Commemorating & celebrating the World Environment Day, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today announced its ‘Toyota Environment Month’, a dedicated eco-driven month to raise awareness and act towards creating a greener and more sustainable future, through a series of initiatives centred around the theme of "Leaving a Beautiful Hometown for the Next Generation." Aligned with the United Nations Environment Programme's theme for this year, "SOLUTIONS TO PLASTIC POLLUTION," TKM aims to enhance the understanding and promote the sense of responsibility amongst the stakeholders towards environmental sustainability. These efforts are in addition to the company’s continued sustainable activities, aligning with its six aspirational ‘Global Environmental Challenge 2050’ (announced in 2015).
In line with the company’s philosophy of ‘Respect for the Planet’, Toyota’s efforts are towards growth in harmony with the environment by minimizing any impacts, from its entire value-chain, on the ecosystem, climate change and biodiversity. TKM continues to strive to develop, establish, and promote technologies and sustainable initiatives that enable the environment and economy to thrive harmoniously, and to build close and cooperative relationships with a wide spectrum of individuals and organizations involved in environmental preservation.
In this direction, marking this year’s environment month in June, TKM held fruitful sessions led by esteemed environmental experts through their experience-sharing, with a diverse group of over 70 participants from the surroundings region of Ramnagara district, including school children, teachers, industry representatives (from Bidadi Industrial Area), TKM executives and the members including eco-family winners (from last year’s eco competition held by TKM). Through these curated interactive engagements led by Mr. Shriram Bharathan, Environment Educator & Climate Consultant, the attendees gathered deeper insights of various innovative solutions to address pollution pertaining to plastic & its impact on the environment and inspire positive change within their communities.
Furthermore, there was a special focus on the young minds present on the occasion who were engaged in different fun-learning activities at Toyota’s ‘Ecozone’ through a well-guided tour covering 17 theme parks, enriching their knowledge on ‘Waste to Treasure’ concept. The event was held at the Toyota Ecozone that is set-up within the Toyota facility & is spread across 25 acres of land that provides a home to 65,000 trees with 650 native species. This environmental learning centre aims at creating the environment leaders and change champions for the future to usher in desired behavioural change in the communities. So far, more than 30,000 students have been a part of this learning experience. In addition, the ecozone tour was coupled with eco-based quizzes and drawing competitions, and all the participating students representing various schools were recognised with exciting prizes.
As a part of its ‘Environment Month’ celebration, TKM will be organizing an array of eco-activities throughout the month of June, to promote sustainable practices covering corporates, individuals, and society as a whole. Such activities include informative webinars featuring subject experts on plastic consumerism, an exhibition showcasing eco-friendly alternatives to promote eco-culture, programs to optimize valuable resource usage and social media contests to engage the wider community to sensitise and encouraging them to adopt plastic- free solutions. As a responsible corporate citizen, TKM is also planning to conduct a various clean-up drives towards collection and disposal of plastic in and around Bidadi Industrial Area, involving all major stakeholders.
Towards promoting Toyota’s Eco Spirit, the company has joined hands with Radio City 91.1 for a month-long engagement, to sensitize on the current environmental concerns and sharing its best practices amongst all the stakeholders.
Speaking about Toyota's Environment Month celebration, Mr. B. Padmanabha, Associate – Executive Vice President (Manufacturing) of Toyota Kirloskar Motor stated, " At TKM, we understand that social and environmental sustainability is equally important as the economic sustainability. We are fully committed to upholding the principles of environmental conservation throughout the lifecycle of our products including our manufacturing operations and across the value chain, as well as giving back to the society where we operate in.
By observing the Environment Month, we strive to inspire, foster innovation, and drive tangible changes for a greener future. We aim to conserve biodiversity, create awareness, and promote environmental education through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. Together with our stakeholders, we wish to make a significant impact on environmental conservation and build a more sustainable society."
Apart from building eco-consciousness, TKM actively involves its employees in afforestation drives, environmental month promotions, and other eco-friendly corporate social responsibility activities, to instil a sense of ownership towards the environment. One of the key focuses is promoting mass plantation activities inside and outside TKM by consistently expanding the afforestation efforts, involving all its stakeholders. Over the years, TKM has planted more than 3,26,000 trees across 112 acres of land within its factory premises that includes 650 different floral diversity, contributing to a cumulative reduction of 4,700 tons of carbon and attracting the faunal diversity of more than 260 species. More than 2 lakh saplings have been distributed to its employee households & nearby community, restoring habitat and enhancement of biodiversity. Further, TKM has successfully achieved 100% Renewable Energy from June 2021.
Notably towards Carbon Neutrality, Toyota is dedicated to strengthening its clean mobility offerings, including alternative fuels driven vehicle technological pathways that are practical, sustainable, and best meets the customer needs. Driven by the strong belief in collaborative efforts, Toyota welcomes all stakeholders, partners, and individuals passionate about environmental conservation to join them in their various sustainable initiatives to bring positive change in the community.
