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2013-14
MANAGEMENT PROJECT REPORT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: PRACTICES ADOPTED IN VARIOUS INDUSTRY SECTORS IN INDIA
Project report is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of PGDM program of IMT Hyderabad.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartiest gratitude to my project guide Dr. Debadutta Kumar Panda, Assistant Professor,IMT Hyderabad for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the project. His cordial support and valuable inputs helped me in completing the project. Lastly, I would like to thank my fellow batch mates at IMT Hyderabad for their assistance during the project.
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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................................................3 1. Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................5 2. Project Objectives ..............................................................................................................................................5 3. Scope .......................................................................................................................................................................6 4. Literature Review ..............................................................................................................................................6 4.1Models of Sustainable Development ...................................................................................................6 4.2 Measures for Sustainable Development ...........................................................................................7 4.3 Indicators of Sustainable Development ............................................................................................7 4.4 Sustainability Development in India ..................................................................................................9 5. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................... 10 6. Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................................... 10 6.1 Power & Energy Sector ......................................................................................................................... 12 6.1.1 TATA Power .................................................................................................................................... 12 6.1.2 Reliance Power .............................................................................................................................. 14 6.2 Mining Sector............................................................................................................................................. 16 6.2.1 Coal India Limited ........................................................................................................................ 16 6.2.2 HINDALCO ....................................................................................................................................... 17 6.3 Petroleum and Refinery Industry ..................................................................................................... 21 6.3.1 IOCL .................................................................................................................................................... 21 6.3.2 BPCL ................................................................................................................................................... 21 6.4 Agribusiness Sector ................................................................................................................................ 25 6.4.1 ITC ....................................................................................................................................................... 25 6.4.2 Rallis India Ltd. .............................................................................................................................. 26 7. Sustainability Reporting Practices & Trends in India ..................................................................... 27 7.1 Key findings from the BT Sustainable Development Index in India 2008 ...................... 28 7.2 Key challenges in adoption of Sustainability Reporting norms ........................................... 29 8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 29 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 31
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2. Project Objectives
To do a secondary study on the sustainable development practices prevailing in various industry sectors3 in India and coordination of their strategic programs To analyse and debate on the role of government, companies and other stakeholders in achieving desirable standards in sustainable development To Study the efficacy of Sustainability Index (SI) as an effective tool for measuring sustainable development
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Brundtland Report (1987) Our Common Future IUCN (The World Conservation Union), 1991 3 Power & Energy, Mining, Petroleum and Refinery and Agribusiness
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3. Scope
Current Scenario Global Protocol for sustainable development Strategies adopted by various industry sector for Sustainable Development in India Strategy for change: Indian Agenda Challenges and sectoral barriers for sustainable development
Dimensions of sustainability
The diagram shows three interlocking circles with the triangle of environmental (conservation), economic (growth), and social (equity) dimensions. Sustainable Development is modelled on these three pillars. This model is called three pillars or' three circles model. It is based considering the society, but does not explicitly take into account human quality of life. The Egg of Sustainability model It was designed in 1994 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN. It illustrates the relationship between people and ecosystem as one circle inside another, like the yolk of an egg. This implies that people are within the ecosystem, and that ultimately one is entirely dependent upon the other. Just as an egg is good only if both the white and yolk are good, so a society is well and sustainable only if both, people and the eco-system, are well. Thus according to this model: Sustainable development = human well-being + ecosystem well-being
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Atkissons Pyramid Model The Atkisson Pyramid process supports and accelerates the progress from identifying the vision of sustainability, through analysis and brainstorming and agreements on a credible plan of action. The Atkissons Pyramid is a blue print for the SD process. Its five steps or levels include: Level 1: Indicators- Measuring the trend Level 2: Systems- Making the connections Level 3: Innovations- Ideas that Make a Difference Level 4: Strategies: From Idea to Reality Level 5: Agreements: From Workshop to Real World Prism of Sustainability This model was developed by the German Wuppertal Institute and defines SD with the help of four components - economy, environment, society and institution. In this model the inter-linkages such as care, access, democracy and eco-efficiency need to be looked at closely as they show the relation between the dimensions which could translate and influence policy. In each dimension of the prism, there are imperatives. Indicators are used to measure how far one has actually come in comparison to the overall vision of SD.
The Amoeba Model The Amoeba Approach is a model used to visually assess a systems condition relative to an optimal condition. The Amoeba Model is a powerful technique for accelerating the innovation process and training to be far more effective in achieving SD.
In 1992, governments of 178 countries met at Riode Janeiro, Brazil, for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The Earth Summit, as UNCED was also known, was convened to address urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development. The Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD, December 1992), which grew out of the Rio Summit, initiated a programme on sustainable development indicators in 1995. The programme resulted in a working list of one hundred and thirty four indicators (134) indicators. In order to assess the validity of these, twenty-two (22) countries from all over the world volunteered to test these indicators in an initiative that began in 1996. The indicators were tested according to individual countries own priorities and goals for sustainable development and implemented on the basis of common guidelines for national testing developed by the division for sustainable development in consultation with its indicators expert group. These countries subsequently met in 1999 to discuss experiences and best practices. In March 2000, under the direction of the Division of Sustainable Development and Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DSD/DESA), a small group of experts met to draft the final CSD framework. As a result of the meeting, a draft list of 58 indicators was selected and distributed to all testing countries for approval. India recognizes the importance of indicators and the work done by the Commission of Sustainable Development. Though, India is not the part of testing countries. Quite a large number of literature concentrate on sustainability indicators concepts and its types. In the paper edited by Gupta and Sinha (1999), they have talked of additional properties of a good indicator like parsimony, internal or external validity, understandability by various user groups, inter-connectivity among different sub-systems, and gender sensitivity. Many authors have come up with very specific indicators. Some of these focus on rural specificity. Here Rangekar, Soni and Kakade (1999) have described indicators of sustainable rural development which are protection and development of village commons, sale of productive animals and percentage of underprivileged people involved in the development program to monitor ecological, economic and social dimensions. Depinder Singh Kapur (1999) considered degree of livelihood support of rural people and poor farmers and his suggested indicators are increased opportunity for wage employment, expenditures on food intake, wages higher than market rates, access to gains of common land for poorest households and enhancement in food grain security. Wickram singh (1999) introduced a measure of sustainability of rural development termed as index of habitat security based on farmers self analysis in Kelegama district of Sri Lanka. He has also studied in the context of Sri Lanka that literacy level and life expectancy have increased and level of infant and maternal mortality has decreased. Katar Singh (1999) focused on indicators such as factor productivity, crop yields, level of land degradation and deforestation. We also found mention of ecological indicators such as land use changes, biomass quality, water quality and quantity, soil fertility and energy efficiency by Ramakrishnan,(1999) who has also noted that the indicators quality of life, health and hygiene, nutrition and food security and morbidity symptoms are useful for ascertaining the social status of society. Malhotra(1999) clarified the definition of social sustainability and elaborated the concept. Mandavkar(1999) enumerated three criteria for indicators that are economic viability, management of technology and knowledge, equity for the sustainability and long-term productivity of a
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natural resource management program. All these indicators can be classified under social indicators. MathewSarvina(1999) traced historical background of the development scenario in Seychelles islands. Zan U Thein Win(1999) of Myanmar emphasized on strengthening of human resources and social development. Criteria and indicators have been discussed for the development of dry zones. Criteria for the dry zone are transportation, energy, and communication while that for socio- economic development are health, education, poverty eradication, agriculture etc. Ms Monfarad (1999) highlights role of rural and pastoral women of Iranian republic in respect of rural development. She suggested the need to adopt policies to train rural and pastoral women in agricultural and environmental issues and develop policies to eliminate health hazards. TERI Project Report (2000) reviews the indicators prepared by the Commission of Sustainable Development (1992) from a developing country perspective. The paper comments on the significance of the indicators as they relate to India and where required new modifications have been proposed. An effort has been made to bring out any differences in the national definitions or methodologies vis--vis the CSD. The indicators presented in the article have been classified into social, environmental, economic and institutional as per the classification of the CSD (1992). Commission on Sustainable Development has adopted a work program on indicators for use by countries in measuring their own progress towards sustainable development. The OECD, one of the pioneers in indicator work has adopted has adopted a new focus on sustainable development. The multiple facets of complex environmental /developmental problems require many indicators to assure experts that all critical factors are being followed. It is not yet clear what is important or measurable with indicators to address a particular problem. Systems model would be required to understand and identify those large-scale systems parameters for which indicators should be developed.
Regarding Indian companies and their performance on sustainable issues, Indian companies are not behind in the race of sustainable development. With the growing significance of sustainability issues at the global level, corporate India is also embracing them in its business operations. Indian conglomerates like ITC and Tata are in fact enhancing their competitiveness by focusing on sustainability. ITCs innovative business model, ePage | 9
Choupal is one such vibrant example of how the company created opportunity for rural farmers to have a sustainable living, which in turn benefited the company to eliminate unnecessary supply chain costs. Moreover, Indian companies also understand the result of ignoring sustainable issues4 on their businesses. According to findings of British Telecommunications5 Plc.s assessment of Indian companies on sustainable issues although Indian companies are proactive towards sustainable issues, there are still many issues inclusive employment, education, employment creation, health, corporate/government collaboration, land and displacement, natural resource management, climate change, corporate governance, solid waste and water to be addressed by them. In fact, Indian companies are failing to come out with innovative approaches for addressing sustainable issues. They are facing the challenge of integrating sustainable issues into their corporate strategies. Besides, several other challenges like lack of technical know-how, R&D, lack of coordination with the government, etc., are obstructing them from dealing with sustainability issues.
5. Methodology
Analysis has been done through study of data from secondary sources mentioned below for assessment of sustainability reporting practices. Data source: Secondary data sources (Companies websites for sustainability reports, Articles, Industrial forum like CII conference documents. Project Portfolio Data analysis has been done for four industry sectors in India with respect to sustainable development practices adopted by different companies in chosen sectors. Project portfolio is mentioned below.
Industry Sector
Power & Energy Mining Petroleum and Refinery Agribusiness
List of Companies
1.TATA power 2. Reliance Power 1. Coal India Limited 2. Hindalco 1. IOCL 2. BPCL 1. ITC 2. Rallis India Ltd.
6. Data Analysis
Sustainable development in India
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/mapping-how-corporate-india-is-converting-climate-change-risks-into-bizopportunities/401247/ 5 http://www.btplc.com/Societyandenvironment/Betterworldforbusiness/BTSustainableDevelopmentIndex/BTIndia08.pdf
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Industry wide practices for sustainable development in India encompasses a variety of development schemes in
social, cleantech (clean energy, clean water and sustainable agriculture) and human resources segments.
Pressures from various stakeholders are impelling businesses to take proactive steps to ensure sustainability in their operations. These pressures / incentives can be from the external environment or from within the business enterprise. The key external environmental influencers are customers and social activist groups who are increasingly becoming anxious about the impact of businesses on the environment. To add to that, the government has also introduced several regulatory guidelines and policies which the businesses are obligated to follow. Some of the recent ones are releases of National Voluntary Guidelines for Social, Environmental, and Economic Responsibilities of Business by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and a policy mandate for Central Public Sector Enterprises to earmark a part of their net profit for sustainability initiatives. Another strong motivating external influence is the fact that Indian businesses, by following international sustainability standards, can increase their attractiveness to forge partnerships with international companies. Additionally, the pressure to become sustainable comes also from within the business. Businesses are struggling to find solutions to increasing costs of energy, water and waste management and solutions to the scarcity of natural resources. Any approach to reduce the effects of these on the operations processes will benefit businesses tremendously. Major Achievement The number of carbon credits issued for emission reduction projects in India is set to triple to 246 million by December 2012 from 72 million in November 2009, according to a CRISIL Research study. This will cement India's second position in the global carbon credits market (technically called Certified Emission Reduction units or CERs). The growth in CER issuance will be driven by capacity additions in the renewable energy sector and by the eligibility of more renewable energy projects to issue CERs. Consequently, the share of renewable energy projects in Indian CERs will increase to 31 per cent. CRISIL Research expects India's renewable energy capacity to increase to 20,000 megawatt (MW) by December 2012, from the current 15,542 MW. National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, under the Union Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India, has become the first PSU in the country by implementing a pilot-cum-demonstration project on Carbon Sequestration in its captive power plant at Angul. The project is expected to go a long way towards addressing the issue of bringing down GHG( Green house gases) The contribution of renewable energy to the power business in India has now reached 70 per cent, compared to 10 per cent in 2000, in terms of project numbers and dollar value.
Business Sustainability Initiatives Various companies in India are using sustainable operations to optimize their processes, with a view to taking advantage of the increase in revenues, reduction in costs and avoidance of regulatory risks. Below table enlists some of the major initiatives taken by sustainable businesses in selected industries.
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Table: Sustainability initiatives by selected industries Industries Major Sustainable Initiatives Automotive Efficient Supply Chain Management Development of innovative fuel efficient vehicles Green Infrastructure for offices and factories Conservation of water and energy usage in the processes Optimization of material management process Provision of employee buses to reduce carbon foot print Utilization of alternative sources of energy ICT Smarter Buildings Green IT virtualization of servers, desktops using Cloud Tree planting at IT campuses Reduction of travel using innovative communication technologies Focus on reduction of paper in the offices Banking Internet and Mobile banking and the introduction of IVR facility has reduced the usage of paper Innovative product offerings provision of preferential loan rates for the purchase of hybrid vehicles and construction of LEED design buildings Green awareness campaign among employees Solar powered ATMs Retail Eco friendly products and packaging Eco friendly sourcing Recycling initiatives Green Buildings Alternative Energy sources Energy, water and waste management
As per the project portfolio, qualitative data analysis has been done for Sustainable Development Practices adopted in a Industry Sectors in India namely Power & Energy, Mining, Petroleum and Refinery and Agribusiness.
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Sustainability Strategy Tata Power Sustainability Strategy covers four key elements, drawing reference from the well established triple bottom-line concept (profit, planet and people). Economic: The economic well-being and prosperity of the organization both today as well for the future to remain a relevant player in the industry and country Environmental: The environment footprint of the organization in terms of GHG emissions, water consumption and discharge, SO2, NOx and particulate matter, etc. Social: Promoting well-being in the community and society that the Company operates Cultural: Create a culture in and out of the organization which can keep its people connected to values
Sustainability Model: The Sustainability Model of Tata Power covers the entire range of Stakeholders. Tata Power has instituted Care as one of the values in the organisation which entrust Care for Environment, Care for Community, Care for Customers, and Care for People i.e. employees, shareholders, suppliers, partners etc.
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Initiatives Tata Power has installed Rain water harvesting systems and Sewage Treatment plants at all locations. Zero discharge systems are proposed at all locations. Tata Power plant expansion of projects with optimum utilization of existing infrastructure and reuse, recycle water to the extent possible. Water availability is one of the main criteria for selection of site for new projects. Tata Power is committed to reduce its CO2 intensity thus reducing the footprint of its operations on the environment. This is line with the strategic intent of generating 20-25% power from non carbon emitting sources. This is further facilitated by revolutionary initiatives like Club Enerji, which is a nationwide movement to educate the youth on measures of Energy Conservation. Greenolution is also one such Brand initiative to Tata Power that drives and motivates employees to take environmental initiatives and rewards good initiatives and their initiators are entitled as Green Heroes. The Company follows several charters, principles and other initiatives related to Sustainability. Various charters/ principles have been voluntarily adopted by the stations at different points of time and subsequently renewed as per their specific requirements. Some of them are: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, UNGC(United Nations Global Impact), CDP UK ( Carbon disclosure project) GHG emissions are tracked regularly and Carbon footprint assessment is conducted annually to compare trends from previous years and to accept targets to reduce them. Carbon Foot printing is done as per the WBCSD guidelines, ISO 16040. Different initiatives are taken to strengthen Biodiversity in and around locations, which includes Conservation of Endangered Mahseer Fish, Sea Turtle Monitoring Project, Trombay as an Important Bird Area (IBA) etc. Green IT initiatives are also taken which includes Virtualization, Adoption of the Cloud computing, Enforcement of Power saving mode (Hibernation) through Domain Policy etc.
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Strategy Milestones Made significant investments in E&P of O&G to secure energy supplies Implemented systems to monitor and measure sustainability performance Introduced sustainability awareness programmes in the intranet Formed the Reliance Innovation Council Sustainability report assured by an independent assurance provider Roadmap Companys short-term and long-term plans of achieving excellence in sustainability initiatives are as below: Short-term plan Form a sustainability council as an apex body to give impetus to our sustainability strategies Identify and develop measurable goals for sustainability performance indicators Give a structured approach to our social initiatives Create a pan-RIL system for managing organisational knowledge assets with the objective of empowering every employee with connective organisation knowledge for delivering superior performance Create a sustainability portal for e-enabling data and information collection Long-term plan Embed life cycle and systems thinking in all business processes Reduce environmental footprint by deploying appropriate systems and technologies Move towards a low carbon business enterprise Strengthen the talent pool to cater to our diverse and integrated nature of business Create a triple bottom-line accounting system Environmental Initiatives Strategies are in place for sustainable township development in various sites of Reliance Power by designing structures with minimum disturbance to the topography and ecology. The various steps towards building an eco-friendly composition are Rainwater harvesting, Solar heating for public buildings, Use of energy efficient building material , Use of lead free paints, Treatment of sewage water and reuse for landscape and irrigation purpose The company would be using super-critical technology and ultra super-critical technology that enables better combustion of coal and thereby reducing the emission levels apart from the Flue Gas-Desulphurisation plant that reduces sulphur dioxide emissions in flue gas. For some sites of Reliance Power, we would be using imported coal with low ash content. Moreover to limit ground level concentration of pollutants, the chimneys are being made taller at all our plant sites. The company is also involved in implementing green steps like the fly-ash collected from the plants which is further recycled for use by using it in manufacture of concrete bricks. Environmental
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sanitation with special emphasis on solid waste management, waste segregation and vermincomposting is practiced at site locations.
due to coal mining projects are assessed by an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study for each project and based on the same, Environment management plans (EMP) are prepared. EMPs deal with the various pollution mitigation measures to be undertaken to mitigate the impact of pollution, in order to reduce adverse effect on environment & forest, as per the requirement of the project. The EMP is submitted to MoEF for obtaining Environmental clearance (EC). Various types of pollution and measures for mitigation as per EMP of the coal project approved by MoEF with project specific conditions are taken up for implementation. Various pollution control measures taken by Coal Indian are as follows: Effective plantation in mine lease area is done to arrest propagation and dispersion of dust. CIL is having drills fitted with wet drilling and with dust extractors in some drills. The effluent from mines is treated by settling arrangements before let out. The effluent form workshops in opencast mines is treated in Workshop Effluent Treatment Plants (WETPs) Closed water recirculation system has been adopted in the washeries to stop the discharge of effluent outside premises. The treated water is used for water sprinkling in coal transfer points, good housekeeping and plantation for overall improvement of environment. To restore degraded land and mined out areas, plantation has been done at large scale on technically reclaimed mined out areas. To make environment mitigation measures more transparent, CIL introduced state-of-the-art Satellite surveillance to monitor land reclamation and restoration for all opencast projects. Surface miners and continuous miners are being deployed which reduces air pollution and loss of valuable reserve Coal.
6.2.2 HINDALCO
Hindalco Industries, part of the Aditya Birla Group, is a metals powerhouse, and among the worlds most cost efficient aluminium and copper producers. In Aluminium, it has business presence in Alumina Chemicals, Primary Aluminium, Aluminium Extrusions, Aluminium Rolled Products, Foil and Packaging. In Copper, the primary products are Copper Cathodes and Continuous Cast Copper Rods. The Copper business is also associated with recovery of precious metals as well as using process waste to produce useful products such as acids and fertilizers.
The commitment to sustainability is supported by the apex level management. The Company embraces a topdown approach that gives direction and bolsters efforts. The following are the bodies responsible for sustainability performance of the company at various levels:
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Hindalco has been consolidating our ongoing work in material sustainability aspects such as Energy, EHS,CSR and People, so as to build a coherent framework for sustainability. Sustainability Strategy and Roadmap
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The Working Committee on Sustainability, in place at Hindalco, did a materiality assessment exercise to identify the most significant sustainability issues affecting our business and our stakeholders .These issues were then discussed with the Unit level Team members for their inputs and incorporation in their sustainability initiatives / targets.
Resource sustainability in the minerals and metals sector is a key challenge. Company has undertaken a holistic approach to address the multi-dimensional facets of resource sustainability which reflects the material issues faced by us throughout the value chain. Starting from sustainable mining practices to ensuring long term access to our raw material requirements, it ensures that our approach is sustainable and takes into account stakeholder interests.
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Some of the sustainable mining practices adopted at Hindalco are as follows: Management systems and assessment tools Impact identification and assessment, baseline studies, action plans for biodiversity protection Management of Mining waste, sustainable ore extraction and processing Water resources management preserving natural water bodies, addressing water scarcity, reducing water pollution, and supporting competing uses Mined area rehabilitation and closure Topsoil handling procedures to enhance botanical diversity of post-mining vegetation The overburden generated during the initial mining years is stacked at identified sites and used as a back-filling material to address the voids in the mined-out area followed by plantation activities. The company monitor the vegetation of rehabilitated mining area so as to help it become self-sustaining.
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Downstream units of Hindalco in India and Novelis manufacturing facilities in several countries have dedicated Aluminium recycling and remelting facilities. Company recycle process scrap from customers and scrap collected from the market together with our own process scrap.
6.3.2 BPCL
BPCL continues to forge ahead on its path to becoming a national and global leader in the space of providing responsible energy to meet the country's energy needs. Compliance with regulatory requirements of the Government of India during all BPCLs operations and throughout our value chain is the bedrock of its sustainability philosophy. BPCL successfully implemented six Sustainable Development projects in accordance with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) guidelines during the year 2012-13. BPCL has taken the lead in establishing operations in compliance with industry and national regulatory requirements by targeting to minimize waste generation; reduce water consumption; encourage water neutrality at units and utilization of solar energy at its units.
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BPCLs Dream Plan, introduced in 2010, encapsulates our business strategy on economic, social and environmental aspects. The Dream Plan identified strategic and material issues that need to be addressed by different functions and SBUs to realize the vision created for the company by 2015. As part of the strategic planning exercise undertaken while formulating the Dream Plan, BPCL has identified the following five material sustainability issues for our businesses and have focused our efforts for the last three years in these areas.
Water Management
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6.4.1 ITC
ITCs vision to serve larger national priorities is realised by this strategic approach of embedding sustainability in its core business models. Innovative strategies have been designed and implemented to create sustainable value chains linked to its businesses that encompass some of the most disadvantaged sections of society, especially those residing in rural India. Initiatives for sustainable development ITCs atta (wheat flour) brand, Aashirvaad. The ITC e-Choupal system has co-created with farmers an efficient Agri-value chain that enables identity-preserved procurement lending a unique source of competitive advantage to the Companys Foods businesses. Farmers gain from ITCs Agri-extension services that impart know-how for increased productivity, efficient market linkages as well as from the growing market share of Aashirvaad. At the same time, ITC derives gains from an efficient supply of quality raw materials. The ITC e-Choupal has benefitted over 4 million farmers in 40,000 villages and significantly raised rural incomes. Recognising that water stress is a major crisis impacting agricultural production and livelihood of farmers, ITCs Integrated Watershed Development programme has enabled soil and moisture conservation covering 1,16,000 hectares providing precious water resources. As a result, farmers are able to get additional crops in areas that are mostly rainfed enhancing their incomes substantially. Given the success of these programmes, several State Governments and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have engaged with ITC on such watershed projects in public private- people partnership, multiplying livelihood opportunities as well as enhancing agriproductivity and rural incomes. These programmes together with the Social & Farm Forestry initiative also add to eco-restoration through rainwater harvesting, top soil conservation and large scale carbon sequestration.
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ITC is continuing to engage with policy makers through industry associations, organisations and other appropriate forums for enabling a balanced and pragmatic policy framework that not only removes restrictive conditions on the efficient functioning of Agri businesses but also facilitates the establishment of market-based institutions that can raise agricultural productivity and optimise transaction costs across the value chain. Adopting a low-carbon growth path through reduction in specific energy consumption and enhancing use of renewable energy sources. Enlarging its carbon positive footprint through increased carbon sequestration by expanding forestry projects in wastelands Reducing specific water consumption and augment rainwater harvesting activities both on site and off site at watershed catchments areas Working towards minimising waste generation, maximising reuse & recycling and using external postconsumer waste as raw material in its units Life Cycle Assessment studies have been carried out for different products to understand the impact across the value chain. Resource efficiency is integrated into product and process design and is addressed in the creation of physical infrastructure, the operations phase, logistics and waste management
Major initiatives for sustainable development undertaken by Rallis India Ltd are as follows: Rallis defines its key stakeholders as the various groups who are affected, or who affect the enterprise's effect on the biosphere and on social capital. Through stakeholders engagement, feedback inputs received from various stakeholders on disclosure of information is fed into the envisioning, strategic planning and action plan development exercise. The investor survey, customer satisfaction survey, employee satisfaction survey and community need analysis are undertaken periodically and the inputs from these are used to prepare the Annual Business Plan which is finalized by month of March every year for implementation with effect from 1st of April. The Company has participated with the community to build infrastructure around the manufacturing locations keeping in mind the obligation to the affected society at the neighbourhood. The Company is in the process to identify usage (re-sue) of certain eco-friendly wastes generated elsewhere within the Company as alternate fuel. Various energy conservation initiatives were rolled out across all the manufacturing units and tangible reductions achieved mainly in electrical consumption. Promoted by the achievements, Turbhe & Ankleshwar units participated in the National Energy Conservation Award with the result. All units engaged in the manufacturing activity are located in notified industrial areas and thus not affecting the bio diversity or any flora and fauna of the neighbourhood. Environment impact assessment has been done by the development authority before declaring the industrial zones whereby protection of bio-diversity is taken care in the planning stage itself.
There are around 80 Indian companies from various sectors that have been reporting, and there are about 60 companies, who publicly declare that they follow the GRI Guidelines on almost all aspects of reporting environment, social and governance performance, although the rigour and details vary. The content of sustainability reports show that Indian companies have been reporting on several aspects of environment and social performances following the GRI guidelines, and also in line with Indian legislative requirements as aspects of GHG emissions, energy consumption, labour practices, employee safety and training opportunities. However, Information on impact on biodiversity seems to be lacking generally. Many of the reports have now moved on disclosing time bound targets on environmental aspects. Environment and social impact assessment and measurement of the return on sustainability initiatives are presently in a nascent stage, which affects the quality of sustainability reporting. Most sustainability reports lack information on impact indicators in the GRI guideline.
7.1 Key findings from the BT Sustainable Development Index in India 2008
In the year 2008 BT has developed a Sustainable Development Index for India as a means to measure the performance of business in India in their progression towards sustainable development over time. The key findings from the BT Sustainable Development Index in India include: Opinion Leaders in India assign an overall BT Sustainable Development Index rating of 55 out of 100 to the current sustainable development performance of business in India, while IT Employees are slightly more positive rating companies at 60 out of 100. Business receives highest marks for its economic performance and the lowest for its environmental performance. Considering particular areas of sustainable development, the corporate sector in India is currently perceived to perform best on economic issues, followed by social issues, and most poorly on environmental issues, in particular water resource management. Tata, Reliance and Infosys viewed as leaders in sustainable development
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Japan and Europe are perceived as leaders in sustainable development. Respondents rate Chinas progress towards sustainable development ahead of Indias. Opinion Leaders feel that companies and government are best placed to lead the way in addressing key sustainable development issues in India, far more so than the general public, civil society, or the academic community.
8. Conclusion
Sustainable development is a vision and a way of thinking and acting so that we can secure the resources and environment for our future generation. It will not be brought about by policies only it must be taken up by society at large as a principle guiding the many choices each citizen makes every day, as well as the big political and economic decisions that affect many.
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Its long way to go for Indian companies to adopt sustainable development practices as per global norms. Companies like Tata, Reliance, ITC and Infosys have adopted these practices at a larger scale and paved a path for other businesses to follow. Many positive things have been done so far but lots need to be done for future growth of Indian Industries. As per GRIs year in review 2009/10, 78% of GRI sustaina bility reports from India contain complete information relevant to the reporting organization. The Indian industry has just woken up to the concept of business sustainability and its advantages. However, the initiatives adopted by the industry organizations and the government are bound to provide an impetus to the trend of adopting business sustainability as a competitive advantage.
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Reports:
Brundtland Report (1987) Our Common Future IUCN (The World Conservation Union), 1991 TERI Project Report (2000) Sustainable Measures: Indicators of Sustainability; (1998-2000) -Traditional vs. Sustainability indicators BT Sustainable Development Index India Report 2008 Sustainably Reporting: Practices and trends in India 2012, GIZ, GmBH Sustainable Development: Emerging Issues in Indias Mineral Sector, Planning Commission, Government of India, 2012
Web pages:
indiastat.com www.sustainablemeasures.com/indicators http://www.rallis.co.in http://www.itcportal.com http://ccl.gov.in http://www.hindalco.com http://www.iocl.com
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