About half of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. Rainfall extremes have been increasing worldwide, as have the frequency, duration and intensity of droughts. Climate change is projected to intensify the global water cycle, and to further increase the frequency and severity of droughts and floods. In emerging economies where we operate, poor water quality is mainly due to low levels of wastewater treatment. In the face of this daunting reality there are opportunities to innovate and to build resilience. We are committed to be a part of the solution.
At GCPL, we focus on reducing our water footprint and impact across all our manufacturing operations, in the products we make, and in the communities we operate.
By 2025, we aim to –
Maintain water positivity
We have focussed on reducing our water use across our value chain. Each of our manufacturing sites have annual environmental targets that includes reducing water use. We are also focussing on safeguarding water resources in drought-prone regions and water stress areas where we operate.
Water use assessment
We carry out water use assessment to quantify water use in our manufacturing process, in our products, and of the regions where we operate. We organise regular water audits to measure our water use in manufacturing and identify hotspot areas for optimising water use. Through detailed life-cycle assessments we map water footprint from raw material sourcing to end-of-use for our products. We have also carried out a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) assessment and examined key parameters such as temperature, water scarcity, and precipitation, all of which will have a crucial role in shaping the impact of climate change on our business.
Reducing water consumption
To reduce water consumption, we installed 365 eco taps in our North East cluster that helps us save 626 KL of water/annum. We have implemented sensor-based water taps in South manufacturing cluster to further reduce our water consumption.
Improving wastewater quality
Across all our manufacturing plants in India, we have adopted a zero-liquid discharge process. Through comprehensive wastewater treatment and water recycling processes such as tertiary reverse osmosis to improve wastewater quality, we ensure that all water used in our manufacturing process is recycled and repurposed.
Water recycling
We have invested in a number of rainwater harvesting structures in South, North, and Central West clusters that helps us save harvest over 2,400 KL of water/annum and reduce our freshwater withdrawal.
Awareness training on water efficiency management
Twice a year we organise green manufacturing conference where all our green champions from across manufacturing sites gather for learning and sharing best environmental practices. As part of the learning, we create awareness on water efficiency programmes and bring in industry experts to share state-of-the-art technology solutions for water efficiency, treatment, and recycling.