India’s Role in Combating Climate Change: Corporate Leadership and Sustainable Practices

Jul 30, 2024

3 min READ

This article was originally published in CXO Today - Source link

Environmental governance and collective action are crucial for addressing climate change. Corporate India plays a significant role in addressing climate change. Corporate initiatives go beyond mandatory CSR reporting. When organizations integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals into their core culture, they create value and differentiate themselves.

Arun Rao

Chief People Officer

Birlasoft

In the last couple of weeks, the temperature in various parts of the country touched a record high, and Delhi reporting 52.9 degrees. A 2023 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that in the next few decades, global average temperatures are likely to rise by 1.5 degrees.

Elsewhere across the world, extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and severe heat waves are taking place at frequent intervals, driving home the uncomfortable truth that climate change is very real, and is intensifying at a rapid pace.

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Goal 13 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) issues an urgent call to action on a global scale to combat this crisis.

India, which is home to one-sixth of the world’s population, can play a pivotal role in effecting meaningful action on climate change. The Indian government has been making concerted efforts to mitigate climate change.

The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) has missions that focus on specific areas such as solar energy, energy efficiency, water, agriculture, sustainable habitats, among others.

Environmental governance and collective action from the state, industries and society are the need of the hour to get us past this crisis. Over the last few years, Corporate India has been stepping up with more initiatives focused on environmental sustainability. Beyond the measures taken as part of mandatory CSR reporting, organizations are getting more real about translating their intent into action. This includes measures to reduce their carbon footprint through new product or service offerings, adopting low carbon technologies, setting net-zero emission targets, making use of more renewable energy sources, adopting the concept of circularity (waste minimization, recycle, reuse), among others.

At Birlasoft, our environmental impact is relatively lower, given the nature of our product offering. However, we are still striving to minimize our carbon footprint, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritize sustainability where possible. We are reducing energy consumption by adopting more energy-efficient solutions and renewable energy sources. We have also transitioned to electric vehicles as part of the fleet at our facilities. Other sustainable infrastructure choices include the strategic use of skylights, LED lighting, and efficient water recycling systems.

There is enough evidence that organizations which adopt sustainable and responsible business practices are not only doing what’s good for the world, they are setting themselves up for long-term success.

When ESG goals become a part of an organization’s core culture, they add value and serve as a differentiator.

Eventually, the investments pay off, resulting in better top line growth, cost reductions, and reduced compliance burden, among other benefits.

Climate change can have a drastic impact on businesses, economies, society, and our way of life and, if left unchecked, even pose an imminent threat to our existence at large. However, there is still an opportunity for us to mitigate this risk, if we act right now and work towards bringing transformative change to build a greener future.

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