Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22, 2022. People worldwide have chosen this day to recognise the importance of the earth and advocate for its protection and gather together to address global environmental issues such as climate change. Increase awareness of global warming, pollution, and biodiversity protection activities. The theme this year is: Invest In Our Planet, this is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, and our livelihoods.
We share some quotes from industry leaders as well as initiatives companies have undertaken to do their part to take care of our planet.
Shantanu Sonaikar
Co-Founder & Director – Strategy and Investments, Pi Green Innovations
As the theme for Earth Day 2022 is “Invest in Our Planet,” we must all work together to undo the harm and maintain a clean environment due to the escalating environmental concerns. To address the problem of Particulate Matter (PM) emissions in the air at the source, such as vehicles, diesel generators, and other industrial emissions, we need to invest in newer cutting-edge technologies. In comparison to traditional filter-based and water-based solutions that have been utilised for decades, new technologies must be long-lasting and low-maintenance. Although our planet deserves love every day, Earth Day reminds us to make a difference and create a positive impact.
Kirti Kabra
Director at RR Global
With climate change having a drastic effect on our economies, companies across the globe have increased their focus on their Environment Social Governance (ESG) standards. There’s no doubt that the earth needs to be looked after- now more than ever. As the world continues on the path of urbanisation, a sustained effort toward environmental protection is essential. While we focus on the efforts, it is equally important to create awareness about sustainability.
RR Global remains committed to further enhancing our efforts toward environmental protection. We ensure regular tree plantation, water recycle management and responsible waste management across all our factories. We have also been actively working towards zero water wastage and energy conservation techniques and have employed the use of solar power as a source of energy at all our factories. We also ensure that our products are free of any hazardous substances which makes them safe for the environment as well as our consumers. As a company, we believe in sustainable efforts toward the entire ecosystem which entails focusing on the safety of our consumers as well as our employees. Today, as we all celebrate Earth Day together, we at RR Global hope to see a safer and cleaner tomorrow for all our future generations.
Dr Rishi Bhatnagar
President, Aeris Communications
India is a leader in a new economic growth approach that could help other developing nations avoid the carbon-intensive pathways that many countries have chosen in the past. It is a watershed moment in the global fight against climate change that we now strive to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 and meet 50 per cent of our electricity needs with renewable energy sources by 2030. The desire to develop a net-zero emissions economy by 2070 is driving India’s electric car transition; work on this has already begun. EVs play a critical role in the country’s green narrative. Internal combustion engines and automobiles, as well as their motions, increased human mobility, opened up new educational and economic opportunities and simplified global trade. By supporting the electric vehicle ecosystem and clocking 120 million kilometres of green driving, Aeris India has contributed to India’s goal of being carbon neutral, saving 9100 metric tonnes of CO2. This translates to about six lakh trees. The firm is committed to making India a clean, green, and carbon-free environment.
Arun Dinakar Rao
Chief People Officer, Birlasoft
As an environment-friendly organisation, Birlasoft is committed to protecting the environment with the active engagement of its employees. The organisation has initiated many projects to cut down energy and water consumption. An energy-efficient solar panel installation at our Pune facility reduces dependence on conventional energy. We maximize the use of natural lighting through our innovative infrastructure design and LED-based lighting systems. Our relentless focus on restoring nature through green campus initiatives reflects in our continuous efforts toward the conservation of nature. In addition, we are using Earth Day 2022 to foster a better sense of caring and compassion by hosting sessions to increase awareness about zero-waste living and a voluntary field day for our employees to spend a day at a national/zoological park in earmarked cities. Through such initiatives, we are putting back the focus on the planet and reconnecting with nature.
Gaurav Burman
VP & APAC President, 75F, India
Earth is our home planet, and it supports over 7 billion people. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), humans are depleting the planet’s natural resources, and living standards will begin to fall by 2030 unless quick action is taken. If we continue to overexploit natural resources, we will require 2.5 planets to meet our needs by 2050. Earth Overshoot Day, in 2021, fell on July 29 and this year it would come sooner than that. The rise in energy usage has been one of the major worries all over the world. We must use it wisely and sustainably. Customers increasingly want products to have low carbon footprints and consume as little energy as possible, making energy efficiency one of the tropical trends in automobile, appliance, and equipment design. This year’s Earth Day theme is ‘Investing in the Planet.’ As a result, the emphasis is on constructing structures and systems that conserve and preserve natural resources while still serving human requirements. Green building design emphasises low energy consumption and as much reliance as possible on natural light and ambient circumstances. As a building automation company, we make certain that our clients benefit from long-term building maintenance, regardless of their infrastructure. We urge our nation to come ahead and contribute to lowering pollution, using minimal energy, and saving our planet from resource depletion.
Nitish Rai
CEO and Co-Founder, FreightFox
Transportation contributes about 27 per cent of all CO2 emissions in the country. The biggest challenge with respect to transportation-related emissions for industries (also known as the Scope 3 emissions) is the ability to measure and report. At Freightfox, we are empowering companies to be able to measure and more importantly control their Scope 3 emissions in real time. We have also launched a new program to incentivise transporters for placing greener vehicles. The transporters benefit the most when they deploy EVs or CNG vehicles. FreightFox is creating a green ecosystem in its effort to make the earth more liveable for each one of us.
Godrej & Boyce
Reaffirming its Commitment of Investing in the Planet
The company intends to sustain its investment in clean and green technologies as well as preservation of biodiversity
Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, reinforced its commitment to preserve the planet through investments in green technology, building awareness on environmental issues by improving climate literacy and continuing their tradition of transforming industrial processes. Over the last ten years, Godrej & Boyce has invested more than INR 500 Crores towards its Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives. These initiatives are a part of the company’s Good & Green vision which is aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and aims to positively impact both the planet and the people through its initiatives.
The Green part of the company’s vision focuses on building a greener India through products and processes that enhance the energy efficiency, reduce emissions, and eliminate the burden on natural resources by encouraging material circularity and water positivity. Through addressing these key concerns, over the last decade Godrej & Boyce has been able to achieve a 45 per cent reduction in energy and water consumption, 16 per cent renewable energy use, 45 per cent reduction in carbon intensity, zero waste to landfill and a positive water balance.
Speaking about the significance of Earth Day, Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman and Managing Director of Godrej & Boyce shared the urgency of climate action and called upon corporations to set ambitious sustainability goals, “We stand today at a crucial juncture, wherein we cannot undo the past but can ensure that our present actions determine a better future. It is imperative that we align ourselves to the vision of a thriving green planet and initiate actions that take us there. For India, it is imperative to collectively work towards our ambitious goal of Net Zero by 2070, which can be achieved if we focus on our near-term goals. The 2025 and 2030 goals of reducing carbon intensity and achieving energy transition to a greater, renewable energy mix, need to be given a huge impetus by consciously adopting green technologies, promoting circular business models, and even making lifestyle changes at the individual level. We must all work towards a ‘National Strategy’ on de-carbonisation that attracts investments, infuses technology, and encourages corporates to heighten their ambition on climate goals and climate action.”
Since the MSME businesses that form the supply chain of large corporations also have a consequential impact on the environment, Godrej & Boyce has integrated green practices in the supply chain through “Beyond Sourcing.” This is an initiative to enable supply chain partners to integrate sustainability in their businesses in terms of Lean & Green Management that would finally lead to ZED (Zero Effect Zero Defect).
Recognising that climate action is an intergenerational issue, Godrej & Boyce has been running the Magical Mangroves campaign in collaboration with WWF India to encourage the participation of youth in climate action and highlight the significance of mangroves in building climate resilience.
Speaking about integrating sustainability into business operations, Tejashree Joshi, Head, Environmental Sustainability, Godrej & Boyce, said, “It is important to constantly formulate innovations in processes and technologies, which reduce the footprint of human activities on the planet. While the collective actions that we take today will decide the future course of the planet, we must also create a roadmap for future investments aimed at conserving Earth’s ecosystem. In addition to green technologies, improving climate literacy will have a huge role to play in ensuring that the youth become the torchbearers and there are sustained efforts to reduce and reverse the damage of climate change.”
Continuing its commitment to do environmentally sustainable and climate-responsive business, notable targets lately adopted by Godrej & Boyce include doubling energy productivity and reducing carbon intensity by 60 per cent by 2030. Further, by 2030 the company has committed to introducing recycled content up to 25 per cent in product plastic packaging, using 100 per cent recyclable packaging and continue offsetting its packaging plastic impacts by 100 per cent, maintaining ‘Water Positivity’ and ensuring ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ for all manufacturing activities across locations.
The organisation has always rallied to mitigate the risks of climate change. Some of the recent commitments include EP100 with Climate Group, Global Alliance on Energy Productivity, Advancing Net Zero Buildings with World Green Building Council, Business Ambition for 1.5°C by adopting SBTi – Science Based Targets Initiative, Renewable Energy Demand Enhancement (REDE) Initiative for Corporate Buyers in India, The India Plastics Pact, and the India Mangroves Coalition.
Bira 91
India’s fastest-growing beer brand, on the occasion of Earth Day 2022, announced ‘Mission To Zero’, its ambition to become India’s first Net Zero beer company by 2025. More than seven pints of Bira 91 are enjoyed every second and as the company scales up, Bira 91 aims to brew not only the most flavourful beers on the planet but also the greenest beers for the planet. The company is doubling down on its sustainability efforts with initiatives that will help create real, measurable impact. By 2025, every Bira 91 brewery will have zero carbon emissions.
Commenting on Mission to Zero, Ankur Jain, Founder and CEO of Bira 91, said, “Today’s consumers do not only want to drink flavourful beers but also want to make better choices for the community and the planet. We know that we make the most flavourful beers in the world, and now we want to make the greenest beers for the planet too. We are investing in our manufacturing and supply chain to ensure that our breweries reach zero carbon emissions by 2025 – five years ahead of other global beers makers. We believe that carbon emissions are the greatest challenge being faced by this generation and our hopeful that our ‘Mission To Zero’ will spark a revolution- one in which every beer made in the country is Carbon neutral.”
Last year, Kirin Holdings invested in B9 beverages for a minority stake. Subsequently both the companies partnered to form B9 – Kirin Centre for Sustainable Growth, which focused on environmental sustainability and other business synergies.
Sharing his perspective, Hiromasa Honda, Managing Director, Kirin Holdings Singapore, said, “A key pillar of Kirin’s philosophy is ‘Creating Shared Value’ (CSV). As part of this focus, the Kirin group strives to create social and economic value together with all of its stakeholders and work to grow sustainably with society. Kirin has identified the environment as one of its four key CSV issues. We are glad to share our expertise and support Bira 91’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral so early in its lifecycle. Team Kirin shares Bira 91’s ambition towards being India’s first Net Zero beer company and will continuously engage in various initiatives that can help them reach this goal.”
As a part of its to-do list for the planet, Bira 91 has laid out four key areas to accomplish Mission To Zero:
Shift to 100 per cent Clean Energy
The company is now Zero Coal across all breweries:
Minimise buying electricity made by burning coal or natural gas
Generate 10 MW of electricity from solar panels by 2025
Install off-grid wind turbines to light up all our administrative facilities and streets
Consume 60 per cent less energy
Invest in equipment to ensure that all the surplus heat is recovered and converted into reusable energy
Improve every small step of making beer – from mill to mash, boil to ferment, filter to pack, Bira 91 will make it smarter, faster and better
Deploy today’s advances in brewing, packaging, automation, AI and advanced robotics, Bira 91 will remove waste, improve efficiencies, and reduce energy consumption
Use 50 per cent less water
Recycle, Reduce and Reuse, Bira 91 will cut its water usage by half:
Treat and convert 100 per cent of wastewater into clean water which is then used for refrigeration, watering trees and generating steam
Reduce evaporation during brewing and make processes such as cleaning glass bottles smarter
Build closed-loop processes so that no water is lost after using it for the first time and can be reused multiple times
Send Zero Waste to Landfill
The company uses 100 per cent of the spent grain for animal feed and some of it is also used to make cups for offices and events
Currently, 95 per cent of the packaging material that is used to make Bira 91 beers is recyclable. By 2024, 99 per cent will be fully recyclable
Bira 91 is cutting the scrap and is committing to send zero waste to landfills across all its breweries by 2025. Anything that CAN be recycled, WILL be – broken glass, damaged cartons, waste cans, or any other waste generated in the beer-making process.
Conclusion
As humans, it is our primary responsibility to protect our mother Earth and ensure that we do everything possible to preserve our natural resources and prevent them from being overutilised and depleted. We must act to combat climate change and soil degradation, and if every individual works together to achieve this goal, we may be able to ‘Save Planet, Save Lives’.
