For a 90’s kid, the advertisement of a woman throwing a bucket of water to clean a glass and two men sitting on the other side trying to duck in protection is sure to be vivid in memory. As a brand and in its operations, Saint-Gobain India (SGI) remains green. The French major has a long association with the sub-continent. Its products and solutions are ahead of the industry in its contribution to sustainability.
In 1996, SGI started out in India by acquiring a majority stake of Grindwell Norton. Glass was a nascent market back then. The multinational was testing waters. That was when liberalisation had set in and India was looking out to the world. Basic standards were changed. Dungeon like closed concrete buildings gave way to glass structures. Saint-Gobain’s quality along with reasonable pricing shone through each of their projects and gained them a strong foothold. Assessing India’s massive potential for radical transformation, Saint-Gobain Glass was incorporated to set up a float glass plant near Chennai in the year 2000. Since then, there has been no looking back. With 46 manufacturing sites across India, they are one of the major players in the market.
Need for green housing
The building construction sector in India has grown by leaps and bounds. It accounts for almost 9 per cent of GDP and employs close to 50 million people. To drive India’s ambitious growth, the government, in its 2023 budget announced a 33 per cent increase in capital outlay of Rs 10 lakh crore. Under National Infrastructure Pipeline, a budget of Rs 120 trillion has been allocated for development of which 24 per cent is for renewables, 18 per cent for roads and railways, 17 per cent for urban infrastructure and 12 per cent for railways.
While this sector is an important indicator of a growing economy, it is also a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In a developing nation, people move towards cities, increasing the demand for housing and in turn, carbon emissions. Existing and new buildings are projected to emit 245 MtCO2 in 2040.
India has set a target of net zero emission by 2070 and has set up a Technology Sub-Mission (TSM) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) to facilitate the adoption of modern, innovative, green technologies and building materials for housing construction. Embarking on this journey much quicker is Saint-Gobain India, with a target for carbon neutrality by 2050, 20 years ahead of India’s goal. For a company built on the ideals of making the world a better home, this feat is sure to be special.
Through process and products
Their approach is two pronged. Firstly, focusing on the manufacturing process. “We are targeting to reduce, by 2030 the carbon intensity our our manufacturing process, by 33 percent of what it was in 2017.” pointed Venkat Subramanian, Managing Director, Saint-Gobain India – Gyproc, Insulation, Mortars Business. Saint-Gobain’s efforts are rooted in addressing three significant areas of carbon emissions. The first, Scope 1 emissions, pertains to materials and fuel used in the production process. Initially, Saint-Gobain was dependent on furnace oil-based systems. Then they transitioned to natural gas but now biofuel fires most of their operation. The Jhagadia and Wada plants that have a co-generation facility were initially dependent on coal, but today around 40 percent power is from biofuel. In Chennai they are working on a plaster which is powered by electricity from green sources and using biofuel for one of the steps of the manufacturing operation. This is very close to a zero-carbon footprint plaster. In the Visakhapatnam plant, an ongoing project aims to meet all the heating requirement through a boiler using biofuel. “This would be the direction in which we will be moving forward, and it will bring down our carbon footprint considerably,” highlighted Venkat.
Scope 2 relates to power consumption. With a target to have 60 per cent renewable electricity by 2024 and 100 per cent by 2027, the company is experimenting with alternative energy sources such as biomass, solar, wind and even hydrogen.
Transportation falls under Scope 3 emissions. Most of the raw materials are shipped and LNG or CNG powered vehicles are used to transport the finished products. The World Glass Complex in Chennai houses two rainwater harvesting reservoirs of 132 million litres, a 3.5 MW roof-top solar power facility, power from waste heat recovery system and an urban forest with over 100,000 trees.
Reducing both operational and embodied carbon
While these address the process side emission, on the product side, research and innovations are focused on sustainability as well as increasing the efficiency and performance. “Currently nine of our products have environmental product declaration and we are working towards extending the life cycle analysis for all our product offerings,” said Venkat. The group has done several certified studies to ascertain the carbon emission in their product life cycle.
Recently, Saint-Gobain unveiled a low carbon glass in France and subsequently it was produced at the Chennai plant. This is the first in India with 40 per cent reduced carbon footprint over its whole life cycle, compared to the current product range. “This product has almost two-thirds of recycled content and the fuel used is one of the cleanest, that is commercially available today,” said A R Unnikrishnan, Managing Director, Saint-Gobain India – Glass Business. This product is aimed at large developers and IT firms who are treading the green path. “It will be a niche product for now. It provides an alternative to companies that have a carbon neutrality objective,” explained Unnikrishnan.
Saint-Gobain India has been a pioneer in the industry. Its solutions have always been ahead of time and helped the market to upgrade towards it. Similar is this low-carbon glass. “In about 15 years, the market will catch upto this and by that time we will have varied fuel options which will help in large-scale manufacturing,” highlighted Unnikrishnan.
Buildings have two kinds of carbon emissions associated with them. Operational carbon that is emitted during the life of the building like the power used for heating, cooling, etc. The other is embodied carbon which is already existing in the building from the construction phase, based on the choice of materials used and the construction method itself. While operational carbon can be reduced by altering the design, choice of materials, cooling, lighting systems: There are very few options to reduce embodied carbon. The low-carbon glass fits here perfectly.
Light yet durable and sustainable
As building height increases, so does its weight and the need to go for deeper foundations. Lightweight materials that are resistant to fire and can withstand earthquakes are on demand. Glass offers the durability, flexibility and opens myriad opportunities to explore various designs. Apart from allowing copious sunlight while reducing noise, glass gives the space a vastness. Saint-Gobain India offers special tempered glasses that cuts out the harmful radiations of sun, thus offering respite from power bills.
Yet another offering of Saint-Gobain is gypsum. It is almost 10 times lighter than conventional construction material but offers same durability. Cement walls add to dead load of a building increasing the weight. When gypsum is used, it not only brings down the weight but also the cost considerably, by saving much use of other materials. Another aspect is the efficiency it brings to construction. Unlike cement walls that need curing in between each stage, with gypsum, construction can be done parallelly. As the work with walls is progressing, ceiling work can be done simultaneously. “Construction itself will get completed much faster. If a large hotel project takes about three years, easily more than six months can be saved using this. The need for manpower is also much less during installation, thus saving cost and time,” explained Venkat.
The uses of gypsum don’t end there. It provides good acoustics, can retain the air conditioning of a building longer when used with good insulators and can also be made fire resistant. The ease of erecting a wall can offer multiple options to design a home and above all it is highly sustainable with less carbon footprint. Seeing all these benefits, Saint-Gobain India acquired British Plasterboard in 2006. Recently the company acquired Rockwool India Pvt Ltd and U.P. Twiga Fiberglass Ltd., that offers insulation solution thus making Saint-Gobain India an end-to-end player provider for both light and sustainable constructions solutions. Today, the company’s 50 per cent turnover is from glass and 25 per cent is from gypsum and construction chemicals and the rest by abrasives, ceramics and life sciences.
Research for results
Being a long-term player in the country, Saint-Gobain India has studied the Indian market like none other. Their European products have been perfected to suit Indian climatic conditions. Going further, the company has invested in research to fine tune their products for the domestic market. At the Saint-Gobain Research India in IIT Madras Research Park, the focus is on moving faster towards light and sustainable solutions. Established in 2012 with an initial investment of about Rs 150 crore, this centre is a proof of the group’s trust in India’s competency in research and innovation “Our main focus of research extends beyond the product and material to the overall system. Be it a raw material change or pilot plants, we vet the entire process through research and then implement it. The center is committed towards identifying new value creation opportunities and working with the group’s global R&D network to develop new technologies that can act as future growth engines for India and rest of the world. This by increasing focus on sustainability initiatives, digitalisation and combinatorial innovation to keep up with India’s fast-growing economy and the constantly evolving environment. Apart from this, we have a data analytics team that offers insights to production team in terms of efficiently managing processes by reducing waste,” explained Unnikrishnan.
“In innovation, emphasis is laid on ‘Eco-innovation’ methodology which focuses on ecological footprint of raw materials and packaging used for new product development,” indicated Dr Kartik Kumar, Centre Director of Saint-Gobain Research India. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of ingredients and finished product is utilised to ensure optimised materials with lower carbon footprint. While developing sustainable products, performance and benefit like user experience is enhanced and not diminished. Working on a science-based sustainability target is a keyway to ensure our path to net-zero carbon objective.
Helping the company thrive in local conditions is also the extensive skilling of employees as well as contractors. With about 7 academies, employees are trained for specialised applications. They also work extensively with contractors in terms of upgrading quality and safety practices.
Saint-Gobain has been operating in India for almost quarter century and has ensured to push the Indian market constantly to global standards. The company plans to invest close to Rs 8000 crore for expansion of plants and acquisitions in the next two years and is targeting a revenue of Rs 30,000 crore by 2030, an increase of 2.5 times from the current revenue.
Urban India has huge needs for home customisation and cashing in on this trend rightly, the B2C business under MyHome brand, currently has 64 operational showrooms and aims to cross revenues of more than Rs 500 crore in next 2-3 years.
The future demands greener choices. In its unwavering commitment to sustainability and innovation, Saint-Gobain India is a pioneering force, leading the way. With a resolute stride towards carbon neutrality and a portfolio of sustainable solutions, the company showcases that creating a better world is not just a vision, but a tangible reality within its grasp.
