Contributing Towards A Low Carbon Economy Through Circularity

UltraTech Cement, the cement flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, is the largest manufacturer of grey cement, ready mix concrete and white cement in India. With a cement manufacturing capacity of 116.8 MTPA, it is also the third-largest cement producer in the world, excluding China.  

In FY21 UltraTech Cement generated revenues of Rs 44,726 crore, EBITDA of Rs 12,302 crore as well as a 4 per cent volume expansion. It also launched new products such as masonry cement, ultra-lightweight concrete, high impact resistance concrete, concrete admixtures, rapid hardening 3D printable mortar and concrete.

Sustainability strategy 
Kailash Jhanwar, Managing Director, UltraTech Cement said, “The unprecedented situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that only sustainable businesses have the resilience to overcome such challenges and emerge stronger. As we move forward, building on our learnings, we are committed to accelerate our efforts to decarbonise our operations and work towards delivering our sustainability targets in a holistic circular economy and life cycle context.”  

The company’s strategy towards decarbonisation focuses on commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative, adoption of Internal Carbon Price and setting targets as per initiatives like EP100 where it has committed to double its energy productivity by 2035 as compared to the 2010 baseline.  

In FY21, carbon emissions at UltraTech reduced by 6 per cent from FY17 and power consumption reduced by 1.63 per cent from FY20. The company’s green power capacity was 273 MW and the share of renewable energy in its power mix rose to 13 per cent from 11.5 per cent in FY20. UltraTech’s water positivity went up from 2.8 times in FY20 to 3.9 times in FY21.  

Closing the loop 
The company uses industrial waste to produce blended cements like Portland Pozzolana Cement, Portland Blast Furnace Slag Cement, PPC Super and Composite cement. Waste materials including fly ash, slag, gypsum are used as alternatives to replace the naturally occurring limestone. In FY21, the volume of industrial waste used as fuel was 106,000 tonnes and 100 per cent fly ash generated at the power plants at manufacturing facilities is utilised in cement manufacturing. Last year, 18.36 per cent of the total raw materials used in the manufacturing process was recycled. As compared to the previous year, UltraTech reported a 29.9 per cent increase in the utilisation of recycled materials. It is also amongst the first cement companies in India to have adopted ‘baton wash’ technology to reclaim residual concrete during cleaning of transit mixers and plant mixers.

To promote circularity in the industry, UltraTech Cement helped establish the Global Cement and Concrete Association, which identifies fresh waste streams and prepares its plants with best-in-class technology for the utilisation of this waste.  

Sustainability-linked bonds 
UltraTech raised $400 million through sustainability-linked bonds. Listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading, these bonds were oversubscribed more than seven times, a first for an Indian company. It is also the first Indian company and the second in Asia to issue dollar-based sustainability-linked bonds. The company intends to use the proceeds from these bonds to refinance existing rupee-denominated debt, ongoing capital expenditure requirements and general corporate purposes.

Over the long term, UltraTech expects a shift in the market requirement, moving from cement towards concrete as the end-product leading to improved economic and environmental efficiencies. Sustainable construction and circularity will be the key thrust areas for the sector, and this, the company has stated, will provide it with enhanced partnership opportunities across the value chain.