"OUR TARGET IS TO REDUCE CO₂ EMISSION" - MR. B MUTHURAMAN

~CO₂ - Kick the Habit - Towards a Low Carbon Economy~

The Tata Steel Group Vision is 'We aspire to be the global steel industry benchmark for Value Creation and Corporate Citizenship'. With a target to reduce CO₂ emissions to 1.5 t/tls compared to the current 1.8 t/tls, Tata Steel's environment day celebrations inside Tata Steel Works in Jamshedpur focused on its vision and also the theme by UNEP that is CO₂ - Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy.

The occasion marked the beginning of a campaign called "Accelerated Drive for CO₂ Reduction" which was launched by Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director - Tata Steel. He released air balloons to kickstart the campaign. He also inaugurated an exhibition on environment that has been set up at Steelennium Hall (inside Works). The exhibition talks about the various technological developments and initiatives undertaken by Tata Steel in the last 100 years to reduce CO₂ emission and make the process of steel making environment friendly. It elaborates various activities taken up to protect the environment and make the steel making process more eco friendly.

While addressing the gathering Mr. B Muthuraman, spoke about the imperativeness of preserving the environment and adopting energy conservation methods. "In the last 300-400 years, the rate at which quality of life of an individual has improved, does not match the rate of successful initiatives to protect the environment. Needs / desires of human beings for a comfortable life is something that cannot be denied and development of these needs like the want for a car and luxuries like air conditioners has led to environment damage. It is high time we take cognizance of the situation and take larger steps to reduce CO₂ emission and protect the environment. We must take definitive steps to reduce CO₂ and set targets to reduce energy consumption."

In his welcome address, Mr. Om Narayan, Vice President (Shared Services), Tata Steel spoke about World Environment Day as being a day of introspection. "Steel is a commodity that can be recycled infinitely, but the problem lies in the fact that the steel making process is very energy intensive. Keeping in mind Tata Steel group's Vision of reducing CO₂ emission to 1.5 t/tls, we will be undertaking numerous initiatives and projects to achieve the target." Mr. B Muthuraman also unveiled a booklet on energy that was in line with the theme of World Environment Day and Vision 2012.

Another initiative that was inaugurated by Mr. B Muthuraman was 'Telepresence', a technology that is designed to replicate as closely as possible a face-to-face meeting experience even though the participants are on opposite sides of the world. This breakthrough technology will provide an opportunity to significantly reduce travel between the UK and India. In its own way, this innovation by Tata Steel Group will contribute to reduce CO₂ emission which is one of main thrust areas of Vision 2012. Studios with Telepresence suite have been set up in Millbank, Jamshedpur and Mumbai and the service was officially launched on World Environment Day.

To mark the occasion and spread awareness on preservation of the environment, there was a special screening of the film "An Inconvenient Truth" at the Steellenium Hall. The documentary gave an account of the harms being done to the environment and its impact on human civilisation. In addition to these major initiatives, there were a host of function, tree plantation drives, awareness campaigns and environment floats that were organised across all locations of Tata Steel to celebrate World Environment with the communities in which it operates.

Climate change is becoming the defining issue of our era and hence it is essential for companies and communities to focus on greenhouse gas emissions and adopt methods to reduce them. Through its various functions, Tata Steel celebrated World Environment Day and used this occasion to highlight resources and initiatives that promote low carbon economies and life-styles, such as improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, forest conservation and eco-friendly consumption amongst its people, employees and the communities that it operates in.