Pune: A cluster of 11 foundries in Kolhapur has transitioned to environmentally sustainable manufacturing by increasing the use of solar power and cleaner raw material, driven by rising demand from automakers and large auto component makers for green-certified products.Launched in Aug 2025, the initiative received technical guidance from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to help foundries adopt sustainable manufacturing practices. The participating units produce a range of cast components for the automotive sector. Products from all 11 foundries are now eligible for GreenPro certification, CII’s eco-label recognised by the Global Ecolabelling Network.“The cluster was established to build awareness, strengthen technical capabilities and support foundry manufacturers in integrating sustainability into their products through life-cycle assessment and GreenPro ecolabelling,” Kamal Bali, chairperson of the CII Green Products and Services Council, said.The move comes as automotive manufacturers intensify efforts to cut supply-chain emissions, which form part of a vehicle’s overall carbon footprint. “We are improving our environmental performance through efficient and sustainable manufacturing practices to meet these evolving expectations,” Vinay Khobare, one of the cluster participants, said.Speaking at the GreenPro Summit 2026 in Pune on Thursday, Virendra Patil, chairperson of the CII South Maharashtra Zonal Council and a participating foundry owner, said Kolhapur’s foundry industry was highly energy-intensive. “Foundries consume substantial quantity of electricity to melt metal and process scrap into castings. Such high electricity consumption inevitably has an environmental impact,” Patil said.According to him, the foundries are now meeting 30-60% of their electricity requirements through solar power. Smaller units consume around 3-4 lakh units of electricity a month, while larger foundries use as much as 10-12 lakh units. Collectively, the 11 foundries produce about 300-400 tonnes of green-certified components every day.The cluster has also increased the use of recycled metal scrap, reducing dependence on pig iron, a carbon-intensive raw material that requires mining. This shift has helped lower the foundries’ overall emissions footprint. A CII study found that raw material and energy consumption accounted for nearly 89% of the total carbon footprint of these foundries, underscoring the importance of cleaner energy and recycled inputs in decarbonising the sector.
