Understanding Sustainable Practices at Larsen and Toubro

Ankur Garg

Corporate Sustainability Initiatives of L&T

Sustainable development has been defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs . The most important underlying basis for this is the interlocking between Environmental, Social and Economic activities of an organisation, whose development should be harmonious. In the below report on the corporate sustainability initiatives of L&T we will analyse mainly from the environmental perspective.

About L&T
Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) is an Indian multinationalconglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company has four main business sectors: technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing. L&T has an international presence, with a global spread of offices and factories, further supplemented by a comprehensive marketing and distribution network. The firm has more than 60 units in some 25 countries. Domestic business within India dominates, but the company is steadily growing its global operations with a focus on China and the Middle East.

Corporate Sustainability Initiatives

Over the years, L&T has interwoven its business interests with larger interests of India and progressive emerging economies. The company prides itself in building things that build the nation; the growth of L&T has been aligned to the missions outlined in the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The company aims to pursue sustainability based growth platforms like renewable energy, water, mass transit, energy efficient products and green buildings. The company follows global reporting initiative framework to report our economic, environmental and social performance.L&T is the first engineering and construction company in India to report on its corporate sustainability performance. The report in GRI checked application level A+. As a part of an accelerated drive to integrate ecoefficiency into the core of its business operations, L&T has been proactively monitoring how the operations interact with the environment and has identified five core environment management policies 1. Optimising energy consumption The specific direct energy consumption has been steadily

decreasing over the years (as shown in the figure), over the past year it decreased by 4%.

200 150 Specific Energy 100 per Employee 50 0

170.49 133.12 128

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

Today L&T produces 8% of its total electricity generation through the renewable energy with an aim to increase the share of renewable in its energy mix. Some of the renewable energy initiatives are y Wind Power generation in TN L&T has set up 5 wind electricity generators with an installed capacity of 8.7 MW, this would lead to a reduction of 16844 tons of CO2 emission each year. The project is eligible for carbon credits under the Clean Developmental Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) y L&T is working on a 407 Kw, grid-linked solar photovoltaic plant n Chennai. The green power generated from this would considerably reduce CO2 emissions. y The company has taken a variety of energy conservation initiatives with has led to a conservation of 51,072 KJ of energy over the past 3 years. The initiatives under this are o o o Change to CFL lamps Change in personnel behavior Process redesign In 2009-10 the office in Ahmednagar became the first building in L&T

2. Propagating Green Buildings

to be certified as gold rated green building by the Indian Green Building Council. The highlights of this building were y Drip Irrigation and sprinkler system and plantation of hybrid plant reduced water consumption by 50% y y y y Low flow water closets and lavatory faucets resulting in water saving of 54% Sewage treatment plant to recycle and reuse water 96% of construction waste material was reused Daylight and occupancy control sensors cut the energy consumption by 30%

Green Data Center at L&T InfoTech The data center consisting of all the servers and computer systems was built as a green data centre which has led to a 30% energy saving

3. Carbon footprint Mapping - As a part of developing comprehensive strategy for L&T, it has completed carbon footprint mapping and energy audit of its operations, identifying projects for reducing carbon footprint. L&T seeks a low carbon future by y y Optimise carbon efficiency of existing assets, operations, products and services Create and participate in new low carbon solutions especially by incubating technological shifts and developing new product lines. 4. Water Conservation L&T has taken a slew of initiatives to increase water conservation and has set itself a target of reducing the water consumption by 10% by 2012. The various initiatives taken are y Converting Quarry Pits into Irrigation Ponds Farmers of Beraja Village, 60 km from the city of Rajkot, Gujarat were dependent on monsoons for irrigation. To reduce this dependence, L&T transformed abandoned quarry pits into irrigation ponds and infrastructure like pipelines and motors to farmlands were provided. 5. Follow Lean Manufacturing L&T has decided to follow lean manufacturing in its operations to reduce the wastage of materials and increase efficiency. Apart from the above said environmental Initiatives, L&T has also undertaken many social initiatives to give back to the society it serves. Some of the initiatives are y During 2010, L&T provided medical attention to over 220000 mothers and children across India through a spectrum of health initiatives. y L&T public charitable trust engages in vocational training and livelihood creation programmes for rural youth y Program ACE is an initiative which provides financial support to organizations that encourage children s education. The various initiatives of ACE are i. Khelghar Institute that promotes value based, holistic development of underprivileged children ii. ISC India Scholarship Committee y SPARK L&T supports the education of children at the Gandhiji Rehabilitation Centre, an orphanage located in Poonamallee, Chennai. All the above suggest that L&T has been conscious of its surrounding and has been balancing the economic , social and environmental activities to achieve a sustainable growth.