JSW Steel earmarks Rs 10,000 crore for carbon emission reduction initiatives

JSW Steel on Wednesday said it has earmarked Rs 10,000 crore to reduce carbon emissions through various initiatives.
The company also aims to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 42 per cent by 2030, group chairman Sajjan Jindal said in the annual report.

He said that the company has contracted for about 1 GW of renewable energy, of which 225 MW became operational in April 2022, and the balance will come on stream in phases.

"We have earmarked Rs 10,000 crore for investments to reduce our carbon emissions through various initiatives, such as increasing the use of renewable energy to replace thermal power, reducing fuel rate through improved raw material quality via beneficiation, and deployment of best technologies," Jindal said.

Detailing the progress on ESG, he said the company's finished products underwent lifecycle analysis this year and it has also received an Environment Product Declaration (EPD).

"We became the first steel company in the world to issue a US dollar-denominated Sustainability Linked Bond (SLB). The USD 500 million SLB has a tenure of 10.5 years and is linked to our CO2 reduction target.

"We have committed to reducing our CO2 emissions intensity (Scope 1 and 2) by 42 per cent by 2030, compared to the base year of 2005, aligned with India's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)," he stated.

JSW Steel was honoured with the World Steel Association's Steelie Award in the category of Excellence in life cycle application, Jindal said.

The company was also included in the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Index for emerging markets and was named Sustainability Champion by the World Steel Association for the fourth consecutive year.

Jindal informed shareholders that the company was further strengthening the business model by increasing capacity while reducing our environmental footprint. The group was planning to increase the steel capacity from 27 million tonnes to 37 million tonnes by 2024-25.

"Our ongoing expansions are oriented towards producing steel with higher use of renewable power, digitalisation to achieve operational efficiency and technologies to reduce associated CO2 emissions," he said.