Green logistics: Decarbonising heavy-duty transportation
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Rail, waterways, EVs, low-emission fuels -- through diverse measures, Aditya Birla Group companies are accelerating green logistics in line with the Group’s strong commitment to sustainability.
In 2025, 15 large electric trucks started moving on a 160km route between Dahej and Asoj, the two sites of Hindalco’s Copper Business in Gujarat (India). With 55-tonne capacity each, the EV truck initiative led to the first heavy-duty electric freight corridor in the state – and a lowering of Hindalco’s carbon emission footprint. To enable this, Hindalco partnered with Billion Electric Mobility, a company that specialises in e-mobility-as-a-service.
Meanwhile, UltraTech Cement, the Group’s cement flagship, signed a strategic agreement with Container Corporation of India Limited (Concor) to transport bulk cement in specialised tank containers for rail. UltraTech will transport cement from its integrated units in Karnataka to a Concor terminal at Dronagiri in Maharashtra. This shift to rail-based logistics for bulk materials will reduce road transportation, and hence lower fuel consumption. The move will reduce carbon emissions of the company’s nationwide distribution network, which encompasses a 50,000+ truck fleet, 60+ daily rake movements, 1,350 warehouses, and 300+ railheads.
Both Hindalco and UltraTech are exploring new ways to adopt green modes of transportation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with the Group’s decarbonisation commitment of Net Zero by 2050. And the partnerships with eBillion and Concor are only the latest steps in the pursuit of sustainable industrial logistics.
Hindalco speeds down the green logistics corridor
In the effort to be Net Zero by 2050, Hindalco’s Aluminium and Copper businesses are reducing emissions by boosting energy efficiency and shifting to low-carbon fuels. In addition, the company has targeted a 25% reduction in specific GHG emissions by FY2026-27 (over FY2011-12 as base year). It has developed a detailed charter to capture Scope 3 emissions, encompassing the entire logistics chain of inward and outward movement across rail, road and sea modes. This has enabled the precise calculation of total emissions across its entire logistics operations for targeted reduction strategies.
Targeting Scope 3 emissions: As part of its goals for FY2025-26, Hindalco has targeted a 60% conversion of its fleet to green modes of transportation (including electric vehicles (EV), and vehicles running on liquid natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) as per Bharat Stage VI norms).
Apart from the Gujarat green freight corridor for the Copper business, the company launched an inter-plant e-logistics corridor for the Aluminium business in Odisha. In Sambalpur district – home to several Hindalco units -- there are dedicated electric trailers powering long-haul transportation between the Aditya and Hirakud flat-rolled products (FRP) plants.
Hindalco’s e-logistics corridor is a first-in-Odisha initiative that sets a benchmark in clean, cost-efficient and future-ready industrial logistics.
Partners in green: To ensure a quick transition to clean alternatives even for short-haul journeys, Hindalco has collaborated with multiple OEMS and logistics service providers. For instance, a fleet of 20 EVs transports fly ash from Aditya Aluminium plant in Odisha to the UltraTech Lapanga cement plant nearby. This has reduced emissions of 3,500 tCO2e and brought savings of ₹1.5 crore in freight costs in FY2025.
In the Renukoot plant in Uttar Pradesh, Hindalco uses EVs for movement of red mud. Both fly ash and red mud represent circular manufacturing as inputs for the cement industry – a key Hindalco sustainability initiative that converts manufacturing by-products and waste to wealth. Meanwhile, the company is also transitioning from diesel-based material handling equipment (MHE) to electric MHEs. In addition, it plans to introduce EVs in its mining operations.
Even where conventional fuels are in use, Hindalco is switching to low-emission LNG. The company partnered with a green freight transportation company in 2025 to integrate LNG-powered trucks into its logistics solutions. LNG trucks have significantly lower emissions than traditional diesel trucks with lower levels of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and greenhouse gases. In FY25, Hindalco reduced 16 tCO2e of emissions by deploying four LNG vehicles on key routes.
UltraTech cements green logistics into its sustainability strategy
Like Hindalco, UltraTech is decarbonising mobility as part of its sustainability strategy. Apart from low-emission rail networks for bulk movement of cement with Concor, the company has emerged as a key user of inland waterways for sustainable transportation.
Leveraging waterways: In an innovative and pioneering pilot project that supported the Indian government’s Maritime India Vision 2030, UltraTech became the first cement company in India to scale up the use of National Waterway1 (Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River system).
UltraTech Cement used National Waterway1 to transport gypsum from Haldia Port in West Bengal to Gaighat Terminal in Patna in FY2025.
The pilot was enabled through key partnerships with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Inland & Coastal Shipping Ltd. The use of inland waterways not only improved transport efficiency and reduced the company’s emissions but also helps decongest road and rail routes. UltraTech is also one of the few cement companies in India to use captive jetties to service coastal demand.
Going electric: Apart from using inland waterways, the cement major has also deployed EVs for the movement of goods across its manufacturing units. After a successful pilot with five electric trucks, the company entered a transport service contract in 2024 to deploy 100 electric trucks to transport 75,000 metric tonnes of clinker per month from its Dhar Cement Works plant in Madhya Pradesh to its grinding unit, Dhule Cement Works in Maharashtra. The Dhar-Dhule EV corridor is estimated to reduce the company’s transport emissions by 17,000 MT of CO2 annually.
UltraTech became the first Indian cement company to use electric trucks over a long lead distance -- a 400km roundtrip route from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra.
EVs are also becoming part of UltraTech’s local delivery fleet, particularly for last-mile journeys in order to reduce the carbon footprint of transporting cement and construction materials in urban and semi-urban areas. The company had a green fleet of 623 vehicles by the end of FY2025, which also included lower-emission CNG and LNG trucks.
Both UltraTech and Hindalco’s efforts to decarbonise their logistics are gaining momentum as they continue to switch to greener modes of mobility by road, rail and sea.
Also Read: Speech of Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla at Hindalco Industries’ Annual General Meeting