MD & CEO’s Message
The past few years have seen an increased focus on sustainable development in the cement industry. For Ambuja, sustainability is the core of our vision statement, of which Health and Safety is an integral part.
Our 10th Sustainable Development Report is a testimony to our committed efforts in making Ambuja Cement the industry benchmark for best practices in sustainability. This report presents our performance in 2016 on the four pillars of sustainability, namely, social, economic, environmental, and business governance.
While the theme of this year’s report is Health and Safety, it has always remained a core value for our business. At Ambuja, we are committed to providing a healthy and safe working environment for all our employees, partners, and customers, by adopting a journey of continuous improvement. Enhancing our H&S standards requires a multi-pronged approach. We have increased our focus on sensitising our people on safe behaviour, training, capability building on risk assessment, as well as rewards and recognition. In 2016, our overall safety performance improved, with the number of onsite injuries significantly reducing. But our primary goal is zero incidents and injuries, and we working towards achieving it.
When speaking of sustainability, it becomes imperative for industry to address climate change and biodiversity impact. Companies can no longer ignore their social impact. Ambuja has adapted to society’s evolving needs, and we are working hard to contribute to responsible development, that will carry forward well into the future.
We are proud to have continued our community commitments. A dedicated and diverse team of over 400 development professionals from the Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF), implemented various successful initiatives and set new milestones in our social performance. By the end of 2016, ACF established 17 Skill and Entrepreneurial Development Institutes (SEDI) in 10 states and trained over 30,000 rural youth successfully, placing 74% of them in various trades. In 2016, ACF supported 6107 households for toilet construction, covering over 12,000 households and 176 schools under its sanitation initiative. As a result of these efforts, 89 villages associated with ACF have achieved 100% toilet coverage as a contribution to the Government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Our renewable energy portfolio in wind, biomass, WHRS (Waste Heat Recovery) and solar contributed about 6.5% of our total power generation through STGs (Steam Turbine Generator). Maintaining our consistent record of reducing environmental impact, we reduced the net CO2 of our cementitious materials by 29.7% (from 1990 levels)
Our product portfolio continues to focus on sustainable products, with more than 90% products fly ash based cement (Portland Pozzalana Cement). We have provided sustainable solutions, pioneering the co-processing of waste materials, and developing innovative and tailored industrial and municipal waste management services. In 2016, we reduced 0.24 million tons of waste by using them as alternative fuels and raw materials.
We have also been making significant progress in partnering with 20 other organisations in CII’s India Business and Biodiversity Initiative (IBBI) for developing new standards and policies for biodiversity conservation, while also partnering with IUCN experts in conducting biodiversity assessments.
Our score improved in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for Emerging Markets in 2016 and we were benchmarked with the leading companies in the sector. Apart from DJSI reporting, we continued our consistent reporting of carbon emissions in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Climate Change, since 2010. One of our key achievements in 2016, was winning the CII-ITC Sustainability Award.
As a company, we have aligned our sustainability targets with the ‘LafargeHolcim Sustainable Development 2030 Plan’, covering Climate, Circular Economy, Water & Nature, and People & Communities, which integrates with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our True Value approach is helping us strategise and prioritise our decisions on sustainability.
Our employees have always been the foundation of our success, and the company’s achievements have only strengthened our people’s ‘I CAN’ spirit to continue the journey towards sustainability. I would like to thank all our stakeholders for their continued support in this shared journey, and would welcome your valuable feedback and suggestions.
