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| Overview |
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| CEO’S STATEMENT |
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| OUR COMMITMENT GOES BEYOND
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND IS FOCUSSED ON
DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH OF A WIDE NETWORK
OF STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING EMPLOYEES,
BUSINESS PARTNERS AND HOST COMMUNITIES.
WE FOLLOW A PHILOSOPHY OF 'WORKING
TOGETHER, GROWING TOGETHER', WHICH
REINFORCES OUR SOCIAL LICENCE TO OPERATE. |
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| Natural resources can fuel a nation's economy and enhance the lives of its people. Mining companies are the long-term custodians of these resources and are positioned at the beginning of manufacturing supply chain, benefiting the society and the nation. Vedanta continues to make a unique and powerful contribution to the economic and social development of the nations that host us. To this end, we introduced our holistic Sustainable Development Model and charted out Group-wide sustainability targets. |
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| We work closely with communities in the regions where we operate and strive to align our priorities with those of our host governments. We also touch lives of our employees by contributing a fair share of value, learning platforms and growth opportunities. Significant progress has been achieved in further developing the Vedanta Sustainability Assurance Programme (VSAP) protocols. |
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We adopt global leading practices and leverage the power of innovation to minimise the environmental impacts of our operations. Specific policies, processes, standards and targets have been formulated to manage various environmental aspects. |
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A HOST OF SYSTEMATIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMES HAVE BEEN
INTRODUCED TO IDENTIFY, ANALYSE AND INTEGRATE VARIOUS PRIORITIES
OF OUR STAKEHOLDERS INTO OUR GROWTH STRATEGY. |
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SAFEGUARDING SYNERGIES | RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP
| Stewardship, not ownership, defines our approach. As a natural resources Company, we take responsibility for three critical resources - financial, environmental and human resources. This translates into the culture of 'Zero Harm' that we strive for across the organisation. I believe there is always room to improve an organisation's health, safety and environment performance and this continues to be a top priority for the organisation. |
| Last year, we introduced six safety standards across the Group and we made impressive progress in implementing them. We have piloted a Safety Leadership Transformation programme to empower line leaders to take better decisions by foreseeing the risks and implementing risk mitigation measures. Our businesses have implemented various behavioural and technical programmes to further strengthen the safety culture in the organisation. |
| Despite these efforts, we've unfortunately had 12 fatalities among our employees and contractors. That's 12 too many, and it's a commitment by me, our Board, and the management team to eliminate serious accidents. We are doing even more to eliminate these fatalities especially with respect to contractor fatalities. |
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Over 757,700 hours of safety training were delivered to employees and contractors. |
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| Mother Earth has blessed us with abundant natural resources and it's our responsibility to put these resources to prudent and sustainable use. Water and energy are two such critical resources that need greater focus today from resource conservation and climate impact perspective. I am pleased to report that we surpassed our water and energy conservation targets and have further improved our water recycling rate to 23% this year, from 20% the year before. |
| Climate Change is a rapidly growing concern globally, and we must innovate to improve energy efficiency and find more carbon-neutral solutions. Our innovation efforts are focussed on enhancing our energy efficiency, and we hope to work with the Indian government and other institutions on clean coal technology. We are also charting out a long-term Carbon strategy for our businesses. Given the acute power shortage in Zambia, at KCM we have taken a special drive to reduce average power consumption, achieving a 7% reduction over the last 6 months in FY 2015-16. |
| I am happy to inform that Vedanta Ltd. and HZL have emerged as one of the Indian leaders in the Indian Climate Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI) released by CDP India. |
| In the reporting year, we set a new world record by planting over 200,000 trees in an hour across a 200-acre site in Punjab, India. |
| A world-class closure of our Lisheen mine in Ireland is a testimony of our continued commitment to leave a positive legacy in the community and mine sites where we operate. Our Gamsberg project site is located in an ecologically-sensitive area and we have taken due care to protect and preserve this unique biodiversity. |
| Operational excellence is a critical dimension of responsible stewardship and I see innovation as a key enabler to achieve this objective. We have launched a web platform 'Eureka' to nurture and incubate the in-house innovation and technology development with special emphasis on waste products such as fly ash, red mud and slag materials utilisation for road building, construction materials, and other applications for a growing India. |
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ALIGNING INTERESTS | BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS
| It is crucial that we maintain an on-going and transparent dialogue with all our stakeholders in order to build strong relationships that will allow our business to succeed and maintain our 'Licence to Operate'. Local communities have the right to participate in the decision making and we are committed to the principle of Free, Prior Informed Consent. We have taken further steps to maintain an open dialogue with those who have an interest in Vedanta. We continue to remain proactive on publishing our Tax Transparency report. |
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Retained zero 'critical' incidents status for the second year in a row. (category 4 & 5) |
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Held our maiden Sustainable Development Day in London where we engaged with a select
group of stakeholders that included socially relevant investors, lenders and analysts. |
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| The foundation of all of this remains an unerring commitment to uphold human rights and raise standards of living. We are guided by our Code of Business Conduct & Ethics and Human Rights Policy, which are closely aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We work hand-in-hand with governments, communities, local & global NGOs as well as industry bodies such as CII, FICCI and WBCSD. The objective is to deepen our positive impact and align our goals and actions with high priority areas of the nation. |
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NURTURING INTERDEPENDENCIES | ADDING AND SHARING VALUE
| Vedanta seeks to make a substantial contribution to economic growth both at a local and national level. We invested US$ 37 mn in community development initiatives aimed at driving economic empowerment and social equality, benefiting approximately 2.25 mn people. |
| Many of our social impact projects have been completed in tandem with state authorities and local groups. In India, our Nand Ghar project is unprecedented and unparalleled both in its scope and scale to modernise and revamp 4,000 Anganwadis (childcare centres) across India. In Zambia too, our community initiatives focussed on areas such as malaria prevention, sustainable agriculture, school, clinics and community healthcare are creating positive impacts. These projects really do have the potential to change lives across the country. |
| At a time of slowing economic growth around the world and challenging conditions in our sector, we continue to implement our social programmes. |
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REINFORCING TRUST | STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
| We must continue to earn the trust of local communities and national governments. For that reason, clear and timely communications that our stakeholders understand and relate to are of paramount importance. In May 2015, we launched a new logo and released our Core Purpose and Core Values, capturing our continued commitment to people, planet and wider prosperity. This was followed by the launch of our 'Power of One' campaign in June 2015 to promote our unified brand identity. |
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| I hope, you find this report useful and informative. As always, we welcome your feedback and look forward to your continued support. |
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| For more information visit our group companies |
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