An eco-friendly process for making dimethyl carbonate comprising contacting methanol with carbon dioxide in the presence of a solid, calcined catalyst derived from zirconium phosphonate catalyst having molecular formula: Zr(X)2-nYn.mH2O where X refers to phosphonate, Y refers to HPO42− or HPO32−, n varies from 0.2 to 1.8 and m varies from 0 to 5, is disclosed.