Renewed sense of mission

The introspection has led us to reformulate our mission as a natural resources company. With our portfolio of base metals like copper, zinc, aluminium, silver, which remain at the core of industries, we believe we can play a transformative role in this onward journey towards a safer and more sustainable future.

We are looking ahead with our renewed purpose of ‘Transforming for good’, a mission whose more granular components are transforming communities, transforming the planet, and transforming the workforce. Together, they give shape to our vision to promote environmental stewardship, social responsibility and good governance. With our target to become Net Zero by 2050, plans to promote green manufacturing practices and green products, sustained drive through our CSR projects that create opportunities for ordinary lives, focus on evolved people practices and ethical and transparent governance, we want to set off a transformative momentum. The renewed purpose further strengthens our commitment to work for greater good, for national prosperity and for sustainable growth.

Sustainability leadership

We are constantly transforming ourselves to take on this critical role. We are first Indian metals and mining company to release the Climate Change Report in line with the Taskforce on Climate- related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). We have signed the Declaration of the Private Sector on Climate Change, a Government of India initiative, and Vedanta Aluminium this year became the largest buyer of renewable energy from the Indian Energy Exchange.

One of the other crowning glories this year was the launch green Aluminium under the brands ‘Restora’ & ‘Restora Ultra’, with which we join the exclusive club of green metal producers. Manufactured using renewable energy and with a carbon emission intensity, which is far below the global record for such metals, the Restora products will further enhance India’s reputation as one of the most prominent drivers of sustainability in the world.

Committed to community interests

During a trying year, we ensured that we did not shift our gaze from our commitment to our communities. We continued to respond to the global pandemic, which posed fresh challenges to our business operations, by implementing protocols to keep our workforce safe and supporting public health efforts in our operating jurisdictions. We answered to critical oxygen needs by supplying to COVID care centres and hospitals while continuing to create awareness among communities so that they could better protect themselves from the scourge. We promoted the livelihood initiatives of SHGs (Self Help Groups) by buying masks in bulk from them and supplying to communities in the vicinity of our plants and offices. On the other hand, we continued with our usual CSR drives to promote education and nutrition support through our Nand Ghar project and building relationships of trust with local communities. I am proud that we have set up 3,262 Nand Ghars so far, benefiting 1,20,000 children and 90,000+ women.

Strengthening our human capital and safety culture

We strive to create a caring work environment that fosters innovation, curiosity and collaboration. Diversity and inclusion are essential to achieving that goal. To further our diversity agenda, we have constituted the Group Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council in FY2022. The council’s mandate is to ensure the integration of our DE&I goals into the ESG framework in line with organisation’s broader business strategy.

Protecting the health, safety, wellbeing and security of our workforce and the communities in our direct impact zones have always been a top priority for us. However, with extreme regret I report that we lost 12 of our business partner employees this year in work-related incidents. Such incidents once again indicate that safety is a continuous learning experience, and we are more intensely looking at ways to better identify, understand and control all the risks associated with workplace hazards. This makes our Fatality Risk Management programme one of the most important focus areas for us.

VEDANTA WILL BECOME A NET ZERO CARBON COMPANY BY 2050 OR SOONER.

Combating the climate crisis

At Vedanta, we believe that we have a fundamental responsibility, alongside the government and communities, to address the global challenge of climate change. In keeping with India’s promise of Net Zero by 2070 and the Paris Agreement, we have committed to become a Net Zero carbon business by 2050 and inscribed this into our Energy and Carbon Policy. We are driving innovations and adopting the latest technologies to move towards a greener business model. This includes targets to reduce our absolute carbon emissions by 25% from a 2021 baseline along with achieving Net water positivity by 2030. Towards this end, we aim to spend US$5 billion over the next 10 years to accelerate our transition to Net Zero Carbon. We are also committed to ensuring that 100% of our light-motor-vehicle fleet is decarbonised by 2030 and 75% of our mining fleet runs without fossil fuels by 2035.

Future roadmap

Our roadmap for transformation derives from our ESG vision, which, has become a business imperative together with digitalisation to ensure business sustainability. We will continue to prioritise the wellbeing of our people, local communities and the natural environment. We remain committed to making India and the world a better place to live by banking on the principles of social equity and impact, environmental care and good corporate governance practices.

Regards,

Anil Agarwal

Chairman