8 AWARD WINNING SUSTANABILITY DRIVEN ENTREPRENUERS
ENABLING RENEWAL CIRCULAR ECONOMY UN GLOBAL COMPACT NETWORK INDIA MENTORING FOR SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP EMBEDDING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS MARKETING HEALTHCARE CHANGING CORPORATE OPERATIONS
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Late Mr. Kamal Singh Executive Director Global Compact Network India
1959-2020 A TITAN AND GUIDING LUMINARY
“INDIA IS POISED TO MAKE A GLOBAL IMPACT” - Kamal Singh I had conceptualized this magazine with Kamal sir. I got the opportunity to interview him and we decided to theme the New Year Edition to “Sustainability“. Long inspiring discussions followed. Mutually we decided to shoot a formal picture with him for the cover. Sadly we lost him. He is the inspiration behind this edition This magazine would have been incomplete without his mention With all our respect for Kamal sir Team Power Talk with Archanna www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
EDITORIAL
Sustainability - Taking responsibility for our footprints and its effect on the world . Making our environment our priority and not a mere marketing strategy . As we re-evaluate our lives and keep sustainability at the core of our being ,we must pledge to environmental goals ,social responsibility initiatives and make it stay engrained in the ethos of our functioning at home ,work and beyond . Power talk with Archanna is pleased to bring together the new Year edition of POWER TALK e-magazine ,themed around Sustainability .As the magazine reaches nooks and corners of the globe we hope this edition stirs up the thoughts of people and bring momentum to the global movement of staying sustainable .Does the story of the tortoise and the hare works each time . Well with only a decade away from the deadline to meet the UN sustainable development goals ,the tortoise needs to surely walk the hare way and pave the way for a brighter future ahead . It’s not only about businesses but also about people who run these businesses. This took us to UN WOMEN .We dedicate a supplementary e-magazine especially designed on the robust projects UN WOMEN are spearheading across the globe and especially in India .These power women have as evolved into a huge network of thousands of women who are working to create an equal ,thriving and sustainable environment for millions of girls and women to wake up each morning with a smile .Ms. Susan Fergusson ,The UN WOMEN Country Representative for India and her gigantic team is working round the clock to not let the sun set on this very important agenda of fundamentally reshaping our ecosystem so that no one is left out and everyone feels equal at all times . In this edition you will find Ms. Shabnam Siddiqui, the officiating executive director of Global Compact Network India has beautifully explained the route to making businesses more sustainable. Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee talks about how practices adopted to conserve nature can create an ecosystem that not only keeps the flora and fauna intact but also facilitate better living standards and profitable businesses
Dr. Mrityunjay Chuabey has highlighted practical solutions to make sustainability a way of life and business and how we can address negative impacts of COVID-19 on Sustainable Development Goals . A dear friend S.Ramasundaram will take you through the importance of devising ways to harness the energy from wind, water and sun without harming the planet. Our International author ,Joe Phelan writes about circular economy and the importance of repurposing waste from one product to feed into the production of another . This edition celebrates entrepreneurs from different parts of the country who have created a niche for themselves and stayed driven to adopt sustainable business practices .The celebrations of their commendable work continues as all of them will be soon be interviewed at POWER TALK Talking of right practices we have our very special guest author from United Kingdom Ms. Harriet Green who takes you through how sensitive and focus driven mentoring can churn out leaders that make learning an experience for both the mentor and mentee .A dear friend Sumanta Ray spills the beans on the art of holding customer attention, creating pleasant customer experience and thus creating an ecosystem Green Healthcare to thrive sustainably right marketing tactics . Hope you enjoy reading this powerful edition Wishing all of the readers ,2021 to be a year full of abundance ,cheer , good news and health .We will be back in February with another edition of POWER TALK ,until then love us , follow us . Love . www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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CONTENT 05
10
Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee Changing Business Operations Joint Secretary Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change Government of India
Editorial Archanna Gaarg
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Shabnam Siddiqui Mandated To Impact Sustainable Initiatives Officiating Executive Director Global Compact Network India
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26Eight Award Winning Sustainability Driven Entrepreneurs Power Talk l Digitalising Future
Dr. Mritunjay Chaubey Embedding Sustainable Solutions Global Vice President Environment & Sustainability UPL Ltd
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Corporate Humor
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S. Ramasundaram Enabling Renewal
President Corporate Affairs ReNew Power Pvt. Ltd New Delhi
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Harriet Green Mentoring for Sustainable Leadership Global Business Leader Coach & Mentor United Kingdom
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Joe Phelan Circular Economy Indian Director
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World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Sumant Ray Green Healthcare Group CMO Narayan Healthcare Karnataka .India 7
mpact SDG AMBITION SDG PIONEERS CEO WATER MANDATE YOUNG SDG INNOVATORS TARGET GENDER EQUALITY
BE BETTER BUSINESSES
www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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A sustainable business is basically a business approach to create a long-term value by incorporating the elements of triple bottom line in the business objectives .It creates profit for its shareholders while protecting the environment and improving the lives of those with whom it interacts. This approach has been there since long but has not really made a big difference in the way business is conducted . Sustainability shall remains one of the popular topics of discussions in five-star conferences. The impact of COVID has shown us the stark reality that this cannot go on forever and each one of us needs to ensure that it is everyone’s business to come forth and make their contributions in making life and businesses sustainable by following and adopting practices that accelerate the process of creating a sustainable ecosystem around our lives . Businesses need to play a major role in this. There still exists a notion that spending on environment conservation or social measures is nothing but a philanthropic activity and has nothing to do with how businesses can become profitable Nonetheless there are many examples how corporates have adopted the principles of Sustainability in their Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
business strategies and have made a difference, such as: ▪ Nike has focused on reducing waste & minimizing footprint, whereas Adidas has created a greener supply chain targeting issues like dyeing and eliminating plastic bags. ▪ Unilever has focused on organic palm oil, overall waste and resource footprint. Nestlé is focusing in areas such as product life cycle, climate, water efficiency and waste. ▪ Walmart, IKEA and H&M have moved toward more sustainable retailing, by collaboration across their supply chains to reduce waste, increase resource productivity and optimize material usage along with steps to address local labor conditions.
services that our biodiversity provides is about 125 trillion Rupees/ year. Each of us use medicines in some form or the other. We must understand that and be aware that nature is an essential source of these drugs used in modern medicine. Plants, animals and microbes enable medical researchers to understand human physiology and treat diseases. As per an UN estimate, a staggering number of four billion people rely primarily on natural medicines .About 7 percent of cancer drugs are either natural products or synthetics that are inspired by nature. In the United States, at least 118 of the top 150 prescription drugs are based on natural source .These figures for India may be even more as we use a variety of alternative medicines such as Ayurveda, homeopathy, traditional medicines, etc
ATIONS
Through this article, I would like to touch upon the fundamental concept and basis of our existence,. It’s NATURE around us. When we talk about environment, nature, natural resources, biodiversity, it’s not just flora and fauna which we see around us on daily basis. It is biodiversity of all types . Be it genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity, cultural diversity, so on so forth. Biodiversity and natural ecosystem around us is actually the foundation of life . What it offers is absolutely essential for human wellbeing and our culture . In countless ways, this web sustains the natural and cultural connections that ties us together. We hardly realize and recognize hundreds of products that we use each day, the ones that find their origin from the nature around us. In addition, the lives and livelihood of millions of people from different sectors such as forest, fisheries, agriculture, tourism, pharmaceuticals, construction, food & beverages, etc. are linked as they either depend on direct extraction of resources from forests and oceans or rely on ecosystem such as healthy soils, clean water, pollination etc. In India alone, more than 650 million people depend on natural resources for their livelihood. As per an estimate the cost of the ecosystem
Dr. Sujit Kumar Bajpayee Joint Secretary 2019- PRESENT Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change Government of India
There is a growing need globally to build back better and ensure resilient and green recovery post Covid-19 There is broad consensus among scientist now that zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 are closely linked with the loss of biodiversity, forests and of course illegal wildlife trade. Imagine the power of nature that even the so-called developed and powerful countries didn’t have any immediate solution to this problem. Some of the researches have shown that fatality rate is higher in areas where air pollution was high, others have shown men are more vulnerable than women, others project that adults above 65 years and children less than 12 years are more vulnerable to this disease. There are so many other studies going on around the world to understand the cause, reason ,solutions and impact but in the end we still do not have immediate solution. The impact of this pandemic is huge and complex. www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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Although due to improved medical care, drugs and vaccines ,the mortality rate has come down, it has been reported that outbreaks of infectious disease worldwide have increased steadily since 1980s and thus the proverb ‘Prevention is Better than cure’ HOLDS TRUE Prevention of what? Prevention of reasons which caused this or such diseases in the past or the reasons which may cause many such diseases in the future? Here comes the importance of biodiversity and nature conservation. Nature was and shall remain the the answer to most of the challenges that are being faced by humanity in spite of technical advances we have made . A very interesting example is that of Oxygen. It is one among many gifts mother earth showers on us. If we quantify the cost of the oxygen one person inhales everyday with the rate of the oxygen cylinder, it is enormous. If we hypothetically take the average cost of a 2.75 litre portable oxygen cylinder to be Rs. 6,500, then on a single day a person consumes oxygen worth about Rs. 13 lakh. Thus there is need to keep the environment at the heart of all our development strategies because there is no Planet B. Remember, Mother Earth is showering these to us absolutely free of cost! Social component, the second pillar of sustainability. It is of no less importance.COVID-19 has been quite a leveller. Socio-economic status is strongly related to vulnerabilities where poor and underprivileged suffer to a disproportionate extent. The images of migrant labourers walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their native places and many losing lives before reaching their destinations are still alive in our hearts and minds. In fact COVID19 has exposed the fault in our conventional way of business, state and society governance. There is a growing need globally to build back better and ensure resilient and green recovery post Covid-19. Experience from Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown in India has underlined that protecting workers, communities and environment is not only the right thing to do for Indian businesses, but key to their long-term resilience. Sustainability permeates every aspect of a company’s operations – from procurement to disposal – and requires active engagement of every employee so companies can transform to more sustainable business models. Consensus is emerging globally about greater attention and investments towards preventing and mitigating negative impacts of businesses on workers, communities and environment. Businesses are coming forth to stay better informed in future about risks and vulnerabilities in their value chains and investments. So far Competitiveness indices are normally have been used as barometer by business leaders, investors and analysts globally to test business friendliness of countries Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
However post Covid-19, it is evident that future trade and investment decisions cannot be made solely based on such indices, given their narrow focus on economic indicators and infrastructure. Expansion of such metrics by incorporating indicators pertaining to resilience, inclusivity, equity, environmental & social protection, climate change, etc. among others, seems to be imperative now.
Business can’t afford to slip back to business as usual and need to learn from mistakes; it’s time to think Business Unusual
The European Union (EU) is India’s largest trading partner accounting for Euro 80 billion worth of trade in goods in 2019, or 11.1% of total Indian trade. This is the secondlargest destination for Indian exports (over 14% of the total) after the US. In April this year, European Commission announced to introduce a legislation for mandatory social and environmental diligence in the supply chain of EU companies by 2021. The need to disclose social and environmental impacts of their trade and investment activities is also made mandatory So in nutshell, three things emerge- First we must care for Our Planet, second People are the biggest stakeholders and third Profit is important because, without it business cannot survive. Any development without meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is incomplete. While COVID pandemic presents enormous health and economic challenges, there are opportunities to jumpstart economies and rebuild societies through green recovery plans aligned with the 2030 Agenda. There is a consensus world-wide that the only way countries will recover from COVID-19 is if the international community remains committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and shall thus ensures prosperity for all and build resilience . So basically 2030 Agenda should be our roadmaps for building back better. This pandemic has taught us, how to overcome our socio-environmental challenges. Each one of us – as individuals, companies or governments – need to take ownership of our future. Being a spectator is no longer an option.
DID YOU KNOW?
India has reduced its emission by 21% over 2005 levels and its solar capacity has increased from 2.63 Giga Watts in 2014 to 36 Giga Watts in 2020 moefcc
moef.gov.in
SHABNAM SIDDIQUI Committed to Governance & Transparency
Doing Less Harm Doing More Good
Mandated to impact Sustainable Initiatives Sustainability is a buzz word these days with individuals and organisations committing to and aligning their ideas and initiatives to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by 193 nations of the world in 2015. The SDGs are a framework, a ready reckoner, of targets and indicators that need to be achieved in a limited time frame. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals address challenges that people all over the world face including poverty, lack of access to education, different types of inequality, climate, environmental degradation, peace and justice, and much more.
For me however sustainability continues to be about a proverb that I heard as a teenager – “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”. For me sustainability means caring for the planet, both the living and non-living things. It is moving on from conversation about doing less harm, to commitments about doing more good. However, sustainability also is not just environmentalism. Embedded in most definitions of sustainability we need to focus on concerns for social equity, empathy, and justice. Even though sustainability sounds like an institutional level topic, the truth is that it is about every individual that takes a random decision or makes an action, no matter how small it is, that is beyond limited self-interest. I believe everyone can contribute to a sustainable world by making responsible choices in our daily lives and harnessing entrepreneurial spirit in finding innovative solutions to current global challenges.
Q
Role of business leaders in making sustainability profitable & profitability sustainable
Some organisations pursue sustainability out of pragmatism, some out of idealism. Regardless of their motivation, they consistently generate positive growth rates and profit margins Power Talkl Sustainable Profits
Leaders today have an incredible opportunity to carve out a new future for their businesses by incorporating the principles of sustainability into their strategy. Innovative business models and stages of disruption can be used by companies to drive change. Amidst the increasing focus on people, planet and profits, it is .considered a business leader’s responsibility to create a perfect balance between short- and long-term priorities to create enhanced value for stakeholders. Sustainability leaders need to evolve their business models to respond to major discontinuities, such as high natural resource prices or changes in demand, that create material risks to the business or opportunities Businesses with environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) principles built into their strategy can mitigate risk and drive profitable growth. Chief sustainability officers play a significant role in this regard, which includes translating the promise of sustainability into value propositions, which are relevant to different verticals of the company. Some sustainability practices and initiatives could include carbon pricing, sciencebased targets, and investment in green technology solutions. What needs to be done is translate the traditional vision of ‘business profitability’ to one of ‘broader social impact’. Another essential requirement is to unlearn and relearn how business measures profits. The recent pandemic
and subsequent lockdown has driven home the fact that simple things that people took for granted are worth much more than the material benefits that individuals are focused on amassing. As also the realization that we increasingly live in a global interconnected world.
MSMEs form value chain of large companies, cost effective innovation and R&D, thinking outside the box
Q
MSME to integrate core business practices and mainstream ambitious sustainability goals to see a clear transformation?
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in the economies of all the countries in the world by their contribution to the national economic growth and employment. In an increasingly complex, competitive and volatile business environment, the adoption of sustainability principles is of utmost importance for the sheer survival and steady sustainable growth of the small and medium-sized enterprises. However in order to successfully integrate Sustainability principles and practices within the SME business culture, SMEs need to understand the emerging opportunities and the relevance to them.
There is ample evidence available to suggest the various ways MSME’s are working towards merging business practices with the SDG’s and there is a lot of potential to foster these advancements. Individual MSMEs have the potential to adopt actions in their business practice to achieve SDG’s. Mirroring large company’s policies, MSMEs can be encouraged to adopt gender inclusive policies within their business practice and in their value chains. They can do this by ensuring equal pay and benefits for work of equal value, zero-tolerance towards all forms of violence at work, supporting women with flexible work arrangements, providing child and dependent care support, promote women in management level positions and increase gender balance in the teams. They can achieve this by adopting the Women’s Empowerment Principles, that are encouraged by UN Women and UN Global Compact for firms of all sizes in all sectors.
Ms. Shabnam Siddiqui Officiating Executive Director Global Compact Network India MSMEs promote innovation, new and small firms are often the driving force behind the innovations that are important for economic growth, since they have the liberty to work outside of dominant paradigms, they are able to exploit technological and commercial opportunities, which may have been neglected by existing established companies. Generally, MSMEs tend to be more flexible than large companies, making them more likely to adopt sustainable business practices. MSMEs have to be incentivized to adopt sustainable business practices. Regardless of size or industry, all companies can contribute to the SDGs. The UN Global Compact asks companies to first do business responsibly and then pursue opportunities to solve societal challenges through business innovation and collaboration. Promoting sustainability will offer new and efficient business opportunities for MSMEs in different areas such as public procurement, consumer Consumer information (example eco-labelling, certification), sustainable tourism, lifestyle education, retrofitting buildings and construction, and food systems. The SDGs promote resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of environment-friendly industrial processes Currently Network India is running five major initiatives that includes Target Gender Equality (TGE), SDG Ambition, Young SDG Innovators, SDG Pioneers and CEO Water Mandate. These initiatives are focused on measuring actionable impact and progress by companies that are members of the UN Global Compact www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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Q
Road map to achieve the SDGs by 2030
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement provide the most powerful common agenda the world has ever seen for achieving peace and prosperity on a healthy planet – with an essential role spelled out for business. The UNGC new global strategy includes amplifying existing work around the Ten Principles as well embracing new directions including driving business action in support of the SDGs – particularly through business innovation and partnerships with the UN. To support companies everywhere in advancing the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda, UNGC has developed a portfolio of Action Platforms to inspire new and leading approaches to sustainable business. Rooted in the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, each Action Platform convenes representatives from business, Global Compact Local Networks, academia, civil society, Government and the United Nations to solve complex sustainability challenges and to innovate around the Global Goals. These action platforms include reporting the SDG’s, Sustainable finance, decent work in global supply chain, business ambition for climate, sciencebased target Initiative and sustainable ocean business UNGC is also exploring SDG Pioneers, inspiring business to follow Target Gender Equality and spreading the net to include Young Social Entrepreneurs. As the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, it is our priority – and indeed our responsibility – to be a leading catalyst of the transformations ahead. We are devoting our capacities and global network to make it happen – based on the Ten Principles that the UN Global Compact is built upon
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Focus areas will include
▪
Responsible Business Leadership Practices
Based on our UN General Assembly mandate, we will strengthen our work to promote UN principles and values to the global business community
▪
Global-Local Platform Connector
As a neutral convener and consensus builder, we will develop the “Platform of Platforms” – curating the best practices, tools and initiatives of like-minded organisations to reduce duplication and increase impact Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
solve societal challenges through business innovation and collaboration ▪
Impact, Measurement Performance
We will focus on communicating impact and progress by business on the Ten Principles and the SDGs, to better understand the impact of corporate sustainability on both society and the bottom-line.
▪
SDGs as the “Lighthouse”
Keeping the Ten Principles as our foundation, we will pivot towards the SDGs to enable a truly global business contribution to the 2030 Agenda
Q
Your Thoughts
Human Rights Human rights are basic, indivisible, non-negotiable and universal Every person around the world deserves to be treated with dignity Basic rights include freedom of speech, privacy, health, life, liberty and security, as well as an adequate standard of living. While Governments have the duty to protect individuals against human rights abuses by third parties, businesses are recognizing their legal, moral and commercial need to get involved. Businesses must address any negative human rights impacts related to their business. They must also abide by international standards and avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their activities and relationships. Human rights reflect basic human dignity and decency that a person is entitled to. Human rights protect a person from discrimination and safeguards their right to live freely how they want to, to be forced to do something against one’s will is a breach of ethics and demeans human spirit. Human rights serve as the champion of peace, tolerance, justice and mutual respect in our world.
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Sustainability is the best opportunity for business to drive smarter innovation and profitable growth. Corporate image and public perception is a real economic force that businesses must deal with and manage. Embedding Sustainability into business is the best way to change the perception of public & build a good corporate image. As per SDG report 2020, India global rank is 117th with 61.9 score. Sweden topped with global rank 1st. This is matter of concern for India that we slipped two rank below from last year and moving on track in only 4 SDGs (no poverty, clean water & sanitation, economic growth, climate action) out of 17 SDGs. is on track in only 4 SDGs. It’s time to address Covid-19 negative impacts on Sustainable Development Goals
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Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
COVID CLEAN-UP
The highest priority of every
government must remain the suppression of the pandemic. There can be no economic recovery while the pandemic is raging. Yet governments need to plan for the post Covid-19 economy. Unemployment will remain very high. Jobs lost in many sectors – retail, office support, construction, tourism, personal services, fossilfuel energy – will not return, or at least not rapidly and robustly. Budget deficits and financial imbalances will persist. Many enterprises will go out of business. Non-government aggregate demand, including private consumption and investment, will most likely remain depressed. In the rebuilding phase, governments should support their economic recovery with a strong focus on infrastructure investments that boost jobs and underpin the transition to a low-carbon economy, in line with the Paris Agreement.
An SDG framework
possible short-term
longer-term responses to Covid-19
Government Response ▪ Increased role of government in key sectors (economy, health, food, social security). ▪ Re-think global supply chains and dependence for strategic equipment and materials. ▪ Strengthen government capacities to anticipate and manage unforeseen disruptive events. ▪ Strengthen international platforms, exchanges and transparency among scientists/researchers (open science).
Dr. Mritunjay Chaubey 2016 - PRESENT UPL Limited Global Vice President Environment & Sustainability 2011 - 2016 Global In-charge
Unilever Group Engineering Sustainability
2006 – 2010 Global Environment Tech Expert SHELL
Transformation in Education, Gender, and Inequality ▪ Expand and strengthen public social security systems best suited to address the consequences of disruptive events. ▪ Further investments in education, digital skills, equity, and lifelong learning. ▪ Further streamline basic health prevention measures in school programs (e.g., hand-washing) and provide adequate supplies for good hygiene. ▪ Place women’s needs and leadership at the heart of the response to the health and economic crises.
Transformation in Health, Wellbeing, and Demography: • Strengthen the role of public health and disease prevention and surveillance (for both communicable and chronic diseases). • Increase the role of public authorities in the research for treatment and vaccines, and in providing access to treatment and vaccines. • Accelerate efforts to achieve universal health care. • Strengthen public health emergency preparedness (including building stocks of essential equipment and increasing flexibility to mobilize staff to respond to emergencies).
COVID-19, a litmus test for corporates that are truly serious about 'low-carbon investments and adhere to SDGs, and for those that are not
▪ Reduce dependence on other countries for key health supplies and equipment. ▪ Expand digital health solutions (e.g., telehealth) to reduce the burden on hospitals and increase access to care. ▪ Increase the quality and timeliness of health statistics. ▪ Increase the resilience of health systems to respond to shocks/crises (e.g., increase capacity to build hospitals and other infrastructures in record time).
Transformation in Energy Decarbonization and Sustainable Industry: • Use the Paris Climate Agreement as the vision for long-term change and to inform investment plans and bailouts. • Build on positive short-term prospects due to plummeting industrial output and further the roll out of digital services and e-commerce to accelerate the transition to climate neutrality. . www.powertalkwitharchanna.com 21
2019
115 2020
117
▪
▪
Reduce international dependence for key industries and sectors in case of major disruptive events (e.g. protective masks, food supply). Pursue efforts to enforce environmental treaties and national regulations despite the lockdown and economic turmoil
Transformation in Sustainable Land, Water and Oceans
Food,
▪
Strengthen food security and hygiene, including the reduction of risks of zoonotic diseases. ▪ Emphasize the resilience and sustainability of food systems. ▪ Accelerate efforts to provide universal access to water and sanitation, and increase focus on hygiene and handwashing to help curb transmission of oral-faecal diseases. ▪ Pursue efforts to reduce negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems to prevent future pandemics
Transformation in Sustainable Cities and Communities. ▪
Address immediate threats to vulnerable groups in urban settlements (homeless, refugees), to avoid a deep worsening of their living conditions and to make confinement measures more effective. ▪ Strengthen the territorial distribution of doctors and availability of care, including in rural areas. ▪ Further integrate vulnerable groups in urban settlements, including homeless people, refugees, and migrants. ▪ Adapt public transportation systems to the need for physical distancing and hygiene, and to changing patterns in working and commuting habits. ▪ Develop integrated territorial strategies to address the impact of travel restrictions on business, exports, and tourism activities
Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
Transformation in Harnessing the Digital Revolution for Sustainable Development:
• Further expand digital health solutions to reduce the burden on hospitals and increase access. • Develop and use online education tools. • Further development of other digital government services and e-commerce. • Further investments in digital skills, equity, and lifelong learning. • Accelerate the adoption of measures that support a fair transition for workers affected by the digital and technological revolution.
Conclusions This is matter of concern for India that we slipped two rank below on Global SDG Rank from last year It will be important to put the SDGs at the heart of policymaking. In December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH).This is of special interest to me as it casts a spotlight on the Environment and Sustainability function at UPL Ltd. We believe that without agrochemicals food will not survive and without food people will not survive. It has also shown us that we will not be able to protect ourselves from global pandemics unless until our health systems strengthened. The SDG framework suggested in this paper may guide the immediate post-crisis recovery and frame longterm strategies towards more resilient and sustainable societies. I take it as both, a challenge and an opportunity to guide my team in carrying out our roles effectively.
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ENABLING RENEWAL
Sustainable Development – an Oxymoron? How can developing nations maintain their economic growth for eradicating persistent poverty, without harming our planet further? In fact, the goal is to reverse global warming and bring temperature increase to pre-existing levels. Growth without chimneys? Just two decades ago, one might have thought that this was an inherently contradictory phrase. But it is no longer so.
Global Overview of Development Let us take a quick look at the way the world has changed in the last 70 plus years, the same period that India has been an independent nation. The end of the Second World War in 1945 triggered the end of the colonial era and the rise of USA and USSR as superpowers, overshadowing the once powerful European countries and Japan. The global population in 1950 was 2.50 billion and it currently stands at 7.80 billion, increasing more than threefold during these 70 years. During the same period, Asian countries led by S. Korea and Taiwan since the 1960s, followed by China since the late 1970s and then by India since the early 1990s focused on industrialisation, resulting in rapid growth and concomitant decline in poverty across the developing world. Life expectancy has also increased from 30 years around 1950 to 72 years now, economic more than doubling in these 70 years. These are good things, without doubt
Global Warming and Climate Change But just like a coin, there is a flip side to all this growth and development: increasing greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas, have trapped all the heat generated by our factories, vehicles, aircraft and even our Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
cooking. As a result, our planet is getting warmer, slowly but surely, leading to visible climate change effects over the past two decades. The manifestations of global warming and climate change can be seen in the melting of glaciers, the rise of sea levels and abnormal weather conditions like unpredictable monsoons. National governments, with a few notable exceptions, have come together to recognise this as a serious problem for mankind and have pledged to do everything possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing development and the growth momentum.
The falling tariffs of electricity from renewable sources, especially solar, make renewable energy a profitable option Increasing Role of Renewable Energy in the Global Energy Matrix
“Renewable”energy is not a 21
st
Mr. S Ramasundaram 2020 – PRESENT President Corporate Affairs ReNew Power Pvt Ltd
century invention by scientists! Humans have harnessed the power of wind, water and sunlight New Delhi from the dawn of civilisation. However, with the advent of the Industrial www.renewpower.in Revolution in Western Europe in the mid-18th century, fossil fuels s.ramasundaram@renewpower.in dominated our energy matrix in all our needs, whether at an individual ramramasundaram@gmail.com level, or at the community level. But over the past two decades, the www.linkedin.com/in/ramasundaram increasing awareness of the harmful effects of fossil fuel use to accelerate economic development has forced mankind to go back to the drawing board and devise ways to harness energy from wind, water and sun without harming the planet. Over the past decade alone, the share of renewable sources of energy in the global energy basket has grown from a mere 5% to a noticeable 15%. During the same period, in India, it grew from a moderate 9% to a significant level of 24%. Two conclusions can be drawn from this data: the world has finally woken up to the reality of climate change due to the widespread use of fossil fuels and has started adopting renewable sources of energy. At the same time, India is ahead of the globe in its awareness and has given an appropriate response. In fact, the Indian government has fixed an ambitious target of 175 Giga Watts of renewable energy by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030. Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi has been a champion of renewable energy and this has led to this rapid growth with ambitious targets. His vision of “One Sun, One World, One Grid” places India at a leadership position in the context of increasing adoption of renewable energy in all our activities, whether at an individual level or at a community or even national level. It must be noted that this increasing emphasis on renewable energy to run our cars, buses and trains, our factories and homes does not imply a slowing down in our ambitious economic growth plans. The falling tariffs of electricity from renewable sources, especially solar, make renewable energy a profitable option too. In fact, Mr Sumant Sinha, the Founder and Chairman of the company (ReNew Power Pvt Ltd) that I currently work for, has visualised a world free of fossil fuels in his recently published book “Fossil Free”, in which he has articulated this strongly & practically
The bottom line is: Sustainable Development
is not an oxymoron anymore. On the contrary, only a moron would ignore global warming and climate change due to fossil fuel use and refuse to look at cheaper and climate friendly renewable sources of energy www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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8 SUSTAINABILTY has become the new standard
“future ready” businesses are the most prepared to allocate clear, defined funds to the cause of sustainability
Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
Thinking Green by Tackling Wastes
sustainable is ‘absolutely necessary’ and ‘an important strategic goal’ for any organization
Have a comprehensive recycling program
DIVYA HEDGE - CEO, The Integrated Penguin ‘Reality Check’: an interactive game that aims to integrate an understanding of gender equality into early education to foster a generational shift in thinking and culture. The game is designed like a visual novel and deals with gender bias explicitly through episodic and customized content and will be available to school children in local languages, globally .The intervention received a grant from the Government of Karnataka to develop it further. Divya is the 2nd Runner up at the We empower Asia awards 2020 organized by UN Women
DIVYA RATHOD - SILVERY NANOS LLP
NARI “Saaf Toilet Ki Sawai” is an initiative for women’s hygiene in public toilets started in March 2020 with the product HAPITO. HAPITO is a disinfectant which once sprayed provides inflectionless and easy cleaning toilets for one month, both impacting the environment by consuming less break, programs on career intentionality and career progression for returning colleagues counselling helpline, workshops, access to informal networks and extended maternity leave. Divya is the winner in the Youth Leadership Category at the We empower Asia awards 2020 organized by UN Women
GAURI GOPAL, CEO - Skilled Samaritan Foundation
Skilled Samaritan is a woman led social enterprise providing employment to women based in Uttar Pradesh, India. It provides steady income opportunities to women from marginalised communities by recognizing their existing craft skills and providing them with tech-based design support and global market access, to make sustainable indoor living products. Gauri is the winner of Generation Equality Champion at the We empower Asia awards 2020 organized by UN Women.
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IHITASHRI SHANDALIYA MITHILAsmita Art & Craft Pvt Ltd
Social enterprise to promote and support traditional Madhubani women artisans. Design/Produce handmade gifts and souvenirs for corporates, museum shops and government bodies, with a focus on integrating rural women talents in it. Ihatishri has won Generation Equality Champion award at the We empower Asia awards 2020 organized by UN Women.
PRAGYA SINGH, RealShePower Pvt. Ltd.
Website: realshepower.in │ It is based on the idea of women’s empowerment and highlights stories, achievements of women Articles also deal with sensitive issues on women’s health and body image including abortion to vaginal health, body shaming to rape. Weekly open online discussion where she addresses the pressing issues of women. She is the 2nd Runners up at the We empower Asia awards 2020 organized by UN Women.
ANIL KARIWALA, CEO, Kariwala Industries Ltd
Mr. Kariwala set up all-women manufacturing unit in West Bengal, providing skill training to more than 5,000 women over the last 30 years .Enabled women to be financially independent and has given immense confidence into women in villages and small districts to be equals in their homes .The company also provides interest-free bicycle and two wheeler loans for promoting women's economic empowerment, safety and independence . He is the Winner in the Leadership category at the We empower Asia awards 2020 organized by UN Women
Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
NITIKA SONKHIYA, MYONEARTH
Nitika Sonkhiya’s startup MyOnEarth, initiated with an initial investment of Rs 10 lakh in January 2020 has seen a turnover of Rs 50 lakh in less than a year. The company has managed to achieve such a feat despite the ongoing pandemic, and its impact on work culture. Before attaining success and social acknowledgement, Nitika was convinced that an ecofriendly lifestyle was easily attainable. Unlike the ones around her she thoroughly believed in its possibility. So much so, she quit her corporate job as a project manager at HCL to start MyOnEarth.
CHINMAYEE KUSNUR, AquaKraft Projects Pvt Ltd
Khadi Kavach sustainability initiative aims to democratize it amongst the masses. Khadi Kavach makes washable, reusable & durable face masks . Engages with women’s self-help groups to make these masks which can be afforded by the needy and the underprivileged .Chinmayee is the first runners-up at the We empower Asia awards 2020 organized by UN Women
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Mr. Joe Phelan India Director World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Our current economic systems are based on linear value chains that depend on a continuous and increasing extraction of raw materials. Over 92 billion tonnes of raw materials required to fuel our economies are extracted from earth, processed, used, and then discarded. Currently, only 9 billion tonnes of raw material—an equivalent of 9% of total material extracted is cycled back into the economy. This is massively inefficient, and impossible to sustain..
Our linear systems have caused significant impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and climate. A total of 62% of global greenhouse gas emissions are emitted during material extraction and processing, and the trend is increasing. To reach the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement, we need to ensure net zero emissions by 2050. To reduce carbon emissions and enable sustainable production cycles, we need to act with urgency and move away from the traditional “take-make-waste” economic model toward one that is regenerative by design. Despite increasing awareness of circularity as a concept, the levels of circularity in the economy are falling - dropping by 0.25% points over the last two years Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
GOAL
is to retain as much value as possible from
resources, products, parts, and materials to create a system that allows for long life, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling: a Circular Economy.
Circular economy can deliver Swachh Bharat Implementing circular economy principles is crucial for a country like India from a development perspective as well as to deliver Swachh Bharat. The Government of India has put a big focus on resource efficiency to support the country’s development
Business can deliver circularity The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led coalition of over 200 leading multinational businesses across multiple sectors, including some of India's major corporate houses, who work together to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable world. Together, we develop transformational business solutions to the most challenging issues, delivering results that no single company could achieve alone. This aspect of collaboration and collective action is central to the work we do. Businesses have a responsibility to act, and opportunities in doing so. To support the circular change, WBCSD proposes that companies transform their value chains into true value cycles through five steps: ▪ Design and innovation: Apply circular ideas or technologies when developing new products ▪ Growing, development and sourcing: Use innovative technologies to develop materials and product ingredients with less resources, energy, and chemicals. ▪ Processing and production: Enable production of goods with fewer resources, lower emissions and based on renewable sources. ▪ Use: Allow increasing the life span of a product, repurpose used products and move away from traditional ownership to service models. ▪ Recycling and recovery: Repurpose waste from one product to feed into the production of another fully functional product of similar or higher value.
and economic growth. A circular economy development path in India has the potential to create an estimated value of INR 14 lakh crore (US$ 218 billion) in 2030 and INR 40 lakh crore (US$ 624 billion) in 2050 compared with the current scenario. Additionally, it has the potential to significantly lower GHG emissions and help India deliver on the Paris agreement. Adopting circular economy principles can help tackle the problem of waste, especially plastic waste in India. India generates between 25,000 and 30,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily and, while recycling is higher than the global average, about 10,500 thousand tonnes of that waste remains uncollected, reaching our streets and rivers. With the demand for plastics expected to rise in the next 20 years, this problem calls for urgent intervention. Additionally, growing societal pressure to adopt circular economy principles, and policy frameworks such as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) puts the responsibility on producers and brand owners to mitigate plastic waste.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic presents opportunities for the circular economy. As global supply chains are under pressure, sourcing locally produced renewable materials as opposed to globally sourced non-renewable materials has become more favourable, and the pressure to “build forward better” is incentivizing companies to make changes. Increasingly, businesses across the world are taking steps towards sustainability and applying circular economy principles to their operations. WBCSD supports its member companies in taking action to further the circular economy, within their businesses and in partnership with others in several areas. Our Circular Economy Program offers three projects from the crossindustry platform of Factor10 to the value -chain specific work on plastics and packaging and the Circular Electronics Partnership. This work complements other business initiatives such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Plastics Pact and the Global Plastic Action Partnership.
Getting started The best way for companies to begin is to understand how circular their business is today, and where the greatest opportunities for value recovery lie.
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Mentoring for Sustainable Leadership “Mentorship is not about age or title, it’s about action. It’s not about pushing wisdom down from the top down or bottom up, it’s about sharing wisdom all around. A moment of mentorship can lead to a lifetime of impact.” Forbes
Throughout
my career I have been very fortunate in having some great mentors, who have helped me in many ways. Steve Kaufman, ex-CEO of Arrow Electronics and now a Harvard Business School Professor, who played a huge part in helping develop my business skills. Sir Peter Gershon, my amazing Chairman at Premier Farnell and former Chairman at National Grid, for his learnings, and the exceptional Sir Roger Carr, Chairman at BAE Systems, for his support during my board tenure. I name here just a few, I have been blessed with many wise and trusted advisors.
,
I have tried, in return, to be an active mentor for individuals, and a coach for businesses of all shapes and sizes. I believe mentoring is key to evolving in one’s personal and professional journey. As leaders it is important that we learn from those who are different from us in age, profession, interests and ways of thinking. Cross-generational and cross-dimensional learning is vital to our growth personally and professionally and is one of the best examples I can think of being truly diverse and totally inclusive – it’s a great way to learn about the many similarities and differences between us and helps us Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the uniqueness in each other. and ideas – unexpected inputs from totally different perspectives – perspectives I wouldn’t have thought of or connected with otherwise. These have helped me make better business decisions, listen more intently to my teams and act with greater agility. Values I admire from my various mutual mentoring sessions are how much everyone appreciates and admires honesty, responsiveness and being genuinely interested as well as interesting – being authentic to oneself and others without trying too hard Mentoring is an act that is not time or age bound and can be limitless – there is no saying how long one can mentor or be mentored – it can be a lifelong association and learning experience and can be truly rewarding if based on mutual respect, understanding and supported by an insatiable appetite to learn, trusted and wise mentor is not a simple task – it’s a challenge that requires us to push ourselves every day to be relevant and authentic to develop a genuine interest in seeing others grow and dedication and commitment to see it through to the end. It
A real passion for listening and supporting the development of others enables great learning for ourselves ..such great inputs and advise mutually shared are a gift for both parties
Ms. Harriet Green Global Business Leader, Coach & Mentor Advisory Board Member Kings College Executive Chair, Mission Beyond requires us to develop a balanced mix of direction, training, support and motivation. It also involves a number of key life skills, including active listening, active asking and a growth mindset. You can find more about these topics on my website, www.harrietgreen.com
3 Top Mentoring Tips
▪ Consider who you would your mentor to be and just ask them! If you would like to be a mentor, offer your services in a LinkedIn post and respond enthusiastically when asked! ▪ Take a little personal risk in all this. Remember, 100% of the shots you don’t take definitely don’t go in… so go take your mentoring shot. ▪ Being an active mentor contributes to you being a better hirer, developer of people and winner in the war for talent.
The Gift of Feedback Many times, throughout my leadership career, I have used a mirror-holding approach to help talented direct reports and aspiring leaders to look into and see aspiring leaders to look into and see themselves at work; it is also incredibly useful for both mentor and mentee. Instead of telling colleagues or mentees what I perceive as their areas of strengths and development areas , I engage in questions dialogue to help them better understand their work through examples, letting
Board Adviser Red Badger Former Chair & CEO IBM Asia Pacific them chart their journey of improvement. In this excellent Harvard Business Review article, entitled ‘Good Feedback Is a Two-Way Conversation, Joe Hirsch beautifully frames this concept using ‘’Hero Questions” https://hbr.org/2020/06/good-feedback-is-a-two-wayconversation . His questions include ▪ Tell me about a time this month you felt energised? ▪ What have you learned about yourself from working on this project? ▪ What strengths have you found most useful on this project? ▪ Who have you recently helped, and what difference did it make in their work and yours? I find that the best feedback comes when we give and receive to help understand our strengths and provide encouragement and guidance to build upon those strengths. The mirror-holding approach and the dialogue that ensues can be extraordinarily impactful in creating transformational and sustainable change in leaders – it did for me! www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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GREEN
HEALTHCARE
While most industries look at sustainable marketing from an environmental and ensuring a better life for the future generation point of view, the approach to this in healthcare is somewhat different. Healthcare marketing being an ethical business activity, here sustainability is more in line with societal marketing – since education and healthcare are the building blocks of humanity, hence the focus is much more on a health here and now, and rightly so, since that leads to healthy future generations.
Power Talk l Sustainable Profits
Sustainable marketing in healthcare thus focuses on how the society that it serves can benefit from strong societal marketing practices. There are three key aspects to sustainable marketing in healthcare
1
2
3
Mr.
Mr. Sumanta Ray
Ensuring that healthcare is available to all
2012- PRESENT Group Chief Marketing Officer Narayana Healthcare
This is probably the most important attribute where access to treatment is dissociated from affluence, so that people are able to avail treatment irrespective of their financial status, and thereby save lives. There are multiple ways different healthcare providers do this, and thereby use their own forms of sustainable or societal marketing. Some examples of these are: ▪ Countries like UK & many other European nations make it available free of cost as a fundamental facility to their citizens ▪ Many government schemes like Ayushman Bharat in India provide free or subsidized treatment in both government and private hospitals ▪ Insurance also provides an accessible pathway to avail healthcare at a fraction of their cost
Ensuring that healthcare is accessible to all This is another key area where healthcare marketing tries to bring in access to healthcare to people by eliminating the distance between the doctor and the patient. Historically, large healthcare facilities tend to be concentrated in a few urban agglomerations, while patients are located all around the country and hinterland. This gap is bridged by various kinds of societal marketing practices, some of which are detailed below: ▪ Conducting large scale healthcare camps all across the hinterland by bringing in doctors and other key healthcare facilities on a temporary basis to reach out to people in their own localities, so they don’t have to travel far & wide for their healthcare needs ▪ Using technology like telemedicine, video consultation and other remote mediums of connectivity to bring the healthcare facilities to the people in a virtual mode
Ensuring that the benefits of healthcare reach the entire population Another area of sustainable marketing in healthcare is the sheer amount of collaboration amongst organisations, government and other key stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of healthcare reach everyone at the fastest speed possible. A classic example is the current pandemic – once the genetic code of the virus was published by China in mid-January, there has been unprecedented global collaboration to build a vaccine, so much so that a few have already been developed with another hundred just around the corner. This vaccine development in less than a year’s time when it normally takes 4-10 years to develop a vaccine was mainly possible through huge global collaboration between all healthcare stakeholders, thereby ensure a sustainable virus free future for mankind. Thus, sustainable marketing is a way of life in healthcare striving to bring the benefits of healthcare to the citizens of our planet and ensuring the sustainable continuity of our human species for millennia to come. www.powertalkwitharchanna.com
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Presents A Supplementary e-magazine especially designed in support of UN WOMEN
POWER TALK A JUST WORLD The Supplementary is a tribute to the entire global force of UN WOMEN who have created a robust ecosystem of stakeholders around them and work to empower girls and women across the globe. The magazine talks about UNWOMEN programs and interventions India under the experienced leadership of the UN Women country representative Ms. Susan Ferguson
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SPECIAL EDITION DEC JAN 2020
Just world Country Representative
UN WOMEN INDIA
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