“A strong and vibrant India can contribute to the stabilisation of the world economic order. We will do whatever it takes to make India the engine of global growth resurgence,”
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Virtual Global Investor Roundtable 2020

To complement this vision for our nation, the first ever India ESG Forum is set to be hosted alongside South Asia’s largest CSR and Sustainability Forum the India CSR Summit (15th-16th November). The 2nd Day (16th November) of the event will have ‘India ESG Forum 2022’ as the co-event at Hotel Pullman, New Delhi!

With India’s recent commitment to the net zero agenda, this summit will be the first of its kind stringing together the role of multiple stakeholders in supporting the goal and charting out the way forward for a better planet and better businesses.

To widen and deepen sustainability impact and its understanding, join us on 16th November 2022 at Hotel Pullman, New Delhi to be part of insightful conversations featuring topics including ESG, decarbonization, net zero, carbon offsets, carbon capture, nature-based solutions, climate change response and sustainability etc.

Environmental: Environmental criteria includes energy consumption, emission of greenhouse gasses and waste and other hazardous materials, corporate climate policies, natural resource conservation. The criteria can also help evaluate any environmental risks a company might face and how the company is managing those risks.

Social: The Social pillar refers to an organization’s relationship with its different stakeholders. This includes Human Capital Management metrics like employee engagement, fair wages, and the organization’s impact on the vendors, customers and supply chain partners.

Governance: The Governance standards ensure a company uses accurate and transparent accounting methods, pursues integrity and diversity in selecting its leadership, and is accountable to shareholders.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi making the pledge, the first time India has set a net zero target, at the Glasgow summit. To contribute to the same vision, this is the time for the eminent corporates to step up.

India is the world's fourth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide after China, the US and the EU. However, despite its huge population, India’s emissions per capita are much lower than other major world economies - India emitted 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per head of population in 2019, compared with 15.5 tonnes for the US and 12.5 tonnes for Russia that year.
Keeping that in view, Mr. Modi made the pledge as one of five commitments from our country which included a promise for India to get 50% of its energy from renewable resources by 2030, and by the same year to reduce total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes.

To contribute to the national involvement to the net zero agenda in alignment with the Government, the companies will have have to first measure emissions from direct (its own activities), and indirect (from purchased electricity and along the value-chain) sources. Once estimated, the next stage is to develop a strategy to reduce and finally eliminate these emissions.

Join in on 16th November, 2022 at Hotel Pullman to engage in such fruitful discussions around strategies to be a key stakeholder in shaping the ESG narrative in India!

There is a need for businesses to be more conscious to ensuring aspects like human rights, anti-corruption, sustainable manufacturing and fair labour receive equal focus in their operations as well as across their value chains.

As per the recent trends, its imperative to acknowledge that the ‘either or’ approach is no longer viable. Action towards ESG (environmental, social and governance) as a whole has to be driven through a synergistic approach across a business’ value chain as well as in communities. This approach is thus gradually becoming a key facet in an organization’s value creation model. To address a diverse set of ESG related issues companies must track the right KPIs, incentivise management using those metrics, and must communicate performance improvements to different stakeholders.

A study by McKinsey and Co. talks about the criticality of ESG lens incorporation for businesses to enhance value creation and profitability.

Summarily, a strong ESG stance helps companies:
• To venture into new markets and expand its existing ones
• To drive consumer preference
• To reduce costs substantially
• To achieve greater strategic freedom through deregulation and earn government support
• To help boost employee motivation

CSR and ESG are related but not the same. For instance, if a beverage manufacturer wants to implement CSR and ESG policies, CSR can be incorporated by communicating internally and in press releases that the company is committed to being more sustainable and responsible. ESG standards will require the company to report measurable goals such as a 20% increase in recycled materials within five years and cutting down greenhouse gas emissions in 10 years.

The effectiveness of a company's adherence to its corporate responsibility and sustainability objectives will be assessed using ESG reporting. Greater employee understanding of the company's influence on the environment and society, as well as internal and external communications about sustainable practices, would be indicators under CSR. ESG is the activity and quantifiable result. To simplify, CSR can be thought of as the qualitative side and ESG as the quantitative side.

In the long run, CSR and ESG implementation offer general guidelines and metrics that make social commitments executable and directly advantageous to one's firm. It is a win-win situation when taken into account the financial advantages and the significant societal changes we can bring about with such activities.

To understand more about the emerging ESG narrative in India, join us for the first India ESG Forum - 2022 and partake in nation-building.

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