ITC Limited, one of India ’s leading
multi-business conglomerates and an exemplar in environment sustainability said
that it is rapidly scaling up its highly acclaimed Integrated Watershed
Development and Environmental Resources Replenishment initiatives through
partnerships with various State governments. These partnerships will be largely
focussed on water stewardship and biodiversity conservation.
Over the past decades, ITC
has demonstrated environmental stewardship by not only ensuring efficient use
of resources but also by augmenting precious natural capital. ITC has the
distinction of being the only company in the world to be carbon positive for
over 14 years, water positive for over 17 years and solid waste recycling
positive for over 12 years. Over 41% of the energy consumed by ITC is met
through renewable sources. ITC’s afforestation programme has greened over 7,76,000
acres. Its watershed development initiatives have covered over 1 million acres,
whilst its solid waste management programme Well Being out of Waste (WoW)
covers over 1 crore citizens across the country. ITC is also a pioneer in green
building movement in the country with over 25 Platinum-rated green buildings.
Some of its other notable social investment initiatives at scale include women
empowerment, primary education, skilling and vocational training, livestock
development, health & sanitation and so on. ITC’s businesses have supported
over 6 million sustainable livelihoods till date.
It is also ITC’s strong
belief that Biodiversity conservation and water stewardship are extremely critical
aspects of environment protection as forests and other biomass are natural
sponges which improves groundwater recharge and sub-surface flows. Such focus
is even more relevant today when the world is increasingly imparting a renewed
focus on biodiversity conservation as a means to maintain vital ecological
balance.
ITC’s Water
Stewardship Initiatives
ITC’s
extensive watershed programme today covers more than 1,000,000 acres across India . Under
this program, the company has adopted a comprehensive approach focussed on
supply augmentation and demand side management. Supply augmentation covers area
treatment, water harvesting, groundwater recharge and biodiversity conservation
and demand side management aims at improving water use efficiency in principal
crops of area. ITC’s Kovai Paperboards factory in Tamil Nadu has earned the
unique distinction of being the only facility in India
to be awarded the Alliance
for Water Stewardship Platinum-level certification – the highest recognition
for water stewardship in the world.
The success of ITC’s
integrated water management approach has not only benefitted farmers by
enhancing crop yields and expanding cultivation area but has also led to large
savings through efficiency in water usage.
ITC's
Water Stewardship programme is also a community based participatory approach.
It employs low cost technologies to arrest erosion, enhance moisture, conserve
rainwater and recharge groundwater. The benefits of ITC’s water stewardship
programme are multiple and multidimensional.
With water scarcity increasingly becoming an area
of concern, ITC continues to focus on an integrated water management approach
within the fence that includes investing in water conservation measures and
rainwater harvesting initiatives at its units. For larger coverage and scale,
ITC has also partnered with various State Government departments and programmes
such as MGNREGS programme and NABARD for watershed development in 5.6 lakh
acres area.
Similarly, as part of demand management, ITC has
entered a novel partnership with Water Resources Department of Maharashtra to
improve water productivity in 2.42 lakh acres of command area which is under
four irrigation schemes spread in 4 districts of the state. This partnership
aims at supporting the Government’s ‘More Crop per Drop’ credo and reduce crop
water demand in the dams.
These large scale interventions will serve as
meaningful examples and inspire many more such fruitful programmes in this area
to benefit farmers.
ITC’s Biodiversity
management initiatives:
To
improve biodiversity, ITC is partnering with Forest departments in Maharashtra and Telangana to improve forest cover through
soil moisture conservation and fringe area development. The Company is also
partnering with Wasteland and Pastureland development board of Rajasthan for
regeneration of pasturelands in the State. These partnerships will help impact
79,000 acres of forest land and 2.47 lakh acres of pasturelands in 11
districts.
As a responsible Corporate, ITC is
committed to continue to strengthen and scale up its environmental
sustainability interventions through-and post the pandemic. The company
believes that business is an integral organ of society that can bring about
transformational change in social value creation, besides enriching the environment.
It is with this conviction that ITC continues to pursue business models that
envisages the creation of social and environmental capital and economic wealth
as a unified strategy.