Do you recall the excitement when a piece of clothing caught your eye while walking past a shop or surfing the internet? Your heart yearning to purchase it amidst a sea of online advertisements or busy lanes filled with the glitz and energy of vibrant garment sellers. No matter who we are or where we come from, we might all be able to relate to experiencing an emotional reaction to some or the other piece of clothing we were drawn to buy, either for ourselves or a loved one, at some point in our lives.
The textile and apparel sector is worth US $2.5 trillion worldwide and plays a significant role in a nation’s economy, employment generation and exports. The ministry of textiles annual report 2021-22 states India is the world’s 6th largest exporter of textiles. The Indian textile industry has a large unmatched raw material base and manufacturing strength across the value chain. The share of textile and apparel, including handicrafts, in India’s total exports stood at a significant 11.4% in 2020-21. It employs millions of people, which includes a large number of women from the rural population. For a textile industry manager, these statistics may look promising and can fuel the motivation to invest in expanding and propelling this economic growth. While clothing is a basic human need, it is more often than not a tool to feed capitalistic greed. A greed that feeds on socio-ecological injustice propagated by unmindful production and consumption practices. What are the injustices that are being alluded to? And what can be done to address them?
The injustices of the textile industry and a pathway to responsible production
While the textile and apparel industry might make economic sense, the ecological and social impact of the industry warrants scrutiny, given the industry’s multifaceted impact. During its life cycle, an apparel necessitates extracting, using, and disposing of resources which release toxic components into the environment. Marginalised sections of society are most vulnerable to the consequences of such insensitive apparel production practices. For instance, in Maharashtra, textile finishing colour tints the Ulhas and Waldhuni rivers blue. Another heartbreaking example is that of the Bandi River, affected by textile dye pollution, which flows through the Pali district in Rajasthan. River water testing revealed that chemicals from the Bandi had contaminated wells and hampered farming operations within a three-kilometre radius. These atrocities are evident in other countries too. A prominent example is that of the Kantamanto market in Ghana, which acts as a dumping ground for used clothing of the global north, disrupting the local textile industry and polluting the coastlines with unusable waste clothing. Incessant and mindless mass apparel production activities can therefore exacerbate the contamination of life-sustaining ecosystems, human rights abuses, and climatic disasters.
Growing public awareness and social cognisance about the environment are compelling the textile industry to produce environmentally friendly products. Consequently, many businesses and organisations are now focusing on environmentally responsible production methods. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is one such global, multi-stakeholder non-profit alliance aimed at supporting producers’ consumers and other stakeholders to move towards sustainability. It comprises over 250 prominent clothing, footwear, textile businesses, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, non-profits, NGOs, and academic institutions aiming to decrease environmental impact and promote social justice throughout the global value chain. The SAC created the ‘Higg Index’, a set of tools that standardise value chain sustainability assessments for all industry players.
Higg Index : An overview
The Higg Index helps stakeholders such as retailers, consumer goods brands, manufacturers, NGOs, governments and consumers to identify pathways to improve their existing practices and transition towards sustainable choices at an individual and collective level. It comprises a core set of five tools that together assess the value chain’s social and environmental performance and the product’s environmental impacts. These tools assess the environmental and social labour implications across the value chain. With this data, the sector can identify hotspots, continually improve sustainability performance, and achieve public demand for environmental and social transparency. The methodologies of the Higg Index have been developed over a decade in collaboration with SAC members, consultants, stakeholders, and industry experts.
The Higg tools include :
Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM),
Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (FSLM),
Higg Brand & Retail Module (BRM),
Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI), and
Higg Product Module (PM)
The following sections elaborate on the Higg Index evaluation process for Banswara Syntex. Banswara Syntex is a vertically integrated textile mill that produces high-quality yarn, fabric and garments. The organisation embarked on the sustainable production journey with the motivation to achieve science-based targets (SBTs) for textile industries. The targets are aimed at achieving absolute reductions of climate pollution and environmental harm, irrespective of economic growth (in terms of revenue or quantity of product produced annually). cBalance supported Banswara Syntex Ltd in using the Higg Index tool as part of this effort. The Higg Facility Environmental Module was considered best suited to support Banswara Syntex’s journey towards sustainability.
The Higg Facility Environmental Module
The Higg Facility Environment (FEM) module gives a comprehensive view of a facility’s sustainability performance. It facilitates assessing water use, waste management, and chemical management, among other relevant sustainability parameters. It has robust, standardised assessment parameters, which gives it an edge over the Life cycle assessment (LCA) tool. In addition, FEM provides a much broader scope of assessment as compared to carbon footprinting which is limited only to studying GHG emissions. Overall, it helps all industry players standardise value chain sustainability measures. The obtained data aids in finding hotspots for improving sustainability performance. It informs manufacturers, brands, and retailers about the environmental performance of their individual facilities, empowering them to scale sustainability improvements besides offering a clear picture of a facility’s environmental consequences. It assists in identifying and prioritising prospects for performance enhancement.
For the Banswara project, the Higg FEM assessed the following parameters:
Site information and permits
Environmental Management Systems
Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Water Use
Wastewater
Emissions to Air (If Applicable)
Waste Management
Chemical Management
Except for the site-information and permits parameters, each parameter has questions structured in a three-level format (Levels 1, 2, and 3) that represent general thresholds of good, better, and best environmental practises.
As part of this study, responses are analysed, and a score is allocated for each parameter according to levels. Based on this, total points are calculated by adding scores of all three levels for each parameter.
The Banswara Syntex Higg Experience
Recommendations for enhanced environmental responsibility were suggested by cBalance based on Banswaras’ Higg Scores for different subsections of the Higg FEM. Besides this, impact reduction recommendations beyond Higg parameters and other relevant socio-ecological impact reduction mechanisms were suggested to ensure accountability for environmental impacts emerging from the textile plants’ activities. While all parameters of the FEM are relevant, this article focuses on only the ‘Energy’ parameter of the Banswara Higg exercise in the interest of providing a basic understanding of the Higg assessment at a glance.
Banswara scored 80/100 for its energy-related practices. An indication of the facility’s progress at implementing a successful energy program. While good energy management provides significant benefits, including cost savings and efficiency, it requires adequate organisational focus and resources to correctly implement and be successful while reducing the impact on the environment. cBalance’s recommendations to Banswara based on its energy score are indicated in the image below :
Recommendations for other parameters, such as water, wastewater, etc. were shared as relevant based on the Higgs assessment. A detailed report which elaborates on all parameters and recommendations can be found here.
Way Forward
The textile industry is deeply intertwined with our lives, and the injustices it propels compel us to address the consequences of profit-driven human production practices that have altered the earth’s ecosystems to the point that our survival appears to be in jeopardy due to changes that are becoming increasingly onerous to reverse every day. Coalitions like SAC bring much-needed hope and motivation for mindful textile production. It provokes questions of ecological and social balance and encourages textile industries to reimagine and adopt sustainable production practices.
Healthy and responsible textile production calls for – consumers who purchase wisely and hold corporations accountable for unjust production practices, responsible textile-producing entities who look beyond profit and governments who overthrow unhealthy development agendas and move towards supporting and encouraging production and consumption practices that truly serve the planet’s needs.
As Wendell Berry, a writer, farmer and environmental activist, reminds us,
It is, therefore, only through a collaborative effort of mindful living that we can safeguard our planet’s present and future and manifest a just and habitable world for all.
Political Components of the Industrial Revolution: Parliament and the English Cotton Textile Industry, 1660-1774, Patrick O’Brien, Trevor Griffiths and Philip Hunt
Michael Jackson’s ‘Heal the World’ is a reminder for us that as humans we have the ability and opportunity to heal just as often as we cause socio-ecological wounds knowingly or unknowingly.Something to remember while reading this article and considering your organisational and/or individual approach to travel.
Our transport systems and socio-ecological injustice
Our transport systems play a major role in shaping the overall condition of the planet we inhabit : Coasts are being reclaimed to make way for coastal roads directly jeopardizing the lives of marine organisms and fisher folk. Other life supporting ecosystems such as mangroves are being choked to make space for airports and its accompanying infrastructure. Forests and farmlands are being destroyed for high-speed intercity travel. In the everyday world the comfort of smoke-emitting vehicles is prioritized over cyclists, pedestrians and other living beings, too. Vehicles and the infrastructure they necessitate, no matter where they are based, contribute to carbon pollution and impact the lives of the vulnerable, the most! How do we know who is vulnerable? Well, they are the people and living beings whose voices you’ll barely hear on the news and won’t hear directly on social media sites at all. These are the voices smothered by concerns over GDP and social status. Reflect on this a bit and you’ll know who we are talking about.
Transportation is therefore one of the many factors contributing to carbon pollution and the climate crisis it catalyzes. For instance, people and other beings have to battle floods, droughts and climate crisis induced calamities. There have also been reports of people losing lives due to health ailments propagated by pollution, too. You might be wondering what you can do about this. This article shares a humongously impactful but not yet widely popularised way to contribute to a sustainable and just world- by rethinking our priorities and our travel choices.
We are here to convey the need to minimize and as far as possible replace a seemingly clean and convenient, yet monstrous and deeply unjust mode of travel – air travel. To let you know that this vital yet seemingly impossible proposition is in fact a possibility, we’ll also share our experience of working towards this within our own organisation and with WIPRO Ltd. (IT company) .
Why reconsider air travel?
The airline industry cleans up its appearance pretty well but only after smothering life giving ecosystems and causing much carbon pollution. Beginning at the airplane and airport construction and continuing with fuel extraction and other processes, air travel is far from clean. Additionally, the seemingly ‘clean’ interiors of airplanes and airports, are breeding grounds for social inequity. They constantly endanger the health of both social and ecological systems. To support this here is some data compiled by our collaborating network to counter aviation, StayGrounded.
Air travel is accessible unequally across the globe :
This mode of travel that is accessible to only the privileged few is in fact one of the largest climate crisis perpetrators :
One of the many reasons the total climate impact of aviation is not recognised is because of a lack of focus on the non-carbon dioxide emissions by the sector :
You might wonder, ‘Why not transition to e-fuels and other existing alternatives?’However, while climate mitigating alternatives like biodiesel and solar powered or electric aircrafts might seem promising, they are for the time being at least ‘deficient’. Solar PVs have a negligible impact, biodiesel availability is insufficient to meet the present let alone future demand (not to mention its own climate impacts) and the expected timeline for electric aircraft in regular commercial operations is not earlier than the end of the 2030s. For details of these critiques refer to the ‘Airline industry’s response’ section of this article. So if the choice of fuel or power source for air travel is not enough, what will get us closer to a sustainable travel?
Beginning to step away from air travel: The cBalance and Wipro experience
The first step to reducing air travel is to re-think about the criteria we use to evaluate it. You may think it is a more hygienic, fast and comfortable means of transport. You may also see its necessity for in-person business meetings. Why would we sacrifice such a convenient, comfortable and efficient mode of travel? This is where considering the sociological and ecological injustices and looking at the present day realities of our time, inclusive of the covid-19 pandemic and other natural and human-induced disasters, has changed the stakes. If sacrificing comfort is our concern, can we sacrifice the lives of our fellow humans and other non living beings just for comfort? If hygiene is our concern, can we ignore the dumping of toxic GHG gases in the air, impacting the health of the present and future generations of humans and other beings? If travel time is our concern, do we really need to travel that much? (Hasn’t the covid- 19 situation revealed that virtual meetings get much of the job done.) Or can we make the time spent travelling something that adds to our lives, something that we can be present to, if not look forward to?
Since 2015 we have been supporting Wipro Ltd. in studying their organisation’s flying patterns and suggesting ways to reduce carbon pollution from air travel. Wipro has managed a 15-20% reduction of climate impact from air travel, between 2015 and 2020. This reduction has been gradual and has involved them integrating the following suggestions in their organisations travel policies:
Choosing non-stop flights over multi-stop flights, as far as possible.
Choosing virtual meetings over in-person ones whenever possible.
As is evident from these measures, Wipro attempts not only to reduce the impact of their flying but also to reduce flying itself. This is based on the knowledge that over a 1,000 km journey, an air traveler emits 285 kgs of CO2 kilometer while a railway passenger in even an AC executive-class compartment emits 30 kgs while in a comfortable AC bus the same passenger emits 70 kgs (Ref 1). Wipros policy includes that journeys in India that are less than 12 hours long need to be by train, unless employees are supposed to be back in the office on the next day. At cBalance we ourselves take this measure a step further. Everyone from the most-experienced to the youngest team member travels by rail for domestic travel irrespective of the number of hours of travel. However, this policy is not implemented without consideration. If someone is unwell or unable to sit for long hours or if there is an emergency and air travel is unavoidable we do consider it. Such a progressive policy may take some work to be implemented in organisations such that it is applied appropriately. It may require challenging conversations around what is a ‘need’ and what is a ‘want’. It may require challenging conversations around positions of power and economics. However, it is precisely because of the disproportionate impact and injustice that those with privilege have caused and continue to cause that this is the direction in which we must move and that the privileged must make the start. For example, it will be of little use if policies such as Wipro’s are not applicable to employees across all grades. Fortunately, Wipro is in the process of addressing such loopholes.
Similarly, while smaller organisations like ours have long chosen virtual meetings with overseas partners and other sustainable choices, events in recent years are necessitating that even larger companies reconsider their choice to fly. The Stay Grounded network presently comprises 160 members across the globe who are doing the same. And there are of course organisations beyond the network acting in the same direction to minimize socio-ecological injustices of the air travel industry. There are even some governments making efforts to minimize air travel too.
Moving into ‘Fair Travel’
‘An average medium-haul domestic return flight from Bangalore to Mumbai emits climate pollution (i.e. greenhouse gasses) that neutralizes the benefit of 100 trees – essentially, cut down forever. This can be seen as personally chopping down 1 tree at the end of the return flight, each time we fly’(ref 2)
Since travel is a major component of IT and Finance/BPO service companies, the Fair Travel program is focused on working with pioneering IT and BPO/finance companies in India through a participatory method called ‘Carbon Reduction Action Groups’ (CRAGs). When successfully employed in global enterprises CRAGs will enable a mixed group of employees to set their own carbon footprint reduction targets, including climate impacts from business-related air travel. These groups will then be able to work toward co-creating their roadmap to achieve these reduction targets. As with Wipro, cBalance’s FairTravel program will provide the necessary training and support to achieve these. FairTravel will also provide carbon footprinting and other decision support, along with communications support for Corporate Sustainability teams to amplify these pioneering efforts. For more details on this program please visit this link.
For many of us, some of our fondest memories include travelling and some of our greatest achievements include working together to address challenges. Fair Travel is an opportunity to ensure that our collective journey is made up of responsible choices and that we continue to have fond travel memories and satisfying work. We need to begin now. Let’s heal the world and make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human (and non-human) race!
References:
Based on independently verified India-specific emissions factors developed by cBalance and audited by Western State Colorado University (WSCU)
Recycle Guru is an online platform helping citizens recycle their waste by enabling the informal recycling sector. It promotes the more sustainable use of resources to make communities healthier and cleaner and seeks to instill greater dignity in the recycling profession as well as into the perception of citizens who rely upon their services. Recycle Guru initiates the recycling process by collecting paper, plastic, metal, and glass wastes from households in Bangalore.
The motive of this project was to create a tool to estimate the Energy and GHG Emissions (or Carbon Footprint) conservation benefits of recycling versus the business-as-usual option for municipal waste management in India: landfilling. Achieved Energy saving is contextualized in terms of equivalent hour of usage of CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps), ceiling fans, laptop, washing machine, LCD TV, and the equivalent carbon sequestration capacity of trees.
Paper
Paper waste is categorized into following categories: paper sheets, newspaper inserts, newsprint, cardboard, and magazines. The Recycle Guru team observed the percentile contribution of each waste type as the following:
Paper sheets – 95%
Newspaper Inserts – 5%
Cardboard – 60%
Magazines – 40%
Life cycle emission (implies manufacturing from Virgin material, 0% recycled material) of each subcategory mentioned above is as follows:
Using the first order decay method, the emissions from disposal is estimated to be 1.725 kg CO2e/kg of waste. The total emissions saved from recycling is calculated by subtracting the life cycle emissions of the recycled material from the life cycle emissions of the virgin material and then adding the landfilling emissions. The results are displayed in the following table:
Plastic
Plastic waste consists of the following three categories: high value plastic (high density polyethylene), PET bottles (polyethylene terephthalate), low value plastic (low density polyethylene). The life cycle emissions from manufacturing for each subcategory are displayed in the table below.
Since Degradable Organic Carbon in plastic is almost negligible, methane generation from its disposal in landfills is considered to be Zero. To calculate the avoided emissions from recycling, the same formula as that for paper was used. The results are displayed in the following table:
Metal
Metal waste only contains one category comprising both aluminum and steel. As per the pattern observed so far, percentile contribution of aluminum and steel in metal waste is found to be 75% and 25%, respectively. The life cycle emissions (implies manufacturing from Virgin material, 0% recycled material) of each subcategory mentioned above is as follows:
Since degradable organic carbon in metal is almost negligible, methane generation from its disposal in landfills is considered to be zero. Emission savings for each category is estimated using the same equation as paper and plastic with the results displayed below.
Glass
Glass waste is categorized into the following categories: beer bottles (brand: Kingfisher), container glass, and generic glass. As observed so far by Recycle Guru team, there were many instances when beer bottles were counted in pieces instead of kilogram. Hence, carbon saving from beer bottles is estimated based on number of pieces taken for recycling. Kingfisher beer bottles (made up of glass) mostly come in 650ml and 330ml. These two
major categories are considered in modeling the carbon saving from piece of each type. Life cycle emission (implies manufacturing from virgin material, 0% recycled material) of each subcategory mentioned above is as follows:
Since degradable organic carbon in metal is almost negligible, methane generation from its disposal in landfills is considered to be zero. Emission savings for each category is estimated using the same equation as paper, plastic, and metal and the results are displayed in the following two tables.
As discussed above, the energy saving achieved is expressed in terms of following contexts: CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps), ceiling fans, laptop, washing machine, LCD TV, and the equivalent carbon sequestration capacity of trees. Electricity emission factor (including AT&T Loss) for Bengaluru city is 1.27 kgCO2e/kwh generated. The following table displays the results:
To find about the assumptions taken and the equations used, the original report can be read here.
Yesterday, I attended “The India Business and Climate Summit 2015” held at the Hyatt Regency in Mumbai. I have quoted several people below from the notes I took during the summit – excuse me if I get something wrong or cut something out.
Andrew Steer
President and CEO of the World Resources Institute (WRI)
The event kicked-off with a video message from the President of the WRI. “Measure your scope 1 emissions because it’s not only good for the planet but also good for your bottom line. Also, look at across your whole value chain and suppliers – scope 2 and 3 – because again, it’s good for your bottom line.”
S. Raghupathy
Executive Director, CII – IGBC
“We have a moral responsibility to cut climate emissions
We (India) are #3 in the world – 2 billion tons per year
Renewable energy has the potential to transform the country
Cement industry in India has the lowest specific emissions from any Cement Industry in the world
3,300 projects, 3.1 billion square feet of green buildings, are built or planned
Because reducing emissions makes good business sense
Climate change is a cost saving opportunity
India GHG program is a platform for to learn from each other and have concrete projects on the ground and make things radically different
Main aim is to have nearly 200 companies involved and have inventory of their carbon emissions and take steps to reduce their emissions
Right now 41 companies which includes 15-20% of emissions are registered with India GHG
Outcome of this program, reducing emissions makes good business sense.”
Shri Prakash
Consultant with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
“As a senior citizen, I miss the clean air and bath in river Ganga. As all of us know that climate change is real, last month in July was one of the hottest months since we started measuring temperatures globally. The first 7 months of this year have been the hottest on record. We’ve also seen the extreme events, cyclones and…there is no doubt about it. This is all happening because the GHG emissions are growing. There is also no doubt that we should do something about it.
In December, we will have a summit where we have to submit what we will do – they have got different problems, developed countries and developing countries. And we in India face lots of problems like hunger and poverty. TERI environmental surveys show that economic growth is important and environmental growth is important as well. What is more important?
There is a growing number of people who want both – environmental and economic growth. Our mission is very clear we have to find new technologies and use existing technologies to reduce GHG emissions. There are technologies available, 4 sectors – power, transport, buildings – we can achieve GHG emission reduction using the technologies available today. Transport is responsible for 23% of emissions globally. This will remain the same, GHG emissions are a part of growth in private sectors.”
Dr. Naushad Forbes
Director Forbes Marshall
“I come from a company that works in the energy conversation area. Clearly, the philosophy of TERI, WRI and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is reducing emissions is good for business. Let me tell you about a study in 2013. We took the average energy consumption per unit of output per six different sectors. One case study that came out of that was between the most efficient and least efficient breweries in the country. Both breweries are in Aurangabad, 3 km apart, same equipment manufacturers, and the difference in energy efficiency is between 21%. We first did this study in 2003 and again in 2013. Firms in 2013 were 30% more efficient vs 2003, but there was still 21% gap in efficiency between the most efficient firms and the least efficient. In Japan, they set up a ‘Cool Biz’ campaign to set all buildings and public spaces thermostat at 26 degrees, and after Fukushima they made it 28 degrees in the summer. The energy cooling load dropped by 50%. Now, during summer, 15 June to 15 Sept, suits are done away with. As energy prices have increased, the pressure to reduce energy conversation has reduced.
Can a company introduce an internal 100% tax within the company? If I pay Rs. 13 for gas then I put Rs. 13 in a bank account to spend on green initiatives. If you start paying this tax, you will take it seriously. There is great potential for this type of voluntary fund.”
Jamshyd Godrej
Chairman of Godrej & Boyce
“Suresh Prabhu’s first love has been the environment and climate change. We have one of the lowest per capita emissions in the world, but that is not a badge of honor for us. I think a badge of honor will be when we can reduce the overall energy use. A big issue is urban waste. Industry had done a significant amount. The most important thing we can do is to measure and then do something about it. We need to think about an internal tax on ourselves, and this will make us think more about it. The Govt. of India has put a tax on coal. I think this can be expanded to be a tax on carbon. These are the types of big issues we should think about and grapple with. Like the old joke, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Similarly, we need to address this issue one step at a time.”
Suresh Prabhu
Honorable Railway Minister of India
“In the next few weeks, a very important conference is coming up in Paris. This day long meeting (the summit) will help inform those ‘negotiations’.
Today, the Chinese market dropped by 6%. Financial markets have been integrated by human interaction. The ecosystem has been integrated for millions of years since the planet was born – GHG affects every one of us. Post 2008, the financials markets started contracting. Europeans were more interested in saving banks than saving plant. The economy distracted us from working on climate change.
Look at the intensity of drought or flooding, this has something to do with climate change.
Making less carbon emissions makes good business sense. Mr Godrej, he’s doing it to protect his bottom line but also to protect the environment itself. This is good for everybody – good for business, good for people. You can have both – low carbon growth and development. This is all possible and we can make it happen.
Railways are the single largest user of energy in India – two forms of energy – electricity and diesel. We did an energy audit. We are working to increase solar as it has major opportunities.
Trying to put roof top for solar – solar thermal, putting solar panels on the top of the train and all the energy used in the train for fans and lights, can be powered by solar.
How can it help the railways? Railways second biggest item of expenditure is energy. So we must save energy, it improves profitability and we all see that. This makes business sense and ecological sense. This is a bottoms up approach to have an integrated approach – sustainability, social issue and profit. If we address this challenge, quality of life will improve – air, toxics, if you do this you don’t need so many hospitals, you don’t need so many medicines. Self-motivated action is more important than regulated action. If we can have a water audit…the first casualty of GHG in our atmosphere is water.”
Jamshyd Godrej signing a pledge to support India’s low emission growth and development.
cBalance signing the pledge as well.
K Swaminathan
Advisor (Environment), Ministry of Railways, Government of India
shared a series of slides with information about the transport sector and specifically the railways:
In case you can’t read it clearly, the quote says: “Investment in Indian railways is an investment in our future. It is an investment in our sustainability. It is an investment for posterity (all future generations of people).”
K. N. Rao
Director Energy & Environment, ACC Ltd.
Launched transport emission factors. cBalance plans to work with the GHG program to share their work on India’s first and most comprehensive carbon emission factor database.
Then. the aviation specific emission factors were released. Here are a few notes on the aviation roadmap:
– Airline fuel saving opportunities led by the United Nations and theAirports Authority of India has resulted in 190 kg of airline fuel saving per landing.
– Bangalore Airport: commitment to generate 50% of power from renewables
Jamshyd Godrej, Chairman of Godrej & Boyce, spoke “If you don’t measure it you can’t do anything about it. Every ship puts 1000s of tons of grease into the sea. Climate change is, if not the most important issue, one of the most important – specially for India.
Thank you pointing out the temperature in the room (it was very cold).
A one degree change in temperature can make a huge difference in energy savings. Prime Minister Koizumi, coined a term “Cool Biz” – you don’t need to wear suits to work and they saved billions of dollars in energy.
Japanese employees during the Cool Biz campaign that has been running every summer since 2005. It started off with government offices and was soon adopted by the private sector. All offices made their thermostat to 28°C. This idea was proposed by the then-Minister Yuriko Koike under the cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Initially the campaign was from June to September, but from 2011, when there were electricity shortages after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami it was lengthened. It now runs from May to October. Read more: Cool Biz Campaign.
Lawrence MacDonald
Vice President, Communications, World Resources Institute
“India didn’t create this problem. Rich industrial countries caused this problem.”
Shankar Venkateswaran
Chief, Tata Sustainability Group
“Carbon pricing is going to happen. The if question is off the table.
The biggest questions are: What will happen with that money? What will the price for carbon be British Columbia has 30 dollar a ton. Tax goes to middle income tax break, low income. Sweden has 100 dollar a ton.”
Learn more about British Columbia’s tax on carbon. It is considered one of the most progressive and equtiable tax structures as all of the tax on carbon is redistributed in individual or business tax breaks or to low-income people. Read more here: http://www.carbontax.org/where-carbon-is-taxed/.
Shankar Jadhav
Head Strategy, Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd
“Unless you measure something, and report it. Carbonex and Greenex. Samaan platform of BSE for environmental projects.” Samaan will be a portal for companies to browse through eco-projects that are eligible for CSR funding.
“$18-20, could be carbon price per ton in next 5 years. If you’re in a carbon intense industry, you should take note.”
Rajasree Ray
Ministry of Finance, Govt of India
“I can say that we are in the final stages of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). It will be more than the voluntary goal right now. We will evaluate a market mechanism to price carbon. There is also a Green Climate Fund – developed countries will give 100 billion dollars to developing countries. It has a country driven approach, balanced governance structure. 10.2 billon dollars already there and can be taken as a grant. We also have a national clean energy fund, adaptation fund, and national green fund. 15% of energy is used by 50% of people – 36% of that bottom 50% lives in India.” There is energy inequity in India. The FairConditioning program aims to make energy more equitable with a demand-side intervention in indoor-cooling in India.
Kevin Moss
Global Business Director WRI
“From the 90% of the companies that created the climate crises – 70% of the companies are oil and gas companies.”
Joe Phelan
Director, WBCSD India
Joe facilitated the next session with a very interactive style that allowed questions/comments from the audience.
ITC shared its goal to go for 50% for renewable energy. To ban multilayered plastic items. Due to transportation and storage.
Aditya Birla– Himanshu Nautiyal
“When you have a problem in a company you set up a committee or find a consultant. We accepted science based target because it is industry based.”
Dr. Reddys
“Linked HVAC system into the BMS and gave us 40% energy savings
– Oxygen analyzer for complete combustion
– Coal-fired boiler
– Optimization of 60% of carbon is from scope 3
– We need to go for Sustainable sourcing”
Tech Mahindra
“Each employee goes through a test on sustainability before joining. What has the return been? Employee engagement has the highest return and it increases attrition. For us what really matters is scope 3”
Tobias F. Dorr
– GIZ, German agency for sustainability development
-Working in India for 60 years
– 145000 tons of waste every day
– 60% are collects
– 20% treated
CEM
– 3500 projects approved by ministry of environment
– Price broke down
– Use municipal solid waste as RDF
– Guidelines missing
Rajasekar
Executive President, UltraTech Cement Ltd.
– Developed the IES Cement Sector roadmap
– Benchmarking platform like the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
– Getting the numbers right for Cement Sector
How do you benchmark your data on carbon?
Carbon Capture and Usage: An interesting topic of conversation that came up is this idea of Carbon Capture and Usage, not Storage. This could be quite relevant.
Mahindra and Mahindra
Anirban Ghosh – Vice President- Group Sustainability, Mahindra & Mahindra
“Biggest level of impact is to reduce the distance between the suppliers and us.”
Indus Bank
Adwait Hebbar – Head Corporate Services, IndusInd Bank
“It was tough to change the mindset, people would ask questions like:
How does it matter if we’re printing 50 pages?
How does it matter if we’re using the AC?
So we asked how can challenge that?
Scope 3:
Can we have our board meetings tele-conferencing?
Can Investment bankers fly less and do more tele-conferencing.
Do we give preferential rates of lending for environmental friendly companies? Probably not.” However, just by asking this question it seemed like he was insinuating that in the future bank may ask for your environmental record before giving you a loan.
Jain Irrigation
Dr Santosh Deshmukh
– Largest processor of Mangoes in the world
– 3rd largest processor of Onions in the world
– Life cycle assessment, case studies for Onion
– Our organizational goal is to leave this world better than we found it
– Implemented Jain GAAP
– Advice: do incorporate the impact supply chain can have
Some ideas I had while attending the convention:
– Godrej Foundation could become a partner of the FairConditioning program.
– cBalance could do the water audit for the Indian Railway
– cBalance should start doing internal carbon accounting and reporting to be a role model
Investment, time or money, in climate change mitigation is an investment for posterity. If you are alive, you have power – with great power comes great responsibility.
If you have any questions/comments, feel free to reach out to me at dhruv@cbalance.in.
