UST is Now certified as a CarbonNeutral Company

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, today announced that it has achieved CarbonNeutral® company certification in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol, the leading global framework for carbon neutrality. Aligned with the company’s longstanding commitment to act responsibly and minimize the impact of its activities on the environment, this latest accreditation underscores UST’s unwavering pledge to climate action.

The first set of clear guidelines for businesses to achieve carbon neutrality, the CarbonNeutral Protocol, was created by Natural Capital Partners in 2002. Since then, the Protocol has been continually updated with input from an Advisory Council of external experts to ensure it reflects the latest industry and scientific best practices.

The CarbonNeutral company certification is the latest in UST’s ongoing ESG and social responsibility initiatives, including joining the Amazon-led The Climate Pledge, a cross-sector business community working together to crack the climate crisis and solve the challenges of decarbonizing the economy. As a signatory, UST is taking science-based, high-impact actions to tackle climate change by innovating in supply chain efficiency, sustainable transportation, circular economy, and clean energy solutions.

Eco-Friendly Actions
From its humble beginnings in 1999, UST has always invested in improving society through corporate sustainability and social responsibility actions positively impacting the world.
Some of the current and upcoming initiatives include:
• Plans to install a 1.2 MW on-grid solar power system in UST’s Trivandrum campus which will reduce the dependency on traditional power sources for the campus by 35%.
• Creating a large waterbody with 174,240 Sq. Ft. of surface area, where rainwater is harvested. 80% of UST’s water consumption is from this waterbody, which has helped the company reduce their dependency on the urban water supply system.
• Utilizing battery-operated vehicles for traversing across UST’s campus leads to a cleaner and healthier working environment and reduces carbon emissions.
• Working with suppliers that use zero or low emission vehicles.
• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.
• Switching to renewable energy for 25% of power needs by 2025 and 50% by 2030.
• Undertaking several afforestation projects by planting tree saplings in the form of dense foresting.
• Take actions to neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

“We are extremely honored to be recognized as a certified CarbonNeutral company as we further our commitment to decrease UST’s carbon footprint and support additional carbon-reduction projects,” said Krishna Sudheendra, Chief Executive Officer, UST. “I am tremendously proud of our entire team’s passionate efforts to make a positive impact and look forward to seeing these programs continue to grow and build a better world.”

Saskia Feast, Managing Director, Global Client Solutions, Natural Capital Partners, said: “We are delighted to work with UST as they continue their commitment to positively impact the world through their CSR initiatives. In this critical decade of climate action, we need to use all the solutions available to deliver the change we need. UST’s CarbonNeutral® company certification and commitment to environmental stewardship demonstrate how business can deliver meaningful action on climate change.”

“With this step, UST is making it crystal clear that we are taking action today to protect the planet and commit to transforming the communities we impact every day,” added Nandagopal Ramachandran, General Manager – Operations, UST. “At the same time, we are committing to further emissions reductions, with a target for Net Zero by 2040. We believe that sustainability is everyone’s responsibility and actions from everyone, however small they are, will bring large impact to life on the planet.”