15th May 2023: In 2020, the Hirdaramani Group announced their Future First initiative, a truly ambitious and comprehensive Sustainability Roadmap for 2025. As part of their commitment to transparency and accountability, the Group has released their second annual Sustainability Report with detailed data-driven updates on Hirdaramani’s progress in 2022 towards achieving the 28 targets they have committed to.
“When we released our 2021 Sustainability Report, we also promised continuous improvement and transparency in our reporting – and with this latest report we have delivered. In 2022, we aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and committed to additional best practices such as the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), which have enabled us to set new standards in data collection, reporting and most importantly verification,” said Siddarth Hirdaramani, Director, Hirdaramani Group. “Measuring actual impact is a core priority for us and we will continue to invest in this.”
Hirdaramani has a longstanding commitment to sustainability, and the Future First 2025 roadmap builds on this foundation with a focus on four key areas; conserving the environment, empowering associates, supporting communities, and building trust in their products and brand.
The company reports that they are on track to achieve the targets set, showing impressive results in reducing carbon emissions, water management and control of waste across all facilities and locations. The Group has also been successful in meeting and often exceeding their targets for employee training & development as well as the reach of their community projects.
This year has seen continued investments in renewable energy via the expansion of their rooftop solar projects as well as investments in stand alone wind and solar projects. The product development teams have made significant strides in promoting sustainable fashion by launching multiple circular apparel programs for strategic customers and have also started detailed tracking on the volume of “Certified Sustainable” materials that are sourced and used for production.
2022 being a difficult year for the Sri Lankan economy, Hirdaramani directed their focus to supporting communities with food donation programs as well as donating much needed medication to hospitals across the island. They also launched a landmark program ‘Hirdaramani Waga Sangramaya’ starting with model vegetable gardens in factories an initiative which also aimed to promote home gardening amongst employees, with a larger goal to set up gardens in communities. By the end of 2022, the company had established 11 community gardens. This project received the Best Project Award at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2022 organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
The Group is also more focused than ever on promoting Wonders of Wellbeing (WOW), their in-house developed, globally recognised, wellbeing program that drives diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization, supporting the concept of every employee living “healthy, wealthy, happy and meaningful lives”.
Read the Full report on the Hirdaramani website www.hirdaramani.com/sustainability