Environmental Sustainability Above and Beyond
The environmental agenda, one of the major pillars of sustainable development, often intersects with multilateral trade obligations. Amidst the echoes of environment, climate change, and sustainable development worldwide, NEI has gone above and beyond boundaries to implement sustainability measures with a view to reducing carbon footprint.
Recently having obtained the Green Factory Building Platinum Certification by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) for having maintained efficiency of energy consumption and water usage that has been effective in sustaining a village of 300 houses for two consecutive months, plus the ISO 50001 approval for our Jaipur plant as a global recognition for our Energy Management System, we are gearing towards reaching out to more global customers who are looking to partner with an energy-efficient and sustainable enterprise. Our plant in Savli, Vadodara is also IGBC platinum-certified, adopting all green manufacturing practices right from the start.
Environmental Sustainability – Larger Perspective in Practice
Our larger objective lies in reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency to support our overarching goal of lowering GHG emissions and Carbon Footprint. In other words, leveraging opportunities to spur the transfer and dissemination of environment-friendly and clean-energy technology as a leading exporter and manufacturer of bearings is what we constantly aim for.
We have been undeterred in extending our endeavor further in our sustainability mission—ranging from implementing all best-in-class practices with supreme standards of water and energy conservation, waste management, and reduction in CO2 emission, to maintaining environmental quality.
NEI’s rainwater harvesting exercise has ensured saving more than 6 million liters of water annually. In addition, wastewater released from the factory is treated on-site in the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). This is in turn used for landscaping the campus areas, consequently resulting in zero discharge outside of the plant. We have reduced water consumption in our Jaipur Plant by 40% in the last five years. In fact, we have a six-sigma project running currently for the reduction of water consumption at the factory site.
The facility in Rajasthan, with its sustainable green building design, also optimizes natural daylight and uses effective lighting and air-conditioning systems to reduce its energy consumption by 39 percent. With its 1500 KW rooftop solar and 100 percent LED lighting, the facility contributes by further decreasing its carbon footprint to 38 percent.
In addition, we have also partnered with our customers for participation in their Carbon disclosure project (CDP), as they strive toward bringing about environmental improvements in their supply chains. However, it doesn’t end there. To maintain environmental quality further, we have also begun to use returnable packaging solutions that help in the reduction of packaging waste.
Our GHG Emission Metrics
To calculate the Green House Gas emissions inventory, we collected activity data from the various locations we identified as sources of GHG emissions. We then applied the emission factors and subsequently derived data on emissions from each source.
We further aggregated this to the corporate level for calculating NEI’s total Carbon footprint. As per the data analyzed for immediate bearing manufacturing competitors for Carbon emission from all 94 manufacturing units around the globe, the emission is around 1.225 M tonnes of the net equivalent. On the contrary, NEI has around 0.105 M tonnes of net equivalent Carbon emission from its 5 manufacturing units.
Towards a Greener Future
While we discuss aspects of environmental sustainability, we cannot play on the back foot when it comes to acknowledging aspects of economic and social sustainability. Sustainable development from a holistic point of view would be achieved only when there is either a balance or a trade-off between these three aspects. NEI takes pride in being part of this mission and will continue playing its part to its maximum potential.
