Reliance has been proactive in its efforts to become a Net Carbon Zero organisation and mitigate its impact on the environment by reducing its carbon footprint.

In FY 2022-23, the Company continued to implement sustainable practices to contribute to the global effort of limiting temperature increases to help protect the environment and fight against climate change. The Company’s climate-related risk management is integrated with its group risk management process and aligns with the risk management approach outlined by its operating management system. The Company views these risks both strategically and operationally to have an overarching view of climate-related risks. To address the risks and opportunities of climate change, Reliance has committed to investing over `75,000 crore to build a comprehensive ecosystem for New Energy and New Materials in India. Reliance is prepared to double this investment to scale up the manufacturing ecosystem. The Company has a vision to become one of the world’s leading New Energy and New Materials companies. New Energy from harnessing solar and green hydrogen value chains presents a multi-trilliondollar opportunity for India and the world.

Decarbonisation Strategy

Reliance has outlined a detailed roadmap focusing on developing green energy and sustainable materials and implementing next-generation carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies to achieve a Net Carbon Zero by 2035.

Reliance has identified several key areas to achieve its Net Carbon Zero target, including transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources, maximising sustainable materials and chemicals as part of its portfolio, and adopting carbon fixation, capture, and utilisation technologies. Reliance is also looking to convert crude to chemicals based on the Company’s proprietary Multizone Catalytic Cracking (MCC) technology. More on the Net Carbon Zero strategy is available on Read More.

Energy Transition to New Energy Solutions

As part of its strategy to create the world’s largest fully integrated green energy manufacturing ecosystem, Reliance is setting up the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar to develop photovoltaic panels, energy storage, Green Hydrogen, and fuel cell systems. The Company is also building a Giga Factory for Power Electronics to link the entire green energy value chain and design and manufacture affordable, reliable power electronics and software systems that meet global performance, safety, and reliability standards through partnerships with leading companies worldwide.

Reliance is one of the largest producers of Grey Hydrogen globally. It has entered into a partnership with Stiesdal to reduce manufacturing costs and commercialise the latter’s Pressurised Alkaline Electrolyser technology. Furthermore, the Company is in advanced discussions with other leading electrolyser technology providers to establish a giga-scale electrolyser manufacturing facility in Jamnagar

Reliance aims to leverage its engineering expertise, operational excellence, and experience in efficient seawater desalination and draw on the technological innovations of Stiesdal to develop Green Hydrogen at the lowest cost possible. The Company’s goal is to commence transition from Grey Hydrogen to Green Hydrogen by 2025 after establishing cost and performance targets.

In the realm of bioenergy, Reliance is already a major user of agro-waste as a fuel for its captive energy needs. The Company aims to further the use of agro-waste and other emerging technologies to meet its energy requirements sustainably. On August 15, 2022, the Company inaugurated the first phase of its Bio-Energy Technology (BET) Centre at Jamnagar, with plans to continue expanding its presence.

Reliance’s captive energy requirements across its businesses provide a large base-load demand to consume the output of the Company’s planned giga-scale manufacturing ecosystem in Jamnagar.

The Company aims to establish 20 GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2025 to be utilised for its captive needs of round-the-clock (RTC) power and intermittent energy for Green Hydrogen production. Once the solution’s success at scale is established, the Company is prepared to double its investment to expand its manufacturing ecosystem further.

Additionally, Reliance is making significant investments in several areas of chemical production and setting up its New Materials growth engine.

Reliance’s expertise in chemistry and materials will give the Company a competitive edge in establishing a worldscale battery manufacturing facility. The goal is to start battery pack production, and scale up to a fully integrated 5 GWh cell-to-pack facility by 2024, and further scale up to 50 GWh annual capacity by 2027.

The Company will also invest in enhancing the value chain, partnerships, and future technologies, including upstream and downstream projects like:

• Integrated PV manufacturing from quartz to PV modules, including building an ecosystem of ancillary units
• Battery chemicals and components, cells and pack manufacturing and energy storage system
• Building an electrolyser and Hydrogen value chain
• Power generation to ensure round-the-clock availability for the production of Hydrogen
• Power electronics systems required to support renewable energy, such as inverters, chargers, DC-DC converters
• Renewable energy for mobility

Strategic Partnerships

Reliance is focused on furthering the adoption of green mobility to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and that of the larger ecosystem. The Company is investing in and promoting electric vehicles (EVs) and related infrastructure, such as setting up charging stations across India. Reliance is creating a comprehensive manufacturing ecosystem to develop materials and management systems as well as cells to build safe and reliable batteries with high energy density and fast charging capabilities.

Reliance is partnering with Lithium Werks, Faradion, and Ambri – global leaders recognised for their advanced chemistry solutions to improve performance. Lithium Werks offers high-performance Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) solutions, Faradion provides sodium-ion battery chemistry, and Ambri is a leader in liquid metal energy storage solutions.

In addition to its battery ecosystem efforts, Reliance is exploring hydrogen fuel cell technology and other clean energy solutions for transportation. The Company is partnering with auto manufacturers and other stakeholders to create a sustainable future for transportation.

Jio-bp has partnered with various players across sectors to facilitate EV charging and swapping infrastructure. Collaborations include:

Reliance’s Green Hydrogen Aspirations

During the International Climate Summit 2021, Reliance shared its belief that India has the potential to become the first country in the world to produce green Hydrogen at a cost of less than $1 per kg in the next decade. The nation has set a goal to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Reliance aims to establish and enable 100 GW of solar energy generation by that date. Intermittent solar energy generation can also produce Green Hydrogen for local use aligned with the Company’s goal of making Hydrogen affordable and accessible in India.

Responsible Energy use Across Business Units

Oil To Chemical (O2C) and Exploration and Production (E&P)

Reliance has consistently sought to fulfil its energy requirements while minimising the environmental impact. During FY 2022-23, renewable energy consumption across the Company’s operations saw an increase of 115% year-on-year. The Dahej and Hazira manufacturing units generated 6.1 million GJ of renewable energy, accounting for over 90% of the total green energy produced in the fiscal year by the Company. Reliance employed a co-firing strategy, using biomass in conjunction with coal at its Dahej and Hazira manufacturing units, to reduce dependency on non-renewable resources.

The Reliance O2C business incorporates Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning (ML) based cutting edge digital solutions into its operations to conserve energy. Additionally, Reliance O2C has made efforts to develop synthesis gas from renewable sources through biomass gasification.

Reliance Retail stores worked jointly with GRAB to allocate orders to EV vehicles. The unit also owns and maintains the charging stations and batteries. Around 300 EV 3-wheelers were used by Jio Mart to cater to their B2C business. The Company is committed to promoting a sustainable transportation system where fuel consumption, vehicle emissions, safety, congestion, and social and economic access are maintained at sustainable levels to reduce and mitigate environmental damage for future generations.

Reliance Retail

Reliance Retail has undertaken various initiatives to save energy, including implementing Project LED across all its retail formats and Solar Projects at owned supply chain sites. Additionally, Reliance Retail has rolled out new initiatives, such as using thermal reflective coating on roofs, walls, facades, and window glasses to reduce energy requirements for cooling and also utilises battery-powered equipment for material handling, reducing its dependence on fossil fuels. The supply chain team at Reliance Retail has implemented several measures to reduce emissions, noise, and fuel consumption, such as turning off truck ignitions in waiting areas.

Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio actively engages with customers and suppliers to create sustainable products and initiatives. Digital connectivity helps reduce travel-related emissions. With 5G solutions, Jio is creating value in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, energy, and education using cutting-edge technology like robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, and smart manufacturing to fight climate change. Reliance Jio has integrated smart sensors connected through 5G technology to continuously monitor the energy consumption of equipment in facilities. The rich data collected is analysed using Connected Intelligence to optimise energy consumption and other operational parameters, increase efficiency and productivity and reduce costs. As every Reliance Jio facility becomes a connected facility, the real-time monitoring of operational parameters for effective management will be feasible, even when its people are working remotely.

Reliance Jio has set a Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validated target of a reduction of 76% in its absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by FY 2027-28 compared to the base year of FY 2019-20. The unit has committed to a reduction of 66.5% in absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel and energy-related activities, upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, and upstream leased assets by FY 2027-28 compared to the base year of FY 2019-20. Reliance Jio has also committed to increase annual sourcing of renewable electricity from 1.2% in FY 2019-20 to 100% by FY 2028-29 and to continue sourcing 100% renewable electricity through FY 2029-30.

The total power consumption has increased significantly on account of 4G and 5G network expansion, however the emission increase is marginal, due to the increase in renewable energy. In addition to setting up over 161 MW of solar power at over 17,000 sites across India, Reliance Jio is also starting to use wind power and methanol fuel cells to reduce its carbon footprint. Furthermore, the unit has minimised its use of diesel generators (DG) by implementing DG run-hours optimisation initiative and Energy Saving Technology, Time Division Duplex(TDD). Through the increased use of renewable energy, Reliance Jio was able to reduce CO₂ emissions by 1,56,959 tonnes.