In its journey of developing a strong sustainable culture in the company, Toyota Kirloskar Motor continues to make strides in creating a green campus through an afforestation drive held at its plant in Bidadi (Karnataka).
With the involvement of over 250 participants including students, NGOs, Government officials from the Education Department and Directorate of Women & Child Development Department, and Anganawadi teachers, the project covered more than 2 acres with the planting of over 750 fruit saplings to further stabilise the biodiversity in the region.
This afforestation drive was graced by Mr. Ganganna Swamy, Deputy Director of Public Instructions, and Mr. A.R Shivakumar, Retd. IISC Scientist (popularly known as Bengaluru’s Rain Man), who is one of the major contributors to developing Rainwater Harvesting programmes both in urban and rural homes of Karnataka. From TKM, Mr. Raju B Ketkale, Executive Vice President, Mr. R Vinaya Kumar, Vice President and Mr. G Shankara, Vice President – HR, were present at the occasion.
Thriving on the principle of living in harmony with nature, Toyota over the years has extended unwavering support to the environment beyond just its sustainable product line-up. The announcement of Toyota's six aspirational global environmental challenges, in 2015, continues to strengthen the company's relentless efforts toward achieving ‘Carbon Neutrality by 2050’ & ‘Net Zero Carbon in Manufacturing Operations by 2035’.
The afforestation drive which is inspired by the sixth challenge of ‘Establishing a Future Society in Harmony with Nature’, aims to conserve biodiversity, create awareness, and promote environmental education through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. Thus, in its journey of creating environment-friendly premises, Toyota to date has planted more than 3,23,000 saplings with 650 native species.