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Lodha: Our Roadmap to Net Zero in India's Real Estate Sector

By Lodha

As urbanisation gains more of a foothold in Indian cities, environmental challenges are also escalating equally quickly. The real estate sector is deeply intertwined and responsible for addressing these issues. As India’s top builder, at Lodha, we believe that moving towards net zero is more than a strategic choice—it is a necessary sustainable development goal that will help maintain harmony between economic viability and environmental sustainability. Our commitment to transition to net zero resonates with our ethos of providing our consumers with greener and healthier homes while aligning with the global sentiment surrounding climate concerns. Our science-based approach and innovations like the Lodha Net Zero Accelerator allow us to spearhead the industry’s shift to a low-carbon future and match India’s vision of becoming a net-zero economy by 2070.

Here’s a look at our strategic roadmap to net zero and sustainable real estate.

Carbon Footprint

Carbon footprint is a term that denotes the total greenhouse gas emissions of a company’s operations, supply chain and product release. As per the GHG Protocol, greenhouse gas emissions are categorised into three scopes:

• Scope 1 Emissions: These emissions are directly released from assets owned by us and encompass fuel consumed by equipment and vehicles and the use of refrigerants.
• Scope 2 Emissions: This category of emissions includes indirect emissions from electrical consumption at our construction sites and through our owned assets.
• Scope 3 Emissions: This classification includes indirect emissions that are released at various points across our value chain, divided into upstream and downstream emissions and further organised into fifteen categories. Our most substantial Scope 3 emissions originate from the use of sold products. Since we are a real estate company, our Scope 3 emissions come from purchased goods and services, primarily the raw material used for construction and the energy consumed by residents in our developments. Combined, these three categories make up for more than 98.1% of our total emissions whereas the remaining 1.6% is distributed across a range of categories such as fuel and energy activities not included in Scope 1 and 2, capital goods, business travel, upstream transport, downstream leased assets, and more.

Net-Zero Targets:

The financial year 2024 was a special one for us since we became the first real estate company in India to have our short-term and long-term targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). SBTi is an international organisation that empowers businesses to set ambitious targets for reducing their emissions with the help of cutting-edge climate science. SBTi provides robust resources and extensive guidance to help companies set targets and implement a strategy to meet them. Since SBTi is responsible for pioneering the transition to a net-zero economy, spearheading innovation and promoting sustainable growth, their validation of our targets is a milestone worth celebrating.

Our short-term targets are:

• Reducing scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 97.9% by FY2028 (FY2022 is the base year).
• Reducing scope 3 GHG emissions by 51.6%/square meter of the area developed by FY2030 (FY2022 is the base year).

Our long-term targets are:

• Achieving net zero across scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by FY2050, in line with the Paris Agreement.

Decarbonisation Strategy

Our aim to switch to net zero has helped us map out the substantial sources that emit carbon across our operations and projects. It has also aided us in setting specific benchmarks for different categories and chalking out sub-categories to demarcate the various interventions needed to reduce our carbon emissions. Our goal is to use everything in our arsenal to accelerate our attempts at decarbonisation across our value chain. To that end, we have reduced our scope 1 & 2 emissions by around 75% (using FY2022 as the baseline). While our switch to renewable energy sources has contributed to our emission reductions significantly, we also plan on using EVs, switching to lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants and completing renewable integration. However, certain emissions cannot be reduced due to market and technological limitations beyond our control. To combat the same, we invest in carbon credits to reduce the harm caused to the environment and contribute to local economies and conservation efforts.

Our efforts at sustainability and achieving net zero are a testament to our holistic approach to sustainability, recognizing the interconnectedness of environmental, social and economic factors