Sustainable Development Goals
We first mapped the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to our business in FY2016. Below, we set out the SDGs as they apply to the three key levers of our Sustainable Operational Excellence strategy, which are People, Product and Process.
People
We support the SDGs through the direct and indirect jobs we create as a global employer. With our support, our people actively engage with local communities, helping to address needs. Our people and communities have an impact on the following SDGS:
No poverty
Through our community activities, we support inclusive and gender-sensitive approaches, including social support and education.
Open SDG3 
Zero hunger
Our community engagement programs in India include supporting small-scale agriculture by investing in infrastructure, financial support and training for farmers.
Good health and well-being
We provide health support through our community activities, such as providing access to vaccines where needed and access to doctors.
Our commitment-based safety approach encourages employees to make commitments to their own health and wellbeing, including safe driving into and out of plants.
We also seek to prevent illnesses indirectly by reducing air, water and waste pollution.
Open SDG5 
Open SDG6 
Quality education
As a member of the Aditya Birla Group and its commitment to education, Birla Carbon provides education support through community activities across all regions where we operate.
Our Code of Ethics training provides education for our employees on human rights and diversity.
Gender equality
We support gender equality by offering equal opportunities within Birla Carbon, without discrimination, and by empowering women in the communities where we operate through vocational training and support.
We recognize that we have room to grow in terms of fully addessing diversity within our company.
Clean water and sanitation
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is a priority for us; we signed the WASH pledge in 2015 and have been growing in our commitment year on year.
We successfully fulfilled our WASH pledge in FY2018. Birla Carbon had a WASH rating of 1.93 out of 2 in early 2018, compared to 1.77 in 2015 when we signed the pledge.
A total of 143 awareness campaigns and training sessions have been delivered at Birla Carbon plants and 53 action plans created. So far, 46 of these action plans have been completed.
Open SDG10 
Decent work and economic growth
We offer employment and career development opportunities across all regions.
We believe that the educational component of our community engagement work both reduces youth unemployment and leads to productive job creation.
The health and safety of our people is a priority that underpins our work.
Our new plant in Jining, China, has created over 80 full-time positions and 70 contract positions.
Elsewhere, development opportunities are relatively limited geographically and in terms of seniority.
We must ensure that our people leave work each day as healthy as when they arrive.
Reduced inequalities
Following in the path of the Aditya Birla Group, we seek to reduce inequalities, by offering opportunities for the poorest and vulnerable; empowering people and promoting inclusion; and adopting equality policies, notably for women.
We coud open our apprenticeships to more people around the world.
Due to the nature of our business and our industry as a whole, our operations could be more diverse.
Partnerships for the goals
We help achieve the goals by working closely with our stakeholders, including community groups, universities, NGOs and the Aditya Birla Group.
We can strengthen our engagement.
Product
Carbon black enables sustainable development through its many applications, helping make products safer and longer lasting. Carbon black and its applications have an impact on the following SDGs:
Open SDG8 Zero hunger
In its use in farming, including improved irrigation, carbon black helps agriculture to become more efficient.
Decent work and economic growth
Carbon black ensures greater resource efficiency, which in turn promotes economic growth.
Open SDG10 Open SDG11 
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Our product helps by supporting the development of quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, and in the promotion of inclusive and sustainable industrialization.
We also play our part by increasing efficient resources use, enabling the adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and by encouraging innovation and enhancing research.
Our aim is to support and facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development in developing countries with carbon black, and support the development of local technology, research and innovation.
Reduced inequalities
Carbon black plays an important role in technology, giving people greater access to transport and communication. It also ensures products that contain it last longer.
Sustainable cities and communities
Carbon black is crucial in the development of safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems, particularly in terms of its role in tire safety, durability and improved rolling resistance.
Our product also enhances sustainable urbanization and reduces the adverse per capita impact of cities.
Open SDG17 Responsible consumption and production
Carbon black helps society become more efficient in its use of resources, facilitating consumption and production.
The life cycle of our product and its inherent qualities prevent its recyclability in certain products, including packaging.
Partnerships for the goals
We help achieve the goals by working closely with our stakeholders, particularly our customers.
Process
Our processes ensure that we minimize our impact on natural resources and produce carbon black efficiently and in an ethical manner. Through our processes, we have an impact on the following SDGs:
Clean water and sanitation
We monitor our water use and recycle and reuse as much as possible. We have recently implemented a more detailed water risk assessment approach, designed to give us a site-specific performance appraisal.
We are still developing our understanding of our impacts to devise appropriate mitigation plans.
Open SDG12 Affordable and clean energy
We continually seek opportunities to use more affordable and cleaner energy. Our facilities that contain cogeneration units convert tail gas into energy that is then used either in our plants or sold to the grid. Globally, we are energy positive.
Our feedstock is still essentially of fossil origin.
Responsible consumption and production
We support responsible consumption and production by ensuring that our feedstock comes from suppliers close to our facilities, who we have started to screen for risk management.
We strive to reduce our carbon footprint, which includes being more efficient about the energy we consume; we have been net energy positive since at least FY2016. We aim to avoid emissions and leaks as much as possible. We annually report on our sustainability efforts.
Our feedstock is a limited and non-renewable resource, which in the long term may have an impact on our consumption.
We are still in the process of developing more responsible procurement practices.
Open SDG16 
Open SDG17 Climate action
We focus on carbon stewardship, being net energy positive and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
Our operations continue to generate emissions, whose reduction we are working on.
Peace, justice and strong institutions
Through our internal governance mechanisms, we prevent corruption and bribery from taking place in our business, and reinforce our own institutional accountability and transparency.
We are still in the process of making our supply chain more robust.
Partnerships for the goals
We help achieve the goals by working closely with our stakeholders, including our suppliers, regulators and governments.
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