Hindustan Unilever and TRA join hands to tackle climate change impact on tea industry

Guwahati: The Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), one of the leading tea manufacturers, on Friday announced its partnership with the Tea Research Association (TRA), the oldest and largest tea research station in Tocklai in Assam's Jorhat to address the challenges posed by climate change on the tea industry. 

HUL is one of the leading manufacturers of tea with household brands such as Brooke Bond Red Label, Taj Mahal and Taaza in its Foods and Refreshment portfolio. 

The HUL said under the collaboration, it aims to improve resilience and sustainability of the tea industry by promoting regenerative agricultural practices.

The project aims to cover 19 tea estates/factories and 19 small tea growers covering all the major tea growing regions of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The project aims to benefit around 15,000 hectares of land.

"Various factors like the sensitive nature of the tea crop, local weather patterns and changes due to uneven rainfall, water, soil erosion can lead to challenges in growing the crop. HUL, along with TRA, will conduct a detailed life cycle analysis for Indian tea and will devise strategies that can help reduce carbon impact across the value chain," HUL said in a statement.

It said based on the data, the partnership will work with experts to develop suitable mitigation and adaptation strategies that can be implemented across the Tea industry.

"Through this study, relevant information and data will also be made available for policy makers to support their understanding of the nuances and create enabling policies to support the transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon production system. The tea industry is already seeing the social, environmental, and economic impacts of climate change. While several climate change adaptation measures have been implemented using private and public finance, the mitigation space remains largely untouched," it said.

“Through this study, an attempt will be made to calculate the carbon footprint for tea estates. This will help businesses make informed decisions about how best to manage their carbon impact and where the biggest return on investment in carbon mitigating activities can be achieved. Additionally, large tea estates will be able to adopt suitable mitigation strategies to achieve low carbon tea production. This, in turn, will also help manufacturers to address the needs of climate-conscious consumers in India and abroad.”

With this new partnership, HUL seeks to not only support the tea industry in India, but also ensure that the tea it manufactures is good for the consumers, planet, and communities who depend on the tea value chain, said the statement.