Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has become the first Indian e-commerce company to commit to sourcing 100% of its electricity needs from renewable sources for its entire operations by 2030. As a part of this pledge, Flipkart has taken Climate Group’s RE100 commitment, a collaboration of the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
In alignment with its Net Zero commitments of reducing the Scope 1 and 2 climate change impacts by 2030, this move from Flipkart builds on strong existing action, with the company already meeting 14% of its electricity requirements from renewable sources against the baseline consumption of FY 2021.
Approach for Transitioning to Renewables
The Flipkart Group, through a focused approach and structured adoption of existing instruments like Rooftop Solar (RTS), Open Access, and evolving market instruments in coming times, has planned to achieve this ambitious target of sourcing 100% Renewable Energy by 2030. The Group is uniquely positioned to influence other businesses as well as promote the benefits of using renewable electricity among the public, driving a much-needed behavioral change for India’s overall energy transition. The group is embarking on the RE100 journey with committed efforts to add RE portfolio from distributed as well as grid-scale projects. As it looks forward to achieving this target through collective responsibility and collaboration, Flipkart is also looking forward to connecting with policymakers and various state governments.
Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Flipkart said,“For the Flipkart Group, it has been a concerted priority to integrate sustainable practices across its operations. In the past two years, we have made consistent efforts and have expressed our unwavering intent to tackle climate change with bold ambition and decisive action, and we continue to do so. Being the first Indian e-commerce group to commit to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and to join RE100, Flipkart looks forward to working in collaboration with this global cohort of influential companies led by Climate Group. Our commitment to RE100 aligns with our Net-Zero target and our mission to drive positive climate action. With this step, we are further ready to learn and innovate climate solutions to accelerate action and also to support the ambition of the Indian government to achieve 500 GW RE by 2030.”
Flipkart’s Sustainability Initiatives
In recognition of Climate Change becoming the defining environmental issue of our generation and the role that businesses play to take action and lead by example, Flipkart has successfully adopted multiple sustainability initiatives across the Group and has already eliminated single-use plastic from its own supply chain. Besides this, it is focused on resource efficiency, having introduced projects to increase its overall energy productivity. Apart from encouraging zero liquid discharge of wastewater in its warehouses and waste management practices, Flipkart’s strategic facilities have received an ISO 14001 certification, along with its largest warehouse in Haringhata, West Bengal, being recently awarded IGBC’s Green Building Platinum certification.
RE100’s Aim of Zero Carbon Grids
Led by Climate Group and in partnership with CDP, RE100 aims to accelerate change towards zero carbon grids at scale. Since launching in 2014, more than 370 major businesses across multiple sectors, from fashion and retail to cement and automobile manufacturing, have joined the initiative, doing pioneering work to transform the renewable electricity sector.
With operations across multiple countries around the world, RE100 member companies together drive enough renewable electricity demand to power a medium-sized country, thereby sending a powerful signal to markets and governments.
While companies joining RE100 have committed to sourcing 100% of their global electricity from renewable sources by 2040, Flipkart’s commitment to RE100 is especially significant as it seeks to reach its commitment a decade earlier. Flipkart is already a member of Climate Group’s EV100 initiative, with a commitment to introduce 100% electric vehicles across its entire fleet by 2030.
