Jindal Stainless partners with EY India to solidify ESG goals
Gurgaon : Jindal Stainless, India’s leading stainlesssteel manufacturer, is taking deliberate initiatives to achieve its broad Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals. As a responsible corporate that is committed to transition to sustainable manufacturing, Jindal Stainless has initiated Project Samanvay to assess its preparedness as per select ESG indices. The Company has appointed Ernst & Young (EY) LLP as its partner to develop a strategic roadmap for the project. Additionally, the Company has also proposed to forecast its GHG emissions and establish emission reduction targets in line with Science Based Target initiative (SBTi).
Managing Director, Jindal Stainless, Mr Abhyuday Jindal said, “As pioneers of the Indian stainless steel industry, we are at the forefront to align with and adoptoperational excellence by optimum sustainable practises across our manufacturing mechanism. Inspired by our roots, we firmly believe that efficient and immediate efforts towards sustainability, social upliftment, good governance, decarbonisation, waste management, and digital prowess are inevitable to build long-term value for all our stakeholdersand achieve a circular economy. We are happy to collaborate with EY in this initiative and are confident to achieve excellence across our ESG and sustainability functions along with our partners in progress”.
Chairman & CEO, EY India, Rajiv Memani said, “Organisations invested to achieve sustainability of operations have a competitive edge asinvestors are seeking more sustainable portfolios, demanding greater ESG compliance and performance from potential investment targets. Reducing carbon emissions and the energy consumed in stainless steel production requires a well-planned, stage-gated roadmap. We are honored to work with Jindal Stainless, who have taken a pioneering step towards a comprehensive strategy of adopting ESG in their entire value chain that will reap benefits beyond compliance to build a future-focused and a sustainable enterprise.”
Considering the complexities and impact of expansion in a hard to abate sector, Jindal Stainless is making concerted efforts to decarbonize and reduce carbon emissions significantly for its present and future capacity expansion plans. The focused initiatives include deploying energy-efficient measures, process reconfiguration, adopting and investing in circular economy principles, improving material efficiency, fleet decarbonization, investing in low-carbon emission technologies for stainless steel production etc. Currently, Jindal Stainless has a stainless steel melting capacity of 1.9 million metric tonnes (MMT) at its Hisar and Jajpur manufacturing facilities. The Company has planned a capacity expansion at its Jajpur facility by FY23 and take the total melting capacity to 2.9 MMT.
During FY 2021-22, Jindal Stainless reduced its carbon emissions by 3,100 metric tonnes and initiated a switch from a thermal energy-intensive manufacturing setup to renewable energy alternatives such as solar & wind power, Green Hydrogen and usages of bio-fuels as part of our decarbonization initiatives.
In the next 6 months, Jindal Stainless and EY will work seamlessly to carve outa strategic roadmap for achievingdecarbonization, evaluate continuous upgrades and retrofits, adopt clean technologies strategy, improve ESG performance, embrace digitalization of business process, initiate GHG Accounting,etc.