Sustainability – StarCement

“We endeavour to become the leading Indian conglomerate for sustainable business practices across global operations” — Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, UltraTech Cement Limited.

Our Chairman wrote this vision for sustainability that is rooted in the high standards of corporate behaviour and is driven by a strong sense of purpose to lead sustainable business practices globally. To realise this vision, UltraTech is committed to run its operations in a way that we grow business while conserving natural resources, minimizing our carbon and water footprint, increasing our positive impact on communities, and making a meaningful impact for our stakeholders.

UltraTech Sustainability Framework

Aditya Birla Group has institutionalised a sustainability framework that defines three strategic pillars which are to be embraced by the Group businesses to achieve a common sustainability vision. These three strategic pillars are: Responsible Stewardship, Stakeholder Engagement, and Future Proofing. Being one of the Group businesses, we at UltraTech follow this framework in letter and spirit to make our business sustainable.

UltraTech is committed to driving sustainability across the value chain of its operations. To achieve this, we focus on carbon emissions, energy reduction, water management, waste management, biodiversity management, resource management, community relationship management, occupational health and safety, human rights management, employee well-being and product development.

Innovation and technology play a key role in driving our efforts in these areas. With this objective, our R&D Centre provides comprehensive technical and analytical support to the business and pioneers in developing sustainable business solutions.

UltraTech benchmarks its sustainability practices with global players through Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA). As the founding member of the GCCA, UltraTech has played a pivotal role in launching GCCA’s India operations.

UltraTech is also a part of ‘Innovandi’ – the Global Cement and Concrete Research Network project run by GCCA. The objective is to accelerate global collaboration for cement and concrete innovation as an important step for the sector in taking climate action.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an excellent vehicle for driving our sustainability vision. We have therefore aligned our sustainability strategy to the SDGs.

The SDGs address issues critical for the survival of the planet and society such as climate change, poverty, gender equality, clean water and sustainable energy, responsible consumption, biodiversity, health & well-being etc.

They serve as a guide in our efforts to leave a healthier planet for our future generations, in partnership with our employees, customers, suppliers, government and society. By aligning our business strategy with the SDGs, we are able to anticipate stakeholder expectations, identify future business opportunities, and future-proof our business. The UN SDGs along with our sustainability framework enable us to create meaningful and measurable progress on issues relevant to our stakeholders.

Commitments & Membership

Founding member of Global Cement & Concrete Association (GCCA).
Voluntarily committed to the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).
Committed to GCCA Climate Ambition 2050 to deliver carbon neutral concrete by 2050.
GHG emission targets are validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
Committed to reduce Scope 1 GHG intensity by 27% by 2032 from the base year of 2017.
Committed to reduce Scope 2 GHG intensity by 69% by 2032 from the base year of 2017.
Committed to double the energy productivity under the EP100 program of 'The Climate Group'.
Targets to meet 100% of its electricity requirement through renewables sources by 2050, as part of our RE100 commitment.
Adopted Internal Carbon Price (ICP) of USD 10.
Become 5 times Water Positive company by 2024.
Scale up the share of green power in the overall power mix to 34% by FY2024.
Complete biodiversity assessment for all integrated plants by 2024.
Committed to No Net Loss of Biodiversity in line with our Group Biodiversity Policy.
We currently reach out to more than 1.6 million beneficiaries through our CSR program.
Our performance against the Sustainability Performance Target (SPT) under the Sustainability linked Bonds

Sustainability Policies

At UltraTech we constantly strive to raise our standards of sustainability by adopting policies that clearly define our business approach. We have robust policies on Safety, Environment and CSR. There are a few new additions to the list of policies, which include, Sustainability Policy, Energy & Carbon Policy, Water Stewardship Policy, Biodiversity Policy, Supply chain & Procurement and Human Rights. The launch of these policies is a reaffirmation of our commitment to further accelerate our sustainability journey in these critical areas.

Our History