Philip Morris Pakistan Limited (PMPKL) has reduced its carbon emissions footprint by 30% compared with the 2018 baseline in manufacturing, according to PMPKL’s Executive Director and Director Finance Muhammad Zeeshan.
The company has achieved this by reducing the energy consumption of existing manufacturing facilities by 41% and by the installation of a 704 kW Solar Plant.
He highlighted that PMPKL is striving to reduce its carbon footprint by transforming its operations. Among other initiatives, PMPKL converted the boiler fuel at its Green Leaf Threshing Plant from furnace oil to Liquefied Petroleum Gas which alone is expected to reduce the CO2 emissions by a staggering 30%. This translates into a reduction of 2200 tons of carbon emissions in the next five years.
Another core value of PMPKL is the sustainable development of the communities where we work. To achieve this, PMPKL has partnered with various NGOs to support green leaf tobacco farmers and other stakeholders.
One such initiative is the crop diversification program, where PMPKL has been working to increase the economic and financial resilience of tobacco farmers by increasing their ‘Living Income’ through the cultivation of alternative and non-traditional crops.
PMPKL in partnership with Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi is also conducting activities for dependents of farmers, wherein, around 5000 children (aged 6-14 years) of growers were engaged in 200 centers set up across Swabi, Charsada and Mardan with the goal of engaging such children in healthy, playful and educational activities. In collaboration with Shewa Educated Social Workers Association and Integrated Regional Support Program, an additional 700 older children (aged 15-17 years) have been engaged in life skills; “Tailoring and Stitching” and “Electrical Work”.
Another initiative is the reforestation program embarked by PMPKL in 2015 with the goal of supplying 100% traceable and sustainable firewood to its contracted farmers. 5.6 Million Eucalyptus Trees have been planted in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa covering an area of over 1,800 Hectares of private communal lands.
As part of its aim to foster innovation and promote social entrepreneurship, PMPKL in partnership with local NGOs launched a program to support and fund start-ups with a view to foster a culture of socially responsible innovation and transformation in Pakistan (“Program”). This also develops start-ups that focus on positively impacting society. So far 150 startups have been engaged all over Pakistan and the top 3 finalists from the Program were awarded $10,000 each.
PMPKL has also recently partnered with a local NGO, to provide vocational training with the aim of empowering women through professional training in food catering. Under this initiative, four training centers were established in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Multan where 250 women were trained in the food catering business as well as on how to develop market linkages to sell online.
To support sustainable livelihoods for marginalized segments of society including persons with disabilities, PMPKL additionally partnered with NOWPDP to establish a recycling facility that employs people with disabilities to manage waste collection by providing them with retrofitted vehicles and waste processing to convert PET plastic into items of daily use.
Source: Pro Pakistani