Sustainability, at Hindustan Zinc, is an integral part of the business and of all business decisions. The Company’s leadership remains at the forefront of driving its commitment to sustainability.
At Hindustan Zinc, it is our endeavor to drive long-term business growth and value creation for our stakeholders with a firm focus on safe operations, minimal environmental impact across the lifecycle, respect for human rights and sharing the benefits with our communities. We have adopted a multi-pronged strategy benchmarked to key global parameters of ensuring sustainable development to propel stable business and economic growth. This enables us to create shared value for all stakeholders in the process.
Driven by our Sustainability vision of ‘ZERO HARM, ZERO DISCHARGE, ZERO WASTE’,
we have embarked on an ambitious Sustainability journey, led by our Sustainability Goals 2025. We identified these Sustainability Goals as an action agenda for the realization of our overarching long-term ambition of creating positive impacts across the value chain. It is our belief that the Sustainability Goals 2025 will help us address the expectations of the entire spectrum of our stakeholders and achieve tangible outcomes. Over the course of the next five years, we are committed to working towards the fruition of these goals, and to realize our purpose of bringing positive impacts in the lives of our stakeholders.
In pursuance of our Sustainability Goals, we have put in place a well-defined and robust framework, led by our Sustainability Governance framework. The framework consists of a high-level Sustainability Committee, led by the CEO, and various Communities for the management of each specific goal. The Committee and the communities regularly map and review the progress and outcomes across each goal.
0.5 mn tCO2e GHG emission savings in our operations from base year 2017
Become 5x water positive company & achieve 25% reduction in freshwater
3x increase in gainful utilization of smelting process waste
Positively impacting 1 mn lives through social, economic and environmental initiatives
Protect & Enhance Biodiversity throughout the life cycle
Inclusive and diverse workplace with 30% diversity
Zero Work-related fatalities and 50% reduction in Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR)
100% Responsible Sourcing in the supply chain
Various Sub-Goals and action plans have been identified for the implementation of the planned goals and effective monitoring of same. These action-plans have been discussed in detail in our Sustainability Review Report.
As a responsible organization, we, at Hindustan Zinc, have identified transition to circular economy as a key strategic priority to enable sustainable, long-term growth and value creation without increasing the consumption of natural resources. The focus is on building circular economy models designed to transform waste into materials of value, as an important lever of progress.
We have in place a dedicated Waste to Wealth Community, led by our top-level Sustainability Committee, to drive this transition. The Community is continually working on optimization of the use of raw materials and exploring ways to reuse/recycle the waste products created during the manufacturing process. It regularly monitors and reviews the progress on this front, and formulates relevant strategies to achieve ‘Increase in 3X gainful utilization of smelting process waste’ – one of the Company’s Sustainability Goals 2025.
During FY2021, we took several innovative initiatives to steer the shift from the traditional manufacturing approach of ‘produce-use-dispose’ to a more efficient, sustainable and environment-friendly methodology. These include:
In an endorsement of its progress on its circularization goal, the Company has been granted US patents for two of its sustainability technologies, developed in-house by our R&D center – ZnTech (formerly known as Central Research and Development Laboratory).
Both these technologies are aimed at creating value from waste, that can be utilized within Hindustan Zinc’s operations and support local entrepreneurs and communities.
Our Research & Development (R&D) capabilities are playing an important role in propelling our Circular Economy goals. Among the various investments we have initiated in this regard is the development of a Zinc-air battery. The innovation seeks to pave the way for use of renewable power, and for consistency in availability of renewable energy Zinc batteries. We have also started investing in various waste recycling projects to reduce our environmental footprint.