Brandix invests more to become greener

Midway in an enterprise-wide initiative to reduce its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2012, Sri Lanka's Brandix Group has reported that it is well on target, and has become possibly the first apparel manufacturer worldwide to be in a position to declare the carbon footprint for every individual item it produces.

Sri Lanka's largest apparel exporter said investments over the past two years to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions at manufacturing locations across the Group had resulted in a reduction of CO2 or CO2 equivalent gasses by more than 6,000 MT per year as at March 31, shrinking Brandix's annual carbon footprint by 7 percent. Further reductions this year would trim the Group's carbon footprint by up to 17 percent by December 2010.

Brandix Director A.J. Johnpillai said that the Group would invest a further US$ 2 million (Rs. 230 million) over the next two years on measures to improve energy efficiency, switch to renewable energy and promote eco-friendly manufacture to reduce its carbon footprint by nearly a third by March 31, 2012.

"Our passion for and commitment to greening our operations has gathered pace since we commissioned the world's first Platinum-rated Green apparel factory in April 2008," he said. The Brandix Group would qualify to earn US$ 127,000 in Carbon Credits in 2011, under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. He said Brandix had completed its Greenhouse gas inventory in 2008 and calculated its carbon footprint according to the guidelines of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (WBCSD/WRI) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The audit which covered more than 85 emission sources at Group companies, subsidiaries, Brandix-managed joint ventures and associate companies indicated total CO2e emissions of 86,322 MT per year.