BENAGLURU: Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola India, has set a target to source 40 per cent of its energy requirements using renewable and clean energy fuel, before the end of 2018 and has begun sourcing solar power from a private firm and compressed natural gas from public-sector gas major GAIL to fire its two boilers at two production units in Karnataka.
The move, according to the company, will reduce 24,500 tonnes of carbon emission from the two factories in the state.
HCCB also announced that an agreement has been signed with Atria Solar Power Pvt Ltd to procure 30 million units of solar power per annum. This will help the company meet 85 per cent of their electricity requirement through solar power, off the grid for the two plants in Karnataka.
“We are advancing our commitment on sourcing of renewable and clean energy by a couple of years — from 2020 to 2018. We are inspired by India’s ingenuity and the government’s vision of achieving 40 per cent cumulative electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030 and are committed to be part of it,” said Christina Ruggiero, CEO, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages.
Commenting on water conservation, an area where the company has been in the eye of the storm in south India, Ruggiero reiterated that HCCB is committed to reducing the intake of water and at the same time increase the replenishing water resources in the area they operate in.
“Across India, for every one litre of beverage we produce we use about 1.8 liters of water. In the Aranya plant we have reduced it to 1.2 litres, but this is not enough. So we are developing water programmes around the area where we have our plants and are giving back 150 per cent of water back to the community,” she noted.
Ruggiero is confident that with growing competition among the various plants of HCCB in India, the usage of water will come down while they continue to replenish more water.