Kotmale Dairy Products and Cargills Quality Dairies, subsidiaries of Cargills, have become the first dairy companies in Sri Lanka to complete a carbon footprint verification.The verifications are conducted by the Sri Lanka Climate Fundunder the purview of the Ministry of Environment.Both companies undertook a voluntary assessment of their carbon footprint andhave successfully completed their greenhouse gas emissions assessment for the year 2020.
The carbon footprint verification will help both companies gauge their current environmental impact and set targets to systematically reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a view to becoming carbon neutral in the future.The Cargills dairy sector has multiple sustainability initiatives taking place across its operations at the moment. The Cargills Quality Dairies factory in Banduragoda, the largest integrated dairy facility in Sri Lanka, has1.4MW of solar energy generating capacity which saves the equivalent of 35,000 KG of carbon dioxide emissions every year. To improve biodiversity in the surrounding area of thefactory, the company has established an environmental buffer zone with over 2,000 trees. The factory’s central refrigeration process has a minimal impact on the environment, as it uses a gas with the highest refrigeration efficiency (COP). Its Ozone Depletion Potential(ODP) and Global Warming Potential (GWP) are also considered to be zero.