ITC said it has set a target to meet 100% of its purchased grid electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030. At present, it meets over 40% of its electrical energy requirement through renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass. As a part of Sustainability 2.0 Vision, ITC is planning to invest further in strengthening its renewable energy portfolio in order to contribute meaningfully to the fight against climate change. The current renewables portfolio of the company consists of 138 megawatts of wind power plants and 14 MW of solar plants with 53 MW of additional solar capacity under execution. Projects are also underway in the area of other sources of renewable energy like solar boiler or biomass boilers.
At present, ITC uses renewable energy across 20 factories, nine hotels and six office buildings spanning states like Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Haryana, West Bengal and Punjab. Besides investing in new renewable energy assets, the company aims to achieve 50% reduction in specific emission and 30% reduction in specific energy consumption by 2030 over a 2014-15 baseline.
Such efforts in decarbonising energy consumption through low-carbon energy solutions will be met through large-scale digitalisation and R&D initiatives, cross-sectoral collaborations and partnerships.
Sanjiv Rangrass, Group Head for R&D, Sustainability and Projects, said, “Since making sustainability a core objective in all business operations two decades ago, we have worked on a low- carbon growth plan in which expanding our renewable energy portfolio is our top priority. The results of our 360-degree sustainability initiatives are manifest in the company’s decade-long achievements even as our businesses expand rapidly together with the creation of six million sustainable livelihoods.”
