Sustainability Is Not Just About Reducing Footprint: Sharat Chandra, MD, TelEnergy Technologies Pvt Ltd
On 20th December, the UN Global Compact Network India (UN GCNI) and BMW Group India jointly hosted India Sustainability Dialogue 3.0 themed ‘SDGs as Growth Drivers’, where the dialogue focused on how corporates can contribute towards three major areas of development in India- Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption & Production and Partnership.
The dialogue was hoping to build consensus within the Indian corporate sector on the measures that can be employed to expand its activities in the three key themes; the possible impact it can have on businesses and key stakeholders like local communities, employees, supply chain actors, government and civil society; the existing good practices; the role of technology and innovation as well as changes needed to the existing policy environment.
In the first plenary session about Responsible Consumption and Production, when the role of corporates was discussed, Mr. Sharat Chandra, Managing Director, TelEnergy Technologies Pvt Ltd, said, “We have used technology, people and innovation to bring about a sustainable element in our operations. The telecom space in a grid-deficient country like India, involves the use of diesel for electricity, which has an impact on the environment and is not sustainable. So the telecom sector ends up producing a lot of energy which it consumes. We realized hybridization of energy is important, and so is energy storage. With our technology and innovation, the energy footprint of telecom towers reduced, the communities around the towers improved, and it had a positive sustainable effect overall, without any government intervention. Sustainability is not just about reducing footprint, but also managing technology and applications through entrepreneurship.”
“Indian markets are really welcoming CSR efforts of beverage alcohol companies. Responsible consumption remains a key ingredient in decision making while designing programs. 100% water is recycled and reused, and all our production sites have 0% liquid discharge. We have reduced our GHG emissions by 65%, as we mainly use biofuels. We have introduced 50% of renewable energy in our energy mix. No grain is wasted, it is handed over to farmers as cattle feed. We are doing a lot of work in terms of watershed development and rainwater harvesting. We also do a lot in terms of responsible consumption with programs liked Drink IQ and Drink Positive“, said Mr. Navdeep Singh Mehram, Head Sustainability, United Spirits- A Diageo Group Company.
Ms. Dipanwita Chakraborty, Regional Director- Corporate Responsibility & Sustainable Development, Asia Pacific, Corporate Affairs, Cargill Foods, said, “The purpose of our organization is to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way, and have really worked towards the SDGs since the beginning. When we talk about responsibility and sustainability, we realized that there are 800 million hungry in the world, and there are 120 million in this country itself. Bringing sustainability into our business is sometimes very common sense driven. We have the opportunity to create models of excellence and learn from one another”.
