Have To See That Impact On Planetary Boundaries Is Minimized: Tony Henshaw, Chief Sustainability Officer, Aditya Birla Group
On 16th November, during the India and Sustainability Standards 2017 conference organized by Centre for Responsible Business, there was a session on ‘Aditya Birla Group Model on Sustainable Business Practices’, where the speaker was Mr Tony Henshaw, Chief Sustainability Officer, Aditya Birla Group.
The first session explained the ABG model and its purpose to engage CEOs as the budget holders and decision-makers by focusing on Business Management Systems and their improvements to reduce impacts on externalities, and also business strategy by learning to understand the risks and opportunities presented by the external factors that could disrupt the business in the short, medium and long-term.
“We have to build a system that makes money, doesn’t kill anybody and doesn’t pollute the environment. Some of us have to completely transform the way our businesses operate. All the engineers have a vested interest in making things more energy-efficient. If everyone and every business in the world followed the law as written today, is the world going to be sustainable? Well, it won’t be and one of the reasons is population. We are adding a city the size of Udaipur every year on planet. Our friends in Sweden came up with planetary boundaries, and we are pushing the bounds of the planet. From a business operational point of view, we have to see that our impact on these boundaries is minimized”, said Henshaw. He also added, “A business is a system that consists of people who are competent and engaged, assets which are fit for purpose and maintained and processes which are capable and assured. Its purpose is to offer products and services in a profitable manner but it often has impacts individually that threaten our planet. By 2030 we are planning to reduce our operating space which is constrained by the legal standards for a sustainable world by 2050. The operative space will be after the voluntary adoption of International Standards today.”
Henshaw also went on to add, “The big question is that even if you go zero defect, it will be difficult to be zero harm to biodiversity and zero energy. So we are trying to go ahead with responsible stewardship (by creating a framework to move towards international standards and mitigate our impact on externalities), through strategic stakeholder engagement (gaining knowledge to understand how fast ‘external factors’ will change and when disruptions will occur), and future-proofing programmes including our supply chain (modifying our strategic business plan to include additional mitigation and adaption to changes in external factors).” “A sustainable business is one that can thrive within the needs and constraints of the sustainable world. The businesses which go up to 2030 will be the best management businesses. Mechanisms are being developed to shakeout of companies that cannot afford or have technical or structural issues and cannot comply with the needs of the sustainable world by 2030 or 2050. A sustainable value chain can only contain sustainable businesses and thus a sustainable brand at the head of the sustainable value chain. It’s about reducing ecological footprint in the end”, he added.
Regarding mechanisms which can drive change, Henshaw said, “Some mechanisms which can drive change are leading businesses driving best practice, best practice incorporation into international standards and international standards being incorporated in local laws, local laws driving the transformation of legacy assets and pushing laggards, IT systems allowing value chain mapping with reliable transparency and traceability, all products becoming branded by the inclusion of a reliable data pack and purchasing protocols including proven standards data. We have to move from legal compliance to meeting international standards. There has to be scenario planning around the global megatrends dramatically affecting our value and supply chains.” “Questions like is land use is strictly controlled to preserve biodiversity- what about raw material availability? And if water tables are restored by limiting use and recharge- what about water cost, desertification and food? Also, questions regarding transparency and traceability need to be asked”, he added.
Henshaw went on to conclude by saying, “The Aditya Birla Group Sustainability Vision is by 2017, the ABG endeavours to become the leading Indian conglomerate for sustainable business practices across its global operations. Learning to build sustainable businesses and value chains that can operate within the shrinking funnel is the goal of ABG’s business leaders.”
The second session was about receiving feedback on the ideas behind the model and the model itself, and leading the audience into a debate of the implication of using such a model versus the original triple bottom line might have had in accelerating progress towards a sustainable world.
