UltraTech takes a big leap to reach its climate targets

As one of the global leaders in the cement industry, UltraTech is taking forward the Aditya Birla Group's sustainability vision through varied and pathbreaking initiatives.

Over the years, the company, which is India's leading manufacturer of grey cement, white cement and ready-mix concrete, has consistently worked to decarbonise its operations and drive sustainability across its value chain. It is doing this through multiple interventions: replacing fossil fuels with alternative fuels, making processes more energy efficient and increasing the use of renewable energy for its energy needs.

SBTi validated targets

Taking ongoing sustainability efforts to a new level, in July 2020 UltraTech committed to set 'science-based targets' for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, thus aligning the company with the climate goals set in the Paris Agreement.

By 2032, UltraTech aims to:

• Reduce Scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity by 27% from the base year of 2017
• Reduce Scope 2 GHG intensity by 69% from the base year of 2017

These targets have been validated by SBTi, which is a collaboration between Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and is one of the We Mean Business Coalition commitments. SBTi validated targets encourage companies to evolve into low carbon producing value chains and to support the limiting of global warming to well below 2 degree Celsius.

UltraTech Managing Director Mr. Kailash Jhanwar explains the rationale behind opting for SBTi targets: "A changing climate scenario poses significant challenges for the built environment sector. It equally provides valuable opportunities to develop sustainable products and services. By committing to science-based targets, UltraTech Cement has once again demonstrated leadership in paving the way for the sector to help build sustainable infrastructure." UltraTech is the first company from the Aditya Birla Group to be recognised with this validation.

A four-pronged strategy of transition to low carbon growth trajectory

• Product diversification: UltraTech pursues opportunities to push low-clinker based cement at the marketplace. The company works on advocacy and customer awareness to increase acceptability of blended cement in the market. It is committed to allocating significant R&D resources in developing low carbon products and increasing the marketability of these products.
• Accelerating low carbon technology investments: The company is committed to accelerate investments in technologies like waste heat recovery (WHRS), renewable energy and alternate fuels to move toward a long-term low carbon scenario. UltraTech currently has 125 MW of WHRS capacity and 143 MW contracted capacity of renewable energy. In FY2021, over 13% of the company's energy requirement was met through green sources.
• Resource efficiency: The company aims to scale up utilisation of industrial waste material both in the form of raw materials as well as alternate fuels which will lead to significant resource savings as well as mitigate the impact of climate change. Currently, alternate materials constitute over 17% of the company's total raw material used. Over 100 million tonnes of alternative waste material were utilised between 2010 and 2020.
• Carbon pricing: UltraTech has adopted an Internal Carbon Price (ICP) of USD 10. The company endeavours to mainstream carbon pricing tool to drive efficiencies and its carbon performance across the business.

UltraTech, as a founding member of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), has committed to the '2050 Climate Ambition' announced by GCCA on behalf of all its member companies. The GCCA's '2050 Climate Ambition' is the member companies' commitment to drive down the CO2 footprint of their operations and products, and their collective aspiration to deliver society with carbon neutral concrete by 2050.

With its sustainability approach recognised and validated, UltraTech will continue to move quickly down its future-ready path. UltraTech believes that its commitment to the SBTi is a key steppingstone in its journey towards a 1.5ºC aligned future.