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TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FY 2023
Taking stock on the first year of our transformation journey
In Conversation with the Group CEO & Chief Safety Officer
FY 2022-23 proved to be a precursor for
the future, as we saw India’s economy
breaking away from the rest of the world to
define its own unique growth numbers.
Driven by healthy macroeconomic
Our ESG journey has helped fundamentals and domestic consumption,
us uphold the utmost levels FY2023 saw India reaching an impressive
6.8% GDP growth. Developed countries,
of excellence and integrity, including China, saw subdued growth in
aiming to attain sustainable the face of inflation and recessionary
and responsible growth in pressures.
collaboration with all
stakeholders. High commodity prices, however, affected
bottom line growth for Indian businesses
in the first half of the year. Against this
backdrop, Vedanta has posted a
commendable financial performance. Our
consistent operational efficiencies and
strong cost control has made us a much
more resilient company, solidifying
the competitive advantage that we
command.
The company's ESG goals cover an
extremely broad canvas, reflecting our
philosophy of “Transforming for Good” by
taking the responsibility for environmental
stewardship via decarbonization, the
circular economy, water positivity and
bringing long-lasting positive social
change at the bottom of the pyramid.
In this conversation with Vedanta’s
Group CEO & Chief Safety Officer, Sunil
Duggal, we are acquainted with the
company’s Sustainability and ESG vision
Sunil Duggal and the underlying rationale and impact
Group CEO & Chief Safety Officer targeted.
COMMUNITIES
How would you describe the transformation
achieved as a part of Vedanta's ESG journey?
At Vedanta, we have always been committed
towards sustainable and responsible mining
practices. We acknowledge the significant
impact that our operations can have on local
communities, ecosystems, and the
environment. To address this, we have put in
place a comprehensive sustainability framework
that acts as an anchor and a check, balancing
the larger environmental and humanitarian
concerns against business needs and
exigencies. All our decision-making processes
thus answer to the dual needs of harmonizing
economic progress with environmental, social,
and governance (ESG) considerations.
The past year was a challenging one due to the
unpredictable macroeconomic environment
caused by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
However, we adopted a holistic approach and
could achieve excellent operating performance
despite the external shocks and the need for
realignment of our supply chains. Our guiding
philosophy of 'Transforming for Good,' helped
our efforts by fostering a more integrated
business approach both in terms of our
operational and external outcomes, thereby
leading to value-accretive growth.
How has Vedanta’s sustainability agenda
supported the overall performance of the
company?
As India's largest diversified natural resources
company and one of the global giants in metals,
mining, and energy, Vedanta holds a unique
advantage in India's pursuit of self-reliance.
THE PLANET THE WORKPLACE
Our exceptional mining expertise is
bolstered by cutting-edge technology
and a talented workforce, combined with
a robust value-added portfolio, and we
are well-positioned to seize the emerging
growth opportunities.
To address business risks that are most
likely to arise from environmental crises,
Vedanta has taken several strategic goals
that act to mitigate climate change and
nature loss. Our ambitious targets for
decarbonization, practice of circularity
and water positivity are in line with the
UN's Sustainable Development Goals,
and we continue to align our performance
with sectoral and global best practices.
To help realize our "net zero" targets, we
have signed renewable energy power
delivery agreements (PDAs) that will bring
788 MW of round-the-clock equivalent
renewable power to our businesses.
Three additional facilities operated by us
have turned water positive, highlighting
the progress that we are making.
Vedanta believes in responsible growth,
and we work with our adjacent
communities to improve their lives
through our efforts. Our flagship initiative,
Nand Ghar, has been actively working to
improve the Aanganwadi ecosystem in
India and helps close the urban-rural
divide. We currently have Nand Ghars in
14 states, and these have helped 3.2 lakh
women and children by providing them
with healthcare, food and education.
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Our vision of "Transforming for Good," has
been crucial. It has helped us meet the
expectations of our community members
and stakeholders while also establishing a
position of leadership in ESG
implementation. This year’s theme of
"Transforming Together" captures our
collective vigour and passion to generate
value for everyone.
Our performance on important external
rating systems including the Dow Jones
Sustainability Indexes, Sustainalytics, MSCI,
and CDP has significantly improved because
of our ESG activities. Vedanta now ranks
sixth on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index,
among top 10 diversified metals and mining
peers. Additionally, Vedanta and several of
our Group companies have won many prizes
on reputable platforms in the areas of
finance, operational efficiency, CSR, and
human resources. These accolades reflect
on the responsibility and competence with
which we carry out our product
manufacturing journey, our impressive
portfolio and our capable leadership team.
How has the “Transforming for Good”
vision helped to integrate Vedanta’s
internal processes and governance and
business administration mechanisms?
We place a strong emphasis on upholding
good governance practices, supported by
rigorous policies and frameworks that drive
accountability and transparency. Through
our vision of “Transforming for Good” we aim
for integrated growth and every business
unit is linked to this shared vision.
“Transforming for Good” has helped us to
set larger, long-term targets, replacing the
earlier practice of annual plans and ESG
reporting, and spotlighting of individual
positive developments. Under this shared
vision of incremental transformation, we work
on accepted pathways and can achieve a huge
difference through ongoing initiatives and
linkages. Our disclosures now highlight the
collective progress and direction of Vedanta as
a whole.
This clear definition of our trajectory has also
fostered alignment and motivation among our
leaders. We are no longer merely measuring
ourselves against self-imposed standards;
rather, we are driven by a larger purpose, and
this is a profound and transformative shift.
The Board ESG Committee has been
supportive of our goals and monitors our
performance. Along with the ESG ManCom,
this committee provided direction and
oversight over the large volume of work that is
being carried out by the 14 Communities of
Practice (CoP), who are responsible for
delivering on our ESG agenda. There are more
than 1,000 projects – big and small – currently
underway to deliver on our nine ESG aims.
Going forward, what is the vision for
Vedanta’s ESG journey?
Our primary objective is to strengthen our
position as a leader and unlock value through
the execution of growth projects, while also
prioritizing on our ESG goals, innovation,
digitalization and safety. In FY 2022, we
changed our business planning methodology
and each of our businesses developed
comprehensive business plans addressing
each of Vedanta’s nine individual aims. This
approach continued into FY 2023 and will also
be followed in FY 2024. However, from FY 2024
onwards these ESG business plans will no
longer solely focus on short-term targets. In all these ways we are trying to creat
Rather their horizons will extend till 2030, safe and secure workplace for our
making way for broader targets and employees that can become an industry
programmes with greater, accretive impact. benchmark.
This approach is a part of our "Transforming
for Good" vision.
We are committed to enhancing the skills of
emerging leaders, empowering women, and
fostering strong relationships with our
business partners through various flagship
programmes. Ensuring the health and safety
of our people and other stakeholders will
continue to be of utmost importance.
We make regular, planned investments to
create zero-harm environments, where our
people can work with security and peace of
mind. This year, we have had 13 fatalities. This
is a very unfortunate situation, and we deeply
regret the precious loss of lives. These
unfortunate occurrences have hardened our
resolve to build a safe workplace.
We have adopted the Incident Cause Analysis
Method (ICAM) investigation process to
scrutinize all fatalities and high-potential
incidents in detail, enabling us to identify the
root cause of each incident and create a
corrective and preventive action (CAPA) plan
to avoid future occurrences. Moreover, we
have launched a cross-business audit to
ensure that the best safety practices are
being implemented across all our operations.
Our business unit CEOs are tirelessly working
towards the complete resolution of 100% of
the CAPA learnings. The objective of this
process is to illustrate and establish and
create a shared understanding of safety risks
within the organization.