It has been announced that the manufacturing warehouse that is run by Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, which was purposefully built to be a Green manufacturing warehouse, has been awarded a platinum rating.

The warehouse was built with the aim of being more sustainable and now that it is built and operational, the Skoda Auto Volkswagen India’s new Parts Expedition Centre, which is located in Chakan in Pune, will be responsible for the export of CKD parts that are intended for assembly in Vietnam.

The significant elements of this warehouse, which are initiatives that the project has been recognised for, include, optimal orientation for solar power generation, lighting and equipment which is energy-efficient, plus water conservation, effective waste management and finally, employees that are focused on ensuring the building and the process are following a manufacturing project that is as green as possible. Furthermore, another part of the facility which earned the company their award, the Indian Green Building Council certification, was their choice to give 15% of their total area to greenery.

All of these excellent green components combined is what made Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited (SAVWIPL) the first automaker who has received the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Platinum Certification, a very large and prestigious award. The Platinum Certification was awarded within the Indian Automotive Industry in the owner-occupied category and it was awarded to show recognition of SAVWIPL’s efforts around its ‘goTOzero’ goal. This goal focuses on the development of ecological and energy-efficient infrastructure, which will help to minimise the company’s impact on the environment. Alongside this, SAVWIPL has also made other efforts to implement renewable energy sources at its plants, an action that aligns with the company’s Corporate Strategy 2032. SAVWIPL also has plans to continue in this manner and increase the amount of renewable energy sources it has. The company has mentioned that they are very happy to have received this award, as it ‘highlights the company’s stringent approach throughout the project lifecycle to build sustainably.’

SAVWIPL did several things to the company’s space in order to reach the place they are in now, a Green manufacturing warehouse which has been recognised for its efforts. These efforts included integrating space-saving vertical gardens that did not compromise the capacity that was available to the operational area. Furthermore, in order to reduce its carbon footprint, the centre also opted for the use of electric vehicles, along with charging stations for these vehicles. These vehicles were bought with the intention of using them for internal logistics and operations. All of the choices the company made which brought them to the green and sustainable point they are at now, aligned with their sustainability goals, which the company has continued to stick by throughout each of their processes.

The Managing Director and CEO of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, Piyush Arora, commented, “We are delighted to receive the prestigious IGBC Platinum certificate for our Pune facility. Sustainability is at the core of our operations, and this certification stands as a testament to our commitment towards environmental conservation. The Group’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar facility uses 100% Green Energy for car manufacturing, while up to 30% of the Pune plant’s total consumption is powered by Green Energy. With green initiatives like these across our facilities, we will be reinforcing our position as a sustainability-centric automotive company.”