Rewriting Construction Chemistry: Tarun Jami of GreenJams on Scaling Cement-Free Innovation Without the Green Premium

In a sector responsible for nearly 40 percent of global carbon emissions, the need for radical materials innovation has never been more urgent. In an exclusive interaction with Republic News India – Business, Tarun Jami, Founder & CEO of GreenJams, outlines how the company is reengineering construction at the chemistry level. From its proprietary clinker-free binder, BINDR, powering the ultra-low-carbon Novastone platform, to eliminating the ‘green premium’ that slows sustainable adoption, GreenJams is positioning itself at the intersection of deep materials science and scalable climate impact. Jami discusses the company’s decentralised manufacturing strategy, expansion across Indian cities, and its long-term ambition to transform buildings from carbon emitters into measurable climate assets.

1. GreenJams has positioned itself as a climate-first materials science company. What inspired the founding vision, and how does Novastone reflect GreenJams’ long-term strategy?

Ans. GreenJams was founded on a simple yet urgent observation: buildings account for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, yet the materials powering this sector remain fundamentally carbon-intensive. Cement alone contributes roughly 7–8% of global CO₂ emissions.

The founding vision was not to create incremental improvements, but to rethink construction materials at the chemistry level and transform buildings from carbon emitters into climate assets. That required deep materials science innovation, not surface-level substitutions.

Novastone reflects this long-term strategy in action. It is a cement-free, ultra-low-carbon materials platform powered by our proprietary mineral-activated binder, BINDR. It enables up to 80% lower embodied carbon while remaining cost-competitive, making decarbonisation immediately deployable across mainstream construction.

Put simply, Agrocrete® is designed for those pushing the envelope in radical decarbonisation. It is carbon-negative, bio-based, and transformative. Novastone addresses the current market reality, where urgent decarbonisation at scale is required.

Both platforms are scalable. Together, they allow us to address two realities simultaneously: the ambition of climate reversal and the urgency of mass adoption.

2. With BINDR at the heart of Novastone, how has GreenJams built in-house R&D to create an alternative to clinker-based cement?

Ans. At the core of Novastone is BINDR, our proprietary mineral-activated binder. It is not Portland cement with additives; it is a fundamentally different chemistry based on the alkali activation of industrial minerals.

Building this required deep in-house capability, including:

• Advanced research in mineral activation chemistry
• Optimisation of slag and industrial by-product blends
• Performance validation against Indian standards
• Iterative lab-to-field scaling

We invested years in understanding reaction kinetics, durability mechanisms, setting behaviour, and compatibility with Indian aggregates and climatic conditions.

The result is a clinker-free binder that delivers strong early strength, long-term durability, and manufacturing compatibility, while dramatically reducing embodied carbon.

This R&D backbone enables GreenJams to move beyond green claims and deliver materials that engineers, contractors, and developers can confidently adopt.

3. How important was eliminating the ‘green premium,’ and what does that mean for large-scale adoption?

Ans. Eliminating the green premium was non-negotiable. Sustainability cannot remain a niche luxury. If low-carbon materials cost significantly more, adoption will remain limited to flagship ESG projects.

By achieving cost competitiveness alongside up to 80% lower embodied carbon, we are changing the adoption equation. Developers no longer have to choose between margins and sustainability.

For India, where construction volumes are massive and cost sensitivity is high, this is crucial. Cost-neutral decarbonisation enables:

• Faster institutional uptake
• Wider penetration in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities
• Integration into infrastructure and large housing projects
• Stronger alignment with ESG mandates and green financing

In essence, removing the green premium moves sustainable construction from aspiration to default.

4. As Novastone expands across major Indian cities, what is GreenJams’ go-to-market strategy?

Ans. Our go-to-market strategy is built on one foundational principle: manufacturing partnerships are the bedrock of scale.

India is too large and diverse for a centralised manufacturing model to drive rapid decarbonisation. Instead, we partner with precast product manufacturers across the country, enabling them to adopt BINDR and produce Novastone products within their existing facilities. This approach enables rapid capacity expansion, localised production, and distribution efficiency without heavy asset duplication.

Through this partnership-led model, we are able to:

• Build manufacturing scale quickly
• Leverage existing industry infrastructure
• Reduce logistics emissions and costs
• Create regional supply reliability
• Accelerate adoption across multiple states simultaneously

On the demand side, we prioritise institutional and ESG-driven developers, forward-looking real estate players, and infrastructure stakeholders who value measurable embodied carbon reduction. However, supply-side scale enabled through precast partnerships is what truly makes widespread adoption possible.

Our philosophy is simple: decarbonisation must be decentralised to scale. By empowering India’s existing manufacturing ecosystem with next-generation binder chemistry, we can transform the construction sector far faster than by building factories alone.

5. Looking ahead, how does GreenJams plan to evolve beyond Novastone? Can we expect additional ultra-low-carbon or carbon-negative material platforms?

Ans. Novastone is not the endpoint. It is a signal. At GreenJams, we are building a materials science platform, not a single-product company. What comes next will expand far beyond masonry and precast applications.

We will soon introduce BINDR as a broader replacement for clinker-based cement across multiple construction applications. The ambition is clear: if cement is responsible for approximately 7–8% of global CO₂ emissions, meaningful impact requires replacing it at the chemistry level, not merely reducing it incrementally.

At the same time, we are developing next-generation material systems for emerging construction technologies. For example, 3D-printed construction today relies heavily on carbon-intensive cementitious mixes. We see a clear opportunity for Agrocrete® and Novastone-based formulations tailored for additive manufacturing, bringing ultra-low-carbon and even carbon-negative pathways into digital construction.

Perhaps the most transformative layer is financial. We are developing Agrocrete®-based carbon removal credits backed by robust accounting methodologies and MRV-ready (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) frameworks. The objective is to unlock climate finance directly into construction materials, turning walls into measurable carbon assets and accelerating decarbonisation through blended value streams.

In the coming years, you will not just see new products from GreenJams. You will see a shift in how construction materials are valued technically, environmentally, and financially.