On Friday, Finland’s Betolar, an advanced materials company, announced a major partnership that will position its products for the fast-growing green building market in India. The company will join forces in the Indian market with TARA, the sustainable housing firm started by former U.N. sustainability advocate and pioneer Ashok Khosla.
India is regarded as a prime site for sustainable building due not only to its rapidly urbanizing population, but growing housing needs in rural areas as well. India is making concerted efforts toward construction sustainability, including the recent introduction of government tax breaks to incentivize circular practices. The aim is to reduce reliance on traditional, high carbon emitting red bricks, particularly in rural areas.
Betolar’s core product, Geoprime, is regarded as a less carbon-emitting alternative to the traditional concrete used in building, being made from industrial side streams from the process, mining and energy industries. The use of local side streams as a construction material input also enables sustainable materials to match the market price for traditional building elements like bricks and pavers.
“The construction sector is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases,” said TARA chairman Dr. Ashok Khosla. “Pioneering new, easily accessible low-carbon building materials is fundamental for achieving India’s net zero target by 2070, let alone within the much tighter time-frame needed to avoid global climate catastrophe. Geoprime offers a remarkably innovative, widely affordable solution for transforming the industry’s climate impact at the scale and with the speed now required to solve India’s massive housing and infrastructure needs in a socially equitable and environmentally sustainable manner.”
“There is a tremendous appetite for sustainable construction materials in India which we are tapped into through our work with TARA and its mission to develop alternative and sustainable models for rural development, democratizing construction from the bottom up,” said Betolar’s Juha Pinomaa, who will lead the company’s pan-Asian expansion.
“Establishing local operations in India is the culmination of a partnership launched from the inauguration of our Asian expansion plans. Asia is a hugely important region for Betolar’s innovation precisely because our materials technology licensing model is able to lean on its vast size and complexity,” Pinomaa added.
Betolar, which has worked with TARA over the past two years to bring Geoprime to affordable housing projects in rural India, says the expanded partnership to bring Geoprime to a wider, mainstream market including developers, cities and governments. The company says it plans to add business development experts and technical support to the India team in the near future.
“We hope that by putting down roots here and using India as a kick starter to other countries in Asia, we will be able to influence and accelerate positive change by working with major customers to deliver greater global impact,” said Betolar CEO Matti Löppönen.
