Green Reporting: Transparent Communication for Sustainable Impact
Green Reporting has the potential to build trust and confidence in consumers, investors, and regulators. By providing material evidence of their commitment to sustainability, businesses can discern themselves from their competitors.
During a panel discussion on ‘Green Reporting: Transparent Communication for Sustainable Impact’, three officials holding high positions in their respective organizations, highlighted the importance of Green Reporting.
Here are the excerpts.
On aligning sustainability goals with business goals
K Ganesh, Senior General Manager – Corporate Affairs & CSR, Bisleri International
“From day one, Bisleri has focused on sustainability and environment-friendly usage of plastic. The recent recommendations by the Government of India have also helped us to take our goals one step forward by formulating and publishing our accomplishment in terms of sustainability in a transparent and structured manner.”
“Source of water and harvest of water is crucial for all the consumers, therefore there is a proper filtration process involved in getting the final product. Also, there are checks in the entire supply chain until our product reaches the end consumer.”
“Bisleri is using glass as well as aluminium in the packaging of water which are highly environment-friendly materials. Along with these, we are also using PET form of Plastic which is 90 per cent recyclable, unlike other forms of non-biodegradable plastics.”
On sustainability as a part of banking and financing
Manish Kumar, Head-ESG & CSR, ICICI Bank
“The banking industry has taken multiple steps to align with sustainability from going paperless to using ceramic cups in place of plastic cups in office premises. Now, a bank account can be opened without using even a single piece of paper. We are also encouraging our employees and customers to avoid the use of papers wherever it is not mandatory, to protect the environment.”
Abhejit Agarwal, Head - Sustainability & CSR, Axis Bank
“Financial institutions have adopted very clear environmental criteria for lending and investment decisions, incentivizing companies to adopt greener practices. This symbiotic relationship between financing and sustainability has boosted the transition towards a low-carbon economy and increased awareness about environment-friendly initiatives in the financial sector.”
On extended producer responsibility
K Ganesh, Bisleri
"We use the principle of 3Rs- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in manufacturing our products. We reused 63,000 metric tonnes of plastic last year. The Net Carbon emission gets reduced drastically while reusing plastic. 4 kg of CO2 is emitted when we use virgin plastic whereas only 2.15 kg of CO2 is emitted when plastic is reused. Therefore, we provide our utmost importance to get our plastic reused as much as possible. We have built a proper supply chain to get the plastic back to our recycling stations as a part of our extended producer responsibility."
On regulations, framework and benchmarking
Manish Kumar, ICICI Bank
"Under the new rules, it is mandatory to do reporting on sustainability therefore green reporting has now become an intrinsic part of company reports. The benchmarking of carbon emissions is done by various government agencies that give us Carbon Credit for the absorption or decrease in CO2 emissions."
On the issue of Greenwashing
Abhejit Agarwal, Axis Bank
"The compliance with the environmental norms should not be a tick-mark activity but which needs to be done in letter and spirit in real-time. Greenwashing like fudging or misreporting needs to be completely abandoned. When complying with all the norms ESG compliance is a huge challenge. Therefore, while putting data like CSR data in the public domain, it is very crucial that the data should be 100 per cent correct. Also, the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) needs to be followed in its entirety."
Manish Kumar, ICICI Bank
" Data of top 1000 companies is published through BRSR data, and hence it will increase the transparency."
K Ganesh, Bisleri
"Only the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), are providing standardisation for green compliance to fasts moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies."
Concluding remarks
Abhejit Agrawal, Axis Bank
"Good reporting leads to good decision-making. Green reporting is a means to an end, not an end in itself."
K Ganesh, Bisleri
"Green Credits are not only for companies but also for individuals. Like the industrial revolution, this is going to be a sustainability revolution."
Manish Kumar, ICICI Bank
"Achieving Net Zero is the ultimate goal, that we all need to achieve."
