Environmental Performance

Minimising Carbon Intensity and Adopting a Low Carbon Growth Path

Enlarging ITC’s Carbon Positive Footprint

ITC has computed its GHG inventory, including Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG emissions, biogenic emissions and GHG removals, in accordance with ISO 14064:2006, the latest international standard for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals at the organisational level, with reasonable assurance by Llyod’s Register Quality Assurance Limited. This is a unique achievement considering the size, diversification and spread of the organisation.

In 2012-13, ITC’s operations (manufacturing & freight) generated total GHG emissions (scope 1, 2 & 3) of 1,474,558 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (1,563,526 tonnes in 2011-12). The reduction in GHG emissions is primarily a reflection of the energy efficiency measures taken, increased contribution of energy from renewable sources and revisions in the computation methodology by using actual calorific values of fuels consumed, (instead of default values from IPCC) which ITC has adopted as a process of standardisation in line with the ISO 14064:2006 standard. Change in the methodology of estimating GHG emissions from freight, based on emission factors derived for Indian conditions as per the report by the World Bank on road transport service efficiency study (India) – 2005, has also contributed to this reduction.

For 2012-13, CO2 emissions from combustion of biomass were also computed and reported separately under the GHG inventory to meet ISO 14064:2006 and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) requirements. Thus, the total GHG emission (scope 1, 2 & 3) including biomass combustion stand at 2,313,527 tonnes of CO2 e.

ITC’s GHG inventory for the year 2012-13 is given below.

ITC’s Social and Farm Forestry Initiatives have added more than 17,000 hectares of plantations during 2012-13. Total plantations, as on March 31, 2013, stand at over 1,42,000 hectares. The Social and Farm Forestry Initiatives have not only contributed to a sustainable source of raw material for the Paperboards Business, but has also helped sequester 3690 Kilotonnes of CO2 in this year, thus consolidating ITC’s status as a ‘Carbon Positive Company’ for the 8th year in a row. Though the area under the Social and Farm Forestry Programme has increased, there has been a reduction in CO2 sequestration as compared to the previous year due to the revision in methodology of computing CO2 sequestration by taking into account the following factors:

1. Moisture content in the wood measured from standing crop instead of harvested wood at factory premise as done earlier.

2. Computation of plantation area by considering the actual spacing between planted rows in sample plots against a standardised spacing model adopted earlier.

The Social and Farm Forestry Programmes have also created 64.04 million person days of employment to date for small and marginal farmers.