Cairn Oil & Gas India’s largest private oil and gas exploration and production company and a unit of Vedanta Group, is pleased to announce that it has signed three separate MoUs with the state governments of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh along with their district administrations for biodiversity conservation through mass plantation of 0.75 million trees. The carbon captured through the mass plantation is equivalent to emissions needed to electrify 4,500 Indian households.
The three MoUs account for 38 per cent of the 2 million trees that Cairn has committed to plant by 2030. The partnerships are following through on Cairn’s ESG roadmap, which delivers on the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals. The carbon sequestered through these MoUs will be used by Cairn for internal carbon offsetting to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This initiative will be in line with India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets – for the development of carbon sinks.
The first MoU was signed with the Rajasthan Forest Development Agency, Government of Rajasthan to develop a carbon sink by planting 0.35 million trees over 700 hectares of forest land in Barmer district.
The second MoU was signed with the Government of Gujarat to develop 60 hectares of mangrove forest in Suvali, situated in Cairn’s offshore Cambay asset in Gujarat. The man-made mangrove project will have an estimated sequestration potential of 30,000 tonnes CO2 per decade and will significantly offset the carbon emission of the Suvali operations.
The third MoU was signed with the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and district administration to conduct biodiversity conservation projects in and around the Company’s Ravva offshore operations. The project involves plantation of 0.3 million man-made mangroves by the year 2030.
Commenting on the announcement, Nick Walker, CEO, Cairn Oil & Gas, said, “We, at Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedanta Limited, are committed to achieving our ESG goals by implementing sustainable initiatives across our operations. These MoUs with the Rajasthan Forest Development Agency, Government of Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh Forest Department are a testament to our dedication towards promoting biodiversity conservation and mitigating climate change. We are proud to collaborate with these esteemed organisations and look forward to executing these projects diligently, thereby, contributing positively towards the environment and society.”
Cairn Oil & Gas in its sustained efforts has already developed 1,644 acres of greenbelt across its operational areas including 279 acres of mangroves along the coasts of the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
Many such on-ground interventions are aimed to contribute to the overall company’s ESG purpose of “Transforming energy responsibly for securing India’s energy future” though the three pillars – Transforming the Planet, Transforming Communities and Transforming the Workplace.
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