Dalmia Cement Aims to Grow Bamboo on 2 Million Hectares of Wasteland

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd a subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat Ltd and a leading Indian Cement major has recently asked the Indian Government for 2 million hectares of land to grow bamboo. 

Mahendra Sighi the Managing director and CEO of Dalmia Cement (Bharat)Ltd also stated that “The bamboo would be used as a replacement to fossil fuel in the manufacture of cement” 

This new innovation by Dalmia which is one of India’s homegrown company’s comes right after the high-level panel discussion co-hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, on "A Price on Carbon Pollution to Achieve Net Zero,"  

Where Mahendra Singhi had stated that “By partnering with the government and incorporating green solutions, organisations, especially in developing countries such as India, can definitely bring down their carbon footprint. In fact, I agree with Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau that we should target a carbon pricing to cover 60 per cent of global emissions by 2030 if we want to reduce emissions and meet sustainability goals” 

“In the last 10 years, we were able to reduce our carbon footprint by 22 per cent yet grow three times and double our profitability by following through with our philosophy of – Clean and Green is profitable and sustainable. Today, Dalmia Cement has one of the lowest carbon footprints globally and we are committed to becoming carbon negative by 2040.” he cited  

However, although a hectare of bamboo plantation can absorb 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air annually and release about 35 % more oxygen than other trees and yes bamboo has the ability to sequester carbon dioxide into the ground. 

However, we can’t stray from the fact that bamboo as a fuel although sustainable releases a bit more Carbon dioxide when burnt in the form of biomass compared to fossil fuels.