FIRST CARBONNEUTRAL® APPAREL FACTORY IN ASIA
FIRST CARBONNEUTRAL® APPAREL FACTORY IN ASIA
The Hirdaramani Group’s eco-friendly factory ‘Mihila’ has been awarded CarbonNeutral®
certification making it the first Apparel Factory in Asia to achieve this distinction. The certification is
awarded by The CarbonNeutral Company, a global provider of carbon reduction solutions. Achieving
CarbonNeutral® factory certification required a detailed greenhouse gas assessment from the
Carbon Consulting Company, and a comprehensive programme of internal energy efficiency
measures, and external carbon offsets to compensate for the remaining emissions. This
announcement marks the first milestone in an on-going process to assess and reduce the carbon
footprint of the factories across the Group.
“Social responsibility has always been an essential philosophy at the Hirdaramani Group and the
environment has become a major part of this agenda. Working with the Carbon Consulting Company
has enabled us to quantify the gains and identify the key issues and implement systems that more
directly reduce each factories emissions,” said Nikhil Hirdaramani, Director of the Hirdaramani
‘Mihila’ which aptly translates to ‘Earth’, is the Hirdaramani Group’s first eco friendly factory. A
LEED™ Gold certified building Mihila holds the distinction of being the world’s first custom built
Green Apparel Factory. The factory focuses on three key areas; energy consumption, water
consumption and waste management and has achieved a significant reduction in its carbon
footprint. The factory incorporates several unique technologies driving lower energy consumption
This also marks a significant achievement for the Sri Lankan Apparel Industry as it continues
to build its position as a leader and flagship destination for ethical and sustainable
manufacturing. With increasing consumer demand for ‘green’ products, sustainable
manufacturing remains a growth segment and being the first country in Asia to boast a
CarbonNeutral® factory adds to our competitive edge against regional providers in addition to
the prestige for Sri Lanka as a nation.including a state of the art evaporative cooling system, prismatic skylights system, and a solar panel system that provides part of the factory’s power needs.
“Mihila has set the standard on making sustainable manufacturing work. Many of the innovative
process and systems implemented at Mihila are now being implemented across all our factories as
part of our Group wide greening process, forming a strong foundation to our goal to be a greener
organization,” said Mr. Arjuna Kuruppu, CEO of the Hirdaramani CKT Cluster.
The Green House Gas (GHG) assessment for ‘Mihila’ was carried out in accordance with the
Greenhouse Gas Protocol - Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. The assessment took into
account data on fuel consumption, electricity consumption and material consumption as well as
direct emissions released from sources that are owned or controlled by the company, Indirect
emissions associated from purchased electricity and other sources including business travel,
employee commuting, and third party deliveries were used to formulate the carbon footprint of the
factory. Following this baseline assessment, Mihila has taken concrete steps to not only mitigate CO2
emissions but increase operational efficiency.
Evolving from a single retail store established in 1890 today the Hirdaramani Group is a diversified
organization with over 30,000 employees spread across six countries and six industries segments. A
pioneer in the Sri Lankan Apparel Industry, Hirdaramani has a fully integrated infrastructure
encompassing 28 manufacturing facilities across Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Vietnam, product
development, design, printing, embroidery, washing and packaging, making it a one-stop shop for
the apparel industry. The company has also lead the way in the adoption of greener technologies
and processes continuing to evolve Sri Lankan industry.
Established in 1997, the CarbonNeutral Company is the issuer of the CarbonNeutral certification
(underpinned by The CarbonNeutral Protocol) and ranks among the three most recognised offset
providers in the world. The Carbon Consulting Company is a CARBON FOOTPRINT EXPERT certified
company, and is accredited by the CARBON TRUST, the UK Government’s carbon standards body.
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