Environment
Economic
Social
Environment12 Consecutive years
15 years in a row
for the last 10 years
This Initiative reaches out to over 6.4 million citizens
Over 48% of ITC's Total Energy Requirements met from carbon neutral sources.
22 green buildings
EconomicTurnover has grown 11-fold
Profit has grown 39 times
Total Shareholder Returns has grown at a CAGR of 23.6%
Over $50 billion
Over $8 billion
SocialEmpowering 4 million farmers
Generating over 110 million person-days of employment
Covering nearly 55,000 rural women
Benefitting over 5,25,000 children
Services provided to over 15,00,000 milch animals
Covering nearly 12,500 acres
Training over 46,000 youth
Over 25,000 low-cost sanitary units constructed
It has been our resolve to build an exemplary Indian enterprise that would create enduring value for our country. An organisation that would adopt the credo of putting 'India First' - keeping Country before Corporation and the Institution before the Individual. Over the years, the patriotic sense of 'India First' has grown into a full-blown aspiration to be a National Champion subserving the country's larger priorities. This is not only manifest in the creation of world-class Indian brands, but also in the Triple Bottom Line goals of the Company to nurture larger societal value. The need to sustain global competitiveness in economic value creation, whilst simultaneously creating larger societal value, has led to innovation in business models that seek to synergise the building of economic, ecological and social capital as a unified strategy.
A new paradigm of growth is today called for - an integrated Triple Bottom Line approach that builds competitiveness whilst at the same time ensuring that the environment is nourished and large-scale sustainable livelihoods are created. I call this new paradigm 'Responsible Competitiveness', which to my mind is a pre-requisite to creating a more sustainable future.
'Enterprises of Tomorrow' can bring in transformational change by making societal value creation a conscious strategic decision and not one that banks on corporate conscience alone. ITC has always believed that businesses possess unique strengths to make a larger contribution to society. If the creative and innovative energies that businesses employ to create world-class products and brands are leveraged to deliver social initiatives that serve a larger national objective, it can have a transformative impact on society.
It is this belief that has spurred ITC to craft innovative strategies that orchestrate a symphony of efforts aimed at enriching the environment, creating sustainable livelihoods, empowering local communities and addressing the challenge of climate change.
Air pollution is one of the problems directly linked to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation that is severely impacting human health. According to the International Energy Agency1, combustion of coal and oil are major source of air pollution with combustion of coal being responsible for majority of Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) emissions. Further, vehicular exhaust emissions contribute more than half of the global Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions. Both SO2 and NOx forms secondary pollutants leading to respiratory problems.
Industrial and vehicular emissions are the top causes of air pollution in India. Advancement in processes and air pollution control equipment, and use of alternate sources of energy contributes to reduction in industrial air emissions. Vehicular emissions are, however, steadily increasing due to rising number of vehicles along with traffic congestion. According to World Bank2 estimates, about 3% of the GDP in India is being lost due to effects of air pollution.
India has taken a number of steps to address the concerns of increasing air pollution by enacting stricter emissions norms on industries and improving vehicular emissions standards among others. India has also developed its own Air Quality Index (AQI) covering major pollutants: Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), SO2, Carbon Monoxide (CO), Ozone (O3), Ammonia (NH3), Lead (Pb) and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions. Though a number of steps are being taken by the Government, air pollution remains a challenge as 21 out of 56 cities are falling under poor or below poor air quality category3.
ITC's approach of energy conservation and increasing utilisation of energy from alternate sources such as wind and solar contribute to reduction in air emissions. ITC appropriately invests in state-of-the-art pollution control equipment and a robust system of monitoring, measurement and reporting is in place to conform with environmental standards.
1///www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/
WorldEnergyOutlookSpecialReport2016Energyand AirPollution.pdf
2///documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/220721468268504319/pdf/
700040v10ESW0P0box0374379B00PUBLIC0.pdf
3Bulletin of Ambient Air Quality National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) Manual monitoring system, May 2016, prepared by Central Pollution Control Board. (///www.cpcb.nic.in/AQI_NAMP_Rep_Mar2016.pdf)
All ITC Units monitor significant air emission parameters, such as Particulate Matter (PM), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) on a regular basis to ensure compliance with internal norms that are more stringent than regulatory requirements.
In 2016-17, ITC reduced its total NOx and SO2 emissions but there was an increase in total PM emissions. Reduction in overall NOx emissions was due to better control of processes and among others, Tribeni Unit contributed significantly in the reduction. Tribeni Unit also contributed significantly in reduction of total SOx emissions due to improvement in coal quality. Sulphur in coal, which is the major source of ITC's SO2 emissions, had reduced leading to lower emissions and here also Tribeni Unit contributed significantly in the reduction. The increase in total PM emissions at Bhadrachalam Unit significantly contributed to overall increase, though these emissions were well within the statutory limits.
Bhadrachalam Unit of Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division is not surprisingly a major contributor to our total air emissions. Air emissions data, especially for Bhadrachalam Unit, is being reviewed on a regular basis and compared with industry benchmarks, snapshot of which is presented below.
Though PM emissions, both total and specific, from Bhadrachalam Unit increased in 2016-17 as compared to previous year due to issues with soda recovery boilers' Electro Static Precipitator (ESP) performance, it was within the limits prescribed by the pollution control board.
During 2016-17, both specific NOx and SO2 emissions increased as compared to previous year. Though boilers and steam turbines were operating at lower load due to utilisation of wind electricity, air required for fluidisation in the boilers being constant resulted in higher oxygen concentrations and correspondingly higher NOx emissions.
SO2 emissions are due to sulphur content in fuel as well as pulp cooking process. Increase in specific SO2 emissions was due to higher capture and destruction of non-condensable gases as well as high sulphidity in pulp cooking process; sulphidity increase in pulp cooking process improves the quality of the pulp. Specific NOx and SO2 emissions are given in the graph below.
According to the Sustainability Report 2013 report of Confederation of European Paper Industry (CEPI)4, the average specific emissions were calculated as 0.73 kg/tonnes of NOx and 0.157 kg/tonnes of SO2. Bhadrachalam Unit's performance was comparable to those with European Paper Industry.
4 Specific emissions in 2012 are calculated using the data provided in Sustainability Reports 2013 and 2005. Sustainability Report 2013 provides reduction in specific emissions from 2002 to 2012 and Sustainability Report 2005 provides specific emissions in 2002.
In 2016-17, the total consumption of ODS by all ITC Units was 69.7 kg of CFC-11 equivalent.
