pilot deployment within a real site is the single most powerful proof point for commercial adoption. It opens procurement conversations, validates performance data, and builds the market confidence that accelerates scale
- For the broader industry, each successful pilot reduces the perceived risk of specifying a new material
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