TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, NOV 25, 2022
Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, on Friday announced that it is now a signatory to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Climate Action Charter. This reaffirms the company’s commitment to Net Zero carbon operations and to work with customers and suppliers to spur climate action in its value-chain, and is indicative of the role industries could play in successfully implementing climate change mitigation strategies.
The CII Climate Action Charter is a cross-industry initiative to promote structured climate action among Indian businesses. CII has evolved the Charter as a useful tool for businesses to track their climate impact, evolve tailored, long-term strategies to mitigate emissions, and encourage participants across their value chains to transition to sustainable technologies and operations. Vedanta Aluminium aims to leverage this platform to lead sectoral climate actions and glean industry best practices, for long-term competitiveness and realization of sustainability targets.
Speaking about Vedanta Aluminium’s climate action journey, Vedanta Ltd. CEO (Aluminium Business) Rahul Sharma said, “The impacts of climate change on companies and communities are far-reaching. Being India’s largest producer of aluminium, Vedanta Aluminium aims to be the leader, paving the way for sustainable development of the aluminium industry. Aluminium, with its limitless potential for sustainable applications, will be indispensable to a low carbon future. And therefore, we believe the onus lies on us to mitigate and offset our carbon footprint, to create green value chains and a greener tomorrow. This journey will also see us work with local communities to make them climate resilient.”
At Vedanta Aluminium, excellence in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is the bedrock upon which the company evolves its business aspirations.
Highlights of the company’s climate-action endeavours include reduction in GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions intensity by 24 per cent in FY22, from 2012 baseline, across the business; reduction in GHG intensity at its largest aluminium smelter in Jharsuguda by 12 per cent in FY22 while increasing production by 20 per cent; launching of first low carbon ‘green’ aluminium from India, branded Restora; signing of Power Delivery Agreement for 380 MW of renewable power supply to aluminium smelters; and commissioning of India’s largest fleet of lithium-ion battery powered EV forklifts.
Besides, Vedanta Aluminium is India’s largest industrial consumer of renewable energy at 3 Billion Units. The Company is also utilising industrial by-products like fly ash, lime grit, etc. in circular avenues such as infrastructure, brick and cement manufacturing, etc.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.26 million tonnes in FY22. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 4th in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) 2021 world rankings for aluminium industry, a reflection of its sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.