Toyota Kirloskar Motor bags 2019 Golden Peacock award for slashing its carbon footprint

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has been conferred the ‘Golden Peacock Award for Energy Efficiency’ for the year 2019. The award was presented by R V Deshpande, Minister for Revenue & Skill Development, government of Karnataka, to TKM management during IOD India's ‘21st World Congress on Environment Management’ held in Bangalore recently.

The award has come TKM’s way for its many initiatives promoting energy efficiency improvement and its commitment towards creating a climate-resilient society which is in harmony with nature and also the principles of Toyota’s Global Environment Challenge 2050.

The Toyota Environment Challenge 2050 aims to have zero CO2 emissions in new vehicles, throughout the vehicle lifecycle, manufacturing plants, minimise and optimise water usage and establish a recycling-based society and system and a future society in harmony with nature. It is aligned with United Nations’ 17 Universal Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] and has partnered with international organizations to support global warming countermeasures to achieve the ‘below 2 degree’ temperature goal.

According to the International Energy Agency, India’s energy demand in 2018 outpaced global demand growth. Due to higher energy consumption, the global energy-related CO2 emissions increased to 33.1 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 in 2018. This energy demand is expected to see a spike in the future and the associated emissions as well. Therefore, for sustainable development, there is an urgent need to adopt energy efficiency measures with renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and others [replacing fossil fuels].

How TKM is reducing its carbon footprint
With a key focus on energy efficiency, Toyota has been swiftly moving from non-renewable to renewable sources of energy across its business operations, as electricity consumption being one of the major sources of energy in manufacturing sector. 

Commenting on TKM bagging the Golden Peacock Award for Energy Efficiency, Raju B Ketkale, senior vice-president and environment director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said: “We are delighted that our consistent efforts to reduce energy consumption and achieve energy efficiency in our business operations have been acknowledged. In October 2018, we achieved 100 percent renewable power source for our energy requirements. TKM successfully sourced 88 percent of electricity from renewable source of energy for its operations at the Bidadi plant facility in FY2019, which has avoided emissions of 68,121 tonnes of CO2. TKM sources clean energy and adopts smart manufacturing systems towards Toyota’s ultimate global mission of ‘Zero Carbon Emission’ through various initiatives like adoption of reverse refrigeration system, centralised control of chillers and adoption of smart ACs. From fuel efficient vehicles to developing ever better eco-technologies and approaches, TKM focuses on environmentally sustainable solutions in every business operation and every vehicle that is manufactured.”

TKM has achieved considerable success in its efforts to reduce energy consumptions through controlling and reducing daily energy consumption in operational processes through stringent and systematic monitoring to track energy usage. In FY2019, 76 percent of the water consumed in the manufacturing facility was recycled water and only 7 percent of fresh water was consumed.

In order to ensure energy efficiency, Toyota follows ‘Daily Monitoring’ and implements regular Kaizen (continuous improvement) in energy consumption that incorporates KPI visualisation, daily review by CO2 team along with shopfloor PIC and shop management. They also deliver weekly updates to shopfloor managers, monthly update to division heads and top management. TKM claims to have an effective auditing system in place to ensure that abnormalities are highlighted and rectified at the source.

Furthermore, TKM has installed in-house solar power plants at rooftops and the ground in its Bidadai plant, which has a combined capacity of 8.4 MW of electricity. The company claims that the renewable energy sourcing has increased from 15 percent in FY2016 to 65 percent in FY2018 and 88 percent in FY2019. Now the company is looking forward to achieve 100 percent by September 2019.

TKM also produces the new Camry Hybrid sedan. This self-charging EV is a strong hybrid model and the only hybrid car locally manufactured at the second plant in Bidadi.

The Golden Peacock Awards are a set of prestigious national and global awards designed to improve productivity and quality in organisations.

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