World Environment Day- Finally Intent Is Followed By Action As Corporates Get Going

World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, has gone by this year with some very interesting pledges, and moves by governments, firms, and other organisations to make a difference. Importantly, in many cases, the next stage of their targets are visible both in the short and medium term, a much better alternative to the kind of lip service we had seen in previous years. Firms are finally putting their money where their claims are, and hopefully this is a trend that will only pick up speed.

Here are a few interesting cases that are worth highlighting.

Right up front is the government of Gujarat, a state that needs to, and has made some big steps in tirning more environment friendly. With some of the highest concentrations of industries in the country, and more streaming in thanks to the right environment it creates for industry, Gujarat has picked energy as a key area to clean up.

Consequently, the  Government of Gujarat’s claims that that there has been a steady decline in the carbon emission, generated through thermal power, in the state in the last 5 years deserves mention. At present, Gujarat ranks second in the country in terms of installed capacity of renewable energy.

The growing installed capacity of renewable energy in Gujarat has directly impacted the environment and carbon emission in the state has seen reduction by a whopping 115% more as compared to 2017. The reduction in carbon emission through renewable energy in Gujarat was 12.08 million tonnes in the year 2017-18, which has increased to 26.01 million tonnes in the year 2021-22.

The share of renewable energy (along with hydro energy) was 29% with 8,065 MW installed capacity of power generation in Gujarat in the year 2017-18. Now, in the year 2022, the share of renewable energy has increased to 42% with the contribution of 17,367 MW to the installed capacity of electricity generation.

From Gujarat, we look at NTPC, the national energy generator.

NTPC has planted more than 37 million trees in & around its projects. In addition, the company has been adopting the “Miyawaki” technique to promote building forests, thereby helping retain groundwater & support local biodiversity.  In order to restrict pollutants within permissible limits, NTPC is also installing Flue Gas Desulfurization for 60 GW thermal capacity. All much needed, and deserving of appreciation.

Even product engineering and lifecycle services firm Quest Global has picked on plantation to make an impact, announcing that it will be planting 500 trees across Pune in the next three months along with a local NGO partner, Y4D Foundation. The plantation drive was launched at the campus of Madhyamik Vidyalay, Mahalunge (Padale). The  Initiative is part of Quest Global Pledge to plant 500,000 trees globally, by 2025 announced on June 1, 2022.

Helping measure all this and more is World Of Circular Economy (WOCE), which has announced the launch of a platform to capture, calculate and offset the carbon footprint

From the oil and gas sector, under scrutiny for its impact both past and present, comes this very interesting move by Cairn Energy. To commemorate World Environment Day on June 5, Cairn Oil & Gas, India’s largest private oil and gas exploration and production company, has announced that its Mangala pipeline will now be converted to solar. The Mangala pipeline is the world’s longest continuously heated and insulated pipeline that runs from oil fields of Rajasthan to the refineries in Gujarat – traversing 705 km. All 36 AGIs (Above ground installations) of the pipeline will get rooftop solar to help power the heating required to keep the waxy crude flowing.

Coming from the house of  the Tata’s, seen as a really responsible corporate, comes the initiative from Tata Tea. In its latest edition of the 15 year old #JaagoRe, aimed at spreading awareness on a cause which is the most defining crisis of our time – picked Climate Change. With the current edition, Tata Tea #JaagoRe aims to explain how Climate Change impacts a normal citizen and highlights how it will affect our future generations. By making it personal and relatable, it hopes to inspire people to make small behavioral changes and take simple actionable steps together, that can help us in fighting climate change and hence make this planet better for the future of our children.

Even start ups have seen the writing on the wall, with one HappyLocate targeting a particularly vexing issue, Packaging. India’s first tech based one-stop relocation platform, has pledged to become a 100% eco-friendly platform for relocation services by 2025. Under this initiative, the company has further instructed all its partners to use eco-friendly packaging materials for end-to-end packaging. HappyLocate currently uses 100% eco-friendly packaging materials for 70% of its intra-city transportation service.

While the World Environment Day is just one occasion for these firms to announce, start, or even target completion  of their  efforts to make a positive impact, it is important that the Environment may not require a day for itself soon. It is no longer a cliche to say that every day needs to be an environment day, as the support of everyone is needed to make massive behaviour changes that will help sustain these efforts and achieve more.