India Inc. Sprints Towards The Green Line

Sustainability takes centre stage as businesses combine economic and ESG goals.

- URVASHI MISHRA

MOVING BEYOND mere green washing in public to concrete action in private, India Inc. is stepping up its game on commitment to sustainability, with companies spotting the opportunity in being early adopters of sustainable development.

Nearly two decades ago, even before the 2% CSR mandate by the government (companies are required to spend a minimum of 2% of their net profit over the preceding three years as CSR), ITC Hotels was one of the first to embrace 'sustainable luxury. "At that point, we wanted to rebrand ourselves. In those days, it was a myth that luxury and sustainability cannot go hand in hand. We believed in the triple bottomline concept, and that is how the philosophy of the company came about," says H.C. Vinayaka, vice president, technical, EHS & sustainability, ITC.

The result: ITC's 12 'net-zero carbon' and two 'net-zero water' hotels, a global first. In fact, the company has surpassed the U.N. 2030 sectoral targets for the third year in a row while recycling more than 99% of solid waste, and has successfully mitigated single-use plastic at nearly 150 touch-points, leading to a reduction of 2.5 lakh kgs of plastic waste annually! India Inc. is increasingly embracing the view that sustainability and staying ahead of the curve makes businesses future-fit. A 2023 report by Deloitte shows 84% of business leaders agree global economic growth can be achieved while also reaching climate change goals, and 75% say their organisations have increased sustainability investments over the past year, indicating a likely groundswell of action within the industry.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL), present in the country for the last 27 years, has targeted being carbon neutral by 2045. That is more aggressive than India's goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070.