TTEL consolidates sustainability drive with Gold status on UN Climate Neutral Now initiative

Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC (TTEL), a leading member of the Hayleys Plantations Sector, obtained the Gold status for all three steps of Measure, Reduce and Contribute under the Climate Neutral Now (CNN) initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), setting another regional benchmark in the plantations industry.

One of several initiatives launched by the UNFCCC secretariat to increase climate action under the Paris Agreement, the Climate Neutral Now initiative guides, supports, and encourages non-party stakeholders such as organisations and individuals to work towards a Climate Neutral world by 2050.

“Hayleys Plantations has always championed sustainable innovation in Sri Lanka, and the Gold status is a recognition of our commitment to the stringent guidelines issued for the CNN initiative. With this achievement, we have surpassed one of the key milestones in our journey to be NetZero by 2050.

“Our pledge to the CNN initiative in 2019 provided us with the opportunity to leverage on the clear framework, tools, best practices and sector-specific resources devised under this powerful global initiative to reduce our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions significantly. We hope that our achievement today contributes positively to the urgent global mobilisation against climate change,” Hayleys Plantations Managing Director, Dr. Roshan Rajadurai said.

The Gold status is issued to organisations fulfilling three major criteria for “Climate Neutrality”, including the contribution of registered carbon credits under the Verified Carbon Standards (VCS) to offset the current unavoidable emissions. Third-party verification of the comprehensive GHG measured inventory and completing the targets set out for the Science-based Targets initiative to reduce emissions complete the trio.

“To achieve the Gold status for the CNN initiative, a company has to complete all the requirements provided under the three steps: measure, reduce and contribute. Since our pledge to the initiative, we have worked towards achieving the Gold status in these steps individually, setting yet another benchmark in the sector as one of the first companies to be Climate Neutral,” Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC Director/CEO, Senaka Alawattegama said.

Since signing on to the initiative in 2019, TTEL has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions in 2020/21 by 7.3% against the year 2019/20, which in turn was an 8.6% decrease compared to the base year 2018/19.

The initiative with over 400 global participants encourages and supports organisations and other interested stakeholders to take immediate action on climate emergency, as enshrined by the Paris Climate Agreement. Through its sustainability initiatives, TTEL has achieved immense progress under its three main areas of Measure, Reduce and Contribute, in addition to reporting on its actions and achievements annually to achieve the Climate Neutral and Gold status for climate action under its sustainability journey.