As India’s digital infrastructure expands at unprecedented speed, the sustainability conversation around data centres is evolving beyond operational efficiency. In this exclusive interaction with Deccan Business, Tarun Jami, Founder & CEO of GreenJams, highlights a critical yet often overlooked dimension of climate impact: embodied carbon in construction materials.
While renewable energy and energy-efficient cooling systems have significantly reduced operational emissions, Jami argues that the real climate challenge now lies upstream in the cement, concrete, and materials used to build these facilities. Through GreenJams’ carbon-negative innovation, Agrocrete, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of climate accountability and construction scalability. In this conversation, Jami explains why Scope 3 emissions deserve urgent attention, how material innovation can lower both carbon footprints and cooling loads, and why sustainable construction will define the next generation of resilient, future-ready data centres.
1. Data centre sustainability discussions have traditionally focused on energy efficiency. Why do you believe embodied carbon at the construction stage now deserves equal attention?
Ans. As data centres become more energy efficient and increasingly powered by cleaner electricity, the carbon “left on the table” shifts upstream into materials and construction. Embodied carbon is also front loaded. It is generated before the first server is switched on, and it cannot be retrofitted away later. As power grids continue to decarbonise, the relative importance of embodied carbon rises, making it one of the most actionable near term levers for achieving real emissions reductions in digital infrastructure.
2. From GreenJams’ perspective, how significant is the contribution of Scope 3 emissions from construction materials in the overall carbon footprint of data centres?
Ans. It is substantial and becomes even more significant as Scope 2 emissions decline. In many data centre footprints, Scope 3 can represent a large share of total emissions, often the majority, especially when renewable electricity reduces operational emissions.
Within Scope 3, construction materials are a key component of the core and shell, sitting alongside major categories such as IT and MEP equipment. Based on industry assessments, upfront embodied carbon in data centres is often MEP heavy, with civil and structural components still contributing meaningfully. Cement and concrete, in particular, emerge as clear targets for reduction.
3. Can you explain how GreenJams’ carbon-negative Agrocrete differs from conventional construction materials used in data centre infrastructure?
Ans. Conventional walling materials are typically cement and clinker intensive, carrying high embodied emissions. Agrocrete is fundamentally different. It is a carbon negative bio concrete in which agricultural fibres are mineralised within an alkali activated mineral matrix, permanently locking biogenic carbon into a stone like structure.
Rather than offering less carbon, Agrocrete is designed to be net carbon storing, supported by verified embodied carbon data, while still meeting real world construction performance requirements.
4. How does Agrocrete help data centre developers reduce embodied carbon without compromising on performance, durability, or scalability?
Ans. Agrocrete reduces embodied carbon by eliminating cement and permanently storing biogenic carbon through mineralisation, while being engineered for real world performance and scalability. Its carbon negative claim is third party verified through a robust EPD. The material has been tested and evaluated by CSIR CBRI, Roorkee, and is already deployed across more than 20 commercial projects in India, with some installations now over five years old. This demonstrates proven durability suitable for mission critical infrastructure such as data centres.
In terms of scalability, Agrocrete is manufactured like a modern masonry product using industrialised mixing and casting processes. This allows projects to adopt it without overhauling existing construction workflows.
5. Thermal management is a major challenge for data centres. How does GreenJams’ material innovation contribute to improved thermal efficiency and reduced cooling loads?
Ans. Data centres operate continuously, and envelope heat gain adds to the load that cooling systems must remove. Agrocrete wall systems offer approximately 3.5 times higher thermal insulation than conventional concrete blocks. This results in lower heat ingress through the envelope, more stable internal conditions, and reduced peak cooling demand, particularly in hot climates.
Even when internal IT loads dominate, every avoided watt of heat gain reduces the burden on HVAC systems, fans, pumps, and backup infrastructure, while improving resilience during extreme heat events or partial cooling outages.
6. What kind of long-term operational energy savings can developers expect when sustainable materials are integrated at the design stage?
Ans. The honest answer is that it depends on factors such as climate, envelope area, infiltration, setpoints, and cooling architecture. Therefore, energy modelling at the design stage is strongly recommended.
In practice, when a high performance envelope with higher insulation and lower heat gain is combined with right sized HVAC systems and effective controls, developers often see double digit reductions in cooling energy under certain operating profiles. There are also meaningful improvements in peak demand and equipment sizing. The greater long term benefit is that these savings compound over decades and are locked in by design rather than relying solely on operational optimisation.
7. As global data centre capacity scales rapidly, how does GreenJams see its role in shaping resilient and future-ready digital infrastructure?
Ans. We see our role as enabling the next phase of data centre sustainability by moving beyond efficient operations to low carbon, verifiable, and resilient construction. This includes:
- Providing LCA backed embodied carbon data that can withstand audits and ESG scrutiny
- Offering cement free and carbon negative material pathways for building envelopes and, where feasible, structural elements
- Helping the sector stay ahead of tightening disclosure and trade requirements, including CBAM aligned thinking for material supply chains
- Leading the shift from conventional carbon intensive materials to ultra low carbon construction solutions at scale without cost penalties.
