ITC Aims for Net Zero by 2050 with 85% Emissions Cut Despite Growth

Excerpts from ITC AGM 2025 Speech by Chairman Mr. Sanjiv Puri:

I have great pleasure in announcing that ITC has committed to achieving Net Zero operations by 2050, entailing an even sharper reduction of emissions by over 85% in the next 25 years, despite a growing business footprint.

ITC has embedded sustainability as a bedrock of its corporate strategy and continues to raise the bar in triple bottom line performance. ITC has sustained its environmental distinction of being the only company in the world to be carbon-positive, water-positive and solid-waste recycling positive for nearly 2 decades now. It continues to be on the Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index and has retained the ‘AA’ rating by MSCI-ESG, as well as the Leadership score for CDP Climate and the ‘A’ list for CDP water. Today, renewable sources power 52% of ITC’s energy consumption. ITC has also been plastic neutral for 4 years now.

I would now like to turn to what is undoubtedly the largest challenge of the century – the devastating global impact of climate change. 2024 was the first year in the 175-year observational record to consistently surpass the 1.50C threshold. India experienced extreme weather events on 322 days in 2024, with heat waves being as challenging as raging floods. About 76% of India’s total population is currently exposed to high heat risk. Climate change is expected to impact food security with reduced wheat and rice yields even as vulnerable agri-communities deal with issues of livelihood security. While the world has rightly focused on long-term decarbonisation initiatives, the increased severity of extreme weather events makes it imperative that urgent focus is accorded to adaptation to help enterprises and society navigate the climate crisis.

While ITC has, over the years, undertaken exemplary decarbonisation initiatives, sharper emphasis is today being accorded to the super critical area of adaptation, that focuses on climate-proofing physical infrastructure, building resilience of agri value-chains and promoting nature-based solutions. Accordingly, ITC has carried out a comprehensive climate-risk modelling exercise across 140 sites and agri value-chains using AI-enabled tools to forecast the impact of different climate hazards such as rising heat, intense rainfall, floods and drought, across various climate scenarios and time horizons. Detailed farm-level studies were also undertaken to understand impacts on crop and region-specific yield across India. Accordingly, site-specific plans have been devised to address the identified decadal risks.

In line with this approach, ITC has spearheaded a large-scale Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) programme to de-risk farming systems from both biotic and abiotic stress. The programme adopts a participatory approach for agronomy toolkit development and promotion of high-yielding, climate-resistant seed varieties, developed by LSTC, alongside best-in-class agro-chemical management and micro zone-specific agricultural practices. These practices have led to greater resilience, higher productivity and enhanced farmer incomes. Implemented across key crops such as wheat, rice, soybean, onion, and spices, the CSA programme today spans over 31 lakh acres, covers 100 districts in 19 States and benefits more than 12 lakh farmers. ITC is committed to expanding CSA coverage to over 40 lakh acres by 2030.

ITC recognises the crucial need to enhance water security in its operations and catchments. Towards this, ITC has received the globally-acknowledged AWS Platinum certification, for all its prioritised vulnerable water-stress sites. Going beyond the fence, ITC is actively engaged in the restoration of river basins in our factory catchments to strengthen water security and has already achieved water positive status in 4 such basins, whilst one more is on the anvil. Given the escalating water stress in cities, ITC is also implementing measures in urban catchments, including Bengaluru and Tiruvottiyur. Recognising the critical role of water in agriculture, ITC has implemented large-scale integrated watershed development programmes to enhance supply as well as demand-side interventions to achieve more crop per drop. Today, the rainwater harvesting initiative has cumulatively covered 18 lakh acres, while the demand-side efforts have enabled an estimated annual savings of 1,400 million KL across 15 crops covering 18 lakh acres in 12 States. These efforts have enabled ITC to create freshwater potential that is today 5 times more than its consumption in operations.

In addition to ITC’s afforestation programme, ITC has implemented a large-scale biodiversity conservation initiative to protect, restore and enhance ecosystem services through adoption of nature-based solutions. These programmes today cover 6.4 lakh acres and will be enlarged to a million acres by 2030.