Daimler India targets to achieve 100% CO2 neutrality by 2025

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With the aim of making its Chennai plant operations 100% CO₂ neutral by 2025, Daimler India Commercial (DICV) leads the carbon neutrality commitment in the Indian commercial vehicle industry.

In the first phase of the roadmap unveiling, the commercial vehicle giant announced its goals for sustainability in operations, laying out initiatives planned to 2025 and beyond.

Satyakam Arya, CEO & MD of DICV, said, “Our efforts so far have already helped us reach 72% CO2 neutrality in our plant, and we plan to push this to 100% by 2025. We will work continuously towards a sustainable future for our stakeholders and society as a whole.”

DICV’s ‘Seven Statements for Sustainability’ are as follows:

Statement 1: Make operations at DICV 100% CO₂ neutral by 2025 by more than doubling the quantum of captive solar power generated along with buying wind based power and bagasse-based green cogeneration while also changing all internal shuttles to electric vehicles.

Statement 2: Aiming to make entire value chain CO₂ neutral by 2047 by conducting awareness campaigns for dealers/suppliers and supporting them for transition.

Statement 3: Increasing green cover density of Chennai plant by at least 10% by 2025 by planting mini forests of native trees and increasing bio-diversity and planting an additional 2000 trees using organic farming methods

Statement 4: Reducing energy consumption of production shop by at least 8% by 2025 by upgrading all lighting to LEDs. Also installing more efficient motors and using IoT devices to optimize usage of equipment like chillers and compressors

Statement 5: Water consumption will be reduced by 30%, aiming for 100% water self-reliance at the plant by 2025 by conserving use of water by smart flow metering arrangements. Also will reuse effluent water generated from operations in paint shop manufacturing process

Statement 6: The company will continuously reduce waste generated from operations by increasing usage of bio-degradable plastic in packaging process up to 50% by 2025.

Statement 7: Contribute to betterment of nearby villages and societies. Improving drinking water facilities and installing solar lighting in community around Oragadam. Educating children on environmental sustainability and facilitating health camps in nearby villages

Since inauguration of Chennai plant, DICV has systematically implemented sustainability initiatives at every level. These include the installation of an energy-generation plant with over 10,000 polycrystalline solar power panels. This compensates for around 3300 tons of CO2 emissions/year. Also has a storage pond that holds more than 60,000 kilolitres. The plant itself is seen as highly eco-friendly as it is home to more than 17,000 trees and adheres to strict reuse/reduce/replace policies as part of its certification for ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems).

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