Sustainability Insider

Did you know that 99% of what we buy ends up in the trashcan within the first six months, which is the key reason why waste is piling up at an alarming rate on an annual basis. From the small plastic showpiece for your desk to the top you bought from the supermarket, most of the things one buys ends up polluting the environment in more ways than one.

Supercomputers typically consume anywhere between 1 to 10 megawatts of power on average. Architectural and software innovati...

It was less than a year ago that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban Mission to make all cities of India ‘garbage free’. Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) are struggling everyday in order to make that dream of Swachh Bharat into a reality.

According to international scientific consensus, global net human-caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must reduce by around 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 to have a fighting chance against global warming, with net-zero emissions expected around 2050. The term "net-zero" refers to a situation in which greenhouse gas emissions are matched by their removal from the atmosphere.

A startup in West Bengal has come out with a device that produces oxygen from water just by pressing of a switch, the founders of the technology claimed. 'OM Redox', the device developed by Solaire Initiatives Pvt Ltd, which is incubated in the Webel-BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre here, provides pure oxygen from water, they said.

A strong diversity is one of the most important factors for husband-wife duo Varun and Ghazal Alagh, who built their personal care brand Mamaearth in six years. They achieved this by ensuring there is enough women representation in their workforce. The company claims that one in two employees at Honasa Consumer Private (HCPL) is a female.

The global health agency released a comprehensive research report titled “Tobacco: Poisoning our planet”, outlining these impacts on the World No Tobacco Day this year. Tobacco industry also emits 84 megatons of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere each year, as reported by WHO. The research highlights that the carbon footprint of the tobacco business from manufacturing, processing, and transportation, is comparable to one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial aircraft sector each year.

The natural environment is changing as a result of rapid digitisation. It's altering how we view, comprehend, and interact with our environment. It's also affecting the way we deal with environmental challenges. The digital economy, for example, has reduced the burden on paper currency substantially in the past decade, eliminating a major chunk of associated carbon emissions.

In a step in the right direction, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) has decided to strengthen the city’s EV infrastructure by setting up 140 EV chargers in the next six months. P Rajendra Cholan, managing director of BESCOM, said in a statement that tenders have been called to construct up to 1,000 EV charging stations across Karnataka in a PPP format.

As part of the campaign, we conducted a panel discussion on the impacts of climate change in India and how we can mitigate and adapt to these changes. The discussion, titled 'Unpacking the climate cataclysm in India', included Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) authors and leading climate researchers from India.

While 90% of people say they are willing to change their actions to be more sustainable, there is still a gap between what people say, and what they do. Brands need to message more personal impact and outcomes in order to drive real change.

NextEra Energy says it plans to reach "real zero," not net zero. This means the utility won't reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions using offsets.

As sustainable investing takes centre stage, can ESG benchmarking & ratings help identify leaders from laggards? Most importantly, can they spot and weed out greenwashing? With the global capital markets placing increasing value on companies’ Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risks and performance metrics, various agencies have been developing multiple rating systems. Some rating systems are performance-based, while others are risk- and/ or disclosures-based.

LIC has cut down its cost massively by outsourcing some of its work to the Indian postal department. This is positive for th...

Progressive business leaders understand that their success is not just driven by one metric: the highest and quickest form of financial returns at the cost of everything else. Investing in both human and natural capital increases returns and reduces risks such as those associated with the escalating climate crisis. This is especially relevant in a market like India, where the economic impacts of global warming are playing out in real-time.

In 1972, as many as 113 countries came together for the Stockholm conference, which was the world’s first such event to place environmental issues at the forefront of international concern. June 5 marked the completion of 50 years since the landmark summit, which is now celebrated as World Environment Day.

Today, wasted food accounts for roughly 8% of the world’s total carbon emissions, while food production itself contributes 37% to global emissions. Although carbon emissions happen despite the wastage, unoptimised food production and wastage are clearly not just an economic concern anymore. They are humanitarian and environmental problems as they indirectly contribute to 1/3 of global warming.

Sustainable investments by Indian firms are projected to grow to $125 billion by 2026, as per a report. The Benori report estimates that sustainable investments would make up 40% of AUM by Indian PE and VC firms. E-mobility has caught the attention of investors the most as the investment in this sector almost doubled during the period of 2019-2022.

Marine debris — any persistent, solid substance in the marine and coastal environment — damages aquatic life in numerous ways. They can cause damage or death via drowning, choking, entanglement, internal injuries, or hunger after consumption. The shocking visuals of marine species dying wrapped in plastic polythene waste have stirred our conscioussness time and again.

India ranked at the last position in a list of most sustainable countries, as per a report. The EPI 2022 report gave a total score of 18.9 to India.While Denmark was the most sustainable country with an EPI score of 77.90, followed by the United Kingdom (77.70 score) and Finland (76.50 score).

The sustainability of any business lies in its ability to innovate with time while reducing long-term risks. The Swedish-founded IKEA has been the world's largest furniture store since 2008 and has thrived for nearly eight decades in a highly competitive business environment. But can they embrace the modern requirements of sustainable practices in countries like India?

India is home to some of the most polluted cities in the world! In 2020, India surpassed the Mecca of the auto industry, Germany, to become the fifth-largest automobile market globally. While India has been adding millions of vehicles to its roads every year, not all vehicles which could be termed ‘end-of-life’ are going off the roads necessarily.

The floods of May 2022 affected more than 1.7 million lives in Assam, which witnesses immense destruction and displacement by the floods every year. Following the repeated news of the Assam floods, we, as a nation, have now become numb to the suffering of the state's people. We can pretend to detach ourselves from one small part of the world, but such extreme weather events have consequences for everyone, everywhere!

Today, natural disasters are occurring more frequently, displacing millions of people and causing significant economic losses. In 2020 alone, India reportedly faced a staggering loss of $87 Billion due to natural disasters. Climate change is a reality that we are facing in our daily lives. For instance, March 2022 was India’s hottest March in the last 122 years.