Sustainability in Action
A Carbon Positive Corporation
ITC has been at the forefront of corporate India's initiatives to progressively reduce Green House Gas emissions. Its businesses continued to enlarge the Company's positive carbon footprint through energy conservation, use of renewable sources of energy and identifying ways of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change caused by global warming. ITC has implemented several CDM projects under the Kyoto Protocol and ensured carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration through large-scale farm and social forestry initiatives.
ITC has proactively aligned its strategies and joined international efforts in mitigating/delaying the adverse impact of climate change. All ITC businesses strive to minimize energy consumption and wherever possible use environment friendly sources of energy.
Sequestration is a scientifically well-established technique to reduce total carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. ITC's farm and social forestry initiative which has created a green cover of over 1,56,000 hectares has helped in sequestering twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by ITC's operations, making it a 'Carbon Positive' corporation for eight years in a row. ITC invests significantly in research and development to create clonal saplings which are disease resistant, grow faster, have higher survival rates. These are provided to farmers to enable them to convert their private degraded wastelands into viable pulpwood plantations. In addition, it provides sustainable raw material sources for the Company's Paperboards business, and also creates livelihood opportunities for disadvantaged tribals and farmers in rural areas. This initiative has already created a cumulative employment of over 70 million man-days.
Energy efficiency practices of ITC have resulted in achieving world-class standards of energy utilisation in several units. Through a rigorous process of audits supported by benchmarking, specific energy consumption has been reduced year on year. These annual reductions ranging from 4 to 14 % encompass both manufacturing facilities as well as the Company’s hotels.
Over 40% of ITC’s energy consumption is from renewable sources. Flowing from its commitment to the triple bottom line philosophy, ITC has chosen Wind Energy as a focus area for enhancing its positive environmental footprint. The Company has already invested in wind energy generation in Tamil Nadu to meet the requirements of its Packaging business in Chennai. This 14 megawatt Clean Energy Initiative has delivered performance parameters which exceed original projections. The Company’s investments in Wind Energy are eligible for Carbon Credits under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, resulting in substantial cost savings.
ITC businesses have already registered several CDM projects, with the CDM-EB (Clean Development Mechanism - Executive Board), set up by UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) under the Kyoto Protocol which include two unique projects – one on social forestry, the first of its kind in India and ITC Sonar, the only hotel in the world to earn carbon credits.
