Vedanta Aluminium said on Wednesday it had signed a pact with state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd to procure natural gas for its aluminum smelting plant at Odisha's Jharsuguda. The deal is with GAIL Gas Ltd, a subsidiary of GAIL India, and it is one of the important steps toward the company's sustainability aspirations.

The transition to natural gas, which should occur by the end of next year, will cut Vedanta Aluminium's carbon footprint to 47,292 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions yearly. This is part of the firm's overall plan to reach net-zero by 2050. The plan calls for increased usage of renewable energy and carbon sinks through afforestation.

Non-Executive Director of Vedanta and Chairperson of Hindustan Zinc Ltd Priya Agarwal Hebbar said that in this partnership with GAIL Gas Ltd, the company stands committed to embracing cleaner energy solutions and bringing carbon emissions down.

GAIL Gas Ltd will construct a 7.5 km-long pipeline with an aggregate capacity to supply around 32,000 standard cubic meters of natural gas a day to the Jharsuguda plant. The contract is signed for five years from the date when the pipeline is handed over. This, therefore, could help accelerate Vedanta's transition towards clean energy and boost its aluminium production as the demand for the alloy was increasing fast in all key industries.

Speaking on the collaboration, Sunil Gupta, COO of Vedanta Aluminium said, "We felt a tie up was essential to meet the company's key objectives in terms of reducing emission and increasing production capabilities, as demand for aluminium is rising in India." Vedanta Aluminium produced 2.37 million tonnes of aluminium in FY24.