For many decades, humanity has been paying a huge price for irresponsibility and complacency. And the change has been so slow that we have not taken cognizance of it, until now when we are forced to. It is like the water hyacinth, the aggressive invader that covers the entire surface of a pond, depleting the fish of oxygen leaving it to die till someone takes the action of cleaning the pond to bring back life into it. The earth is desperately sending us signals in the form of soaring temperatures, flash floods, rising sea levels, erratic weather patterns, famine, animal migration and newer diseases. In the past decade alone, devastating wildfires have ravaged several ecosystems around the world, including in California, Australia, Brazil, and Greece. Flash floods in Europe, Asia and even parts of India have disrupted homes and livelihoods. As the global economy continues to recover from the pandemic, emissions are returning to normal far quicker than society is. While countries work towards restoring their economies, it is critical to realise how this crisis has created an opportunity for a profound, systemic shift to a more sustainable economy and a greener world at large – One that works for both people and the planet. In other words, “doing good” can have an immediate bearing on the company’s capacity to “do well” by creating a shared value opportunity. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is a shift from shareholder responsibility to stakeholder responsibility. As the sustainability agenda becomes the cornerstone of organisational purpose, it actively feeds the evolving priorities of the entire stakeholder network. Shareholder interests reflect in annual reports as ESG disclosures are becoming critical benchmarks of future business performance. With proven ethical and financial gains, interest in ESG funds is increasing faster than in their traditional counterparts. Rightly so, the MSCI ESG Index and Nifty 100 ESG Index have consistently outperformed their benchmarks, reinstating the market sentiment towards investment in sustainability. A positive sustainability scorecard also lends comfort and confidence to employee and consumer expectations. As the Indian millennial and GenZ become increasingly conscious of a brand’s social and ecological stance, many firms risk losing talent and business to more environmentally sustainable peers. Sustainability focus is now blanketing the business’s entire value chain by becoming a competitive advantage for the players. OEM manufacturers, suppliers and vendors seek to partner with green utilities, making greener supply chains and good governance a fundamental pre-requisite. It is now interesting to witness how core sustainability integration has enabled entities to tap new opportunities for more investment, innovation, and incentive to stay ahead of the curve. I would like to share three key steps that companies should take for driving sustainability. Firstly, make it a top management priority guided by a clear long-term sustainability goal. At CEAT, our mission is to reduce our carbon footprint by 50 per cent by 2030. It is also imperative for leaders to model their intentions towards sustainability through their day-to-day actions, embed them in the KPIs just the way they would for profits and sales, create strong rewards and recognition systems, and regularly communicate the importance of the same in their town-halls and review meetings. I have found our young Management Trainees deeply passionate about sustainability. Tapping into this zeal, we have created a Sustainability Circle which comprises of young managers to drive thought and action in the company. Recently, we also celebrated a sustainability week at CEAT. Several external and internal experts were invited to discuss the significance and urgency of the subject and what each of us can do. As part of the initiative, we floated a challenge statement to engage more employees and generate ideas through our innovation platform. This really helped amplify our sustainability agenda, gain knowledge and drive action.
