Description
based on the address by Y C Deveshwar, ITC chairman on the 100th annual general meeting of the company. This article highlights Company’s Triple Bottom Line performance during the year gone by, touches the aspects of Green GDP, the initiatives taken by Government of India and the some suggestions by the Chairman.
MAKING MARKETS WORK FOR GREEN GDP AND SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS
GROUP 7 ADITYA FOTEDAR 211 KARTIKE GARG 214
MADHAVI ALAPATY 224
HIMANSHU MINOCHA 234 SHREYA SOOD 250 DURGESH SHARMA 262
1|Page
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Green GDP..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Ways to mobilize markets for Green GDP and Sustainable Livelihoods ....................................................... 3 I. Disclosure of Triple Bottom Line Performance ...................................................................................... 3 National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Performance ....................... 3 II. Creating Institutions for measurement and rating ............................................................................... 4 III. Creation of preferential incentives ...................................................................................................... 4 IV. Spreading Awareness and Empowering Decisions .............................................................................. 4 Some of the Initiatives taken by ITC ............................................................................................................. 4 1. Mission Sunehra Kal .............................................................................................................................. 4 2. CII-ITC Center for Sustainable Development ........................................................................................ 4 3. E-choupal .............................................................................................................................................. 5
2|Page
Introduction
This report is based on the address by Y C Deveshwar, ITC chairman on the 100th annual general meeting of the company. This article highlights Company’s Triple Bottom Line performance during the year gone by, touches the aspects of Green GDP, the initiatives taken by Government of India and the some suggestions by the Chairman. Following are the sustainability challenges of India ? ? ? ? ? ? UNDP places India 119th out of 169 countries in human development 55% of the population suffers from widespread deprivation With nearly 17% of the world’s population, India has just 1% of global forest resources and 4% of water Already, half of the country’s arable land is water-stressed Climate change affecting agri-based rural population leading to a threat of loss of livelihood and escalation of the problem of food scarcity Continuously growing population putting stress on limited resources
Green GDP
In order to measure the costs of development we need to go for Green GDP. It is a new approach which takes the cost of environmental degradation, depletion and loss of biodiversity into the GDP. Conventional methods of calculating economic growth, such as the GDP, do not take into account the costs on account of environmental depletion, degradation, or loss of biodiversity. The Provide policymakers as well as civil society need realistic assessment of issues that have to be addressed for a more sustainable growth of the economy and Green GDP is quintessential in this direction. In order to address the challenges listed above we need to enlarge the size of our Green GDP and accelerate the creation of sustainable livelihoods. It calls for multi-dimensional efforts on the part of Government, Business and Civil Society – individually and collectively. Government of India has taken following steps in this direction ? ? ? ? Missions launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change The initiative on Energy Certificates by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Programmes such as the Bharat Nirman
3|Page
Ways to mobilize markets for Green GDP and Sustainable Livelihoods
The consumer franchise is very powerful in reinforcing Green GDP and sustainable livelihood. Consumers here stand for government, consumers, employees, investors, society in general. When consumers make informed choice in choosing those companies which have sustainable practices this becomes a benchmark for competitive advantage and slowly becomes a norm. So a framework and market mechanisms for empowerment of consumers need to be build rewarding the innovative capacity of corporates. Four things which could be done in this area
I. Disclosure of Triple Bottom Line Performance
The ITC Chairman advices all the companies exceeding a threshold size to make a sustainability reporting in their annual disclosures. This can follow either of the below two guidelines ? GRI ? National Voluntary Guidelines as per Ministry of Corporate Affairs National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Performance As per these guidelines there are three sections in the report 1. Part A This contains brief explanation of the operations of the company so that the reader of this report can develop some expectations about what he would be reading in the next sections and can analyze whether they are sufficient steps taken or not 2. Part B This contains the disclosures of the company's performance in various areas following the below principles Principle 1 – Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Principle 2 – Products Life Cycle Sustainability Principle 3 – Employees' well-being Principle 4 – Stakeholder Engagement Principle 5 – Human Rights Principle 6 – Environment Principle 7 – Policy Advocacy
4|Page Principle 8 – Inclusive Growth Principle 9 – Customer Value 3. Part C This contains two parts. First part will specify the negative consequences of company’s operations last year (in view of sustainability performance) and second part talks about the goals and plans of the company in the directions of sustainable operations.
II. Creating Institutions for measurement and rating
Another advice of Deveshwar is that there is a need for evolvement of institutions that will design, develop and award ratings to companies based on triple bottom line performance. Government can support the development of responsible business "Trustmark" rating system based on which credits can be given organizations for their sustainable performance. Also a new cadre of social auditors will be evolved for this. Similar to carbon credit trading here also we can have a sustainability credit trading.
III. Creation of preferential incentives
The government must give preferential and differential incentives to those companies which follow sustainable practices. The banks and other financial institutions can also give more preference to these customers in their credit appraisal process.
IV. Spreading Awareness and Empowering Decisions
In spreading awareness the role of civil society, consumer bodies, schools, educational institutions and media is very important and this can lead to responsible business with competitive value proposition.
Some of the Initiatives taken by ITC
1. Mission Sunehra Kal
ITC launched Mission Sunehra Kal, a rural capacity building programme fostering local initiatives to develop water and forest resources, open up new non-farm livelihoods, empower women economically and expand primary education. The Mission now embraces a community of thousands of villages that are influential nuclei of change in rural localities spread over 11 States. A clearly focused self-help movement has gained ground in village after village in these areas, with farmers co-operating to create much needed economic, environmental and social assets out of their own resources.
2. CII-ITC Center for Sustainable Development
The CII - ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development is an institution that creates a conducive, enabling climate for Indian businesses to pursue sustainability goals. It creates awareness, promote thought leadership and build capacity to achieve sustainability across a broad spectrum of issues.
5|Page
3. E-choupal
It is launched in June 2000, 'e-Choupal', has presence in over 40,000 villages through 6500 kiosks across ten states. This initiative is the world's largest rural digital infrastructure benefitting over 4 million farmers.
doc_671900071.docx
based on the address by Y C Deveshwar, ITC chairman on the 100th annual general meeting of the company. This article highlights Company’s Triple Bottom Line performance during the year gone by, touches the aspects of Green GDP, the initiatives taken by Government of India and the some suggestions by the Chairman.
MAKING MARKETS WORK FOR GREEN GDP AND SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS
GROUP 7 ADITYA FOTEDAR 211 KARTIKE GARG 214
MADHAVI ALAPATY 224
HIMANSHU MINOCHA 234 SHREYA SOOD 250 DURGESH SHARMA 262
1|Page
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Green GDP..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Ways to mobilize markets for Green GDP and Sustainable Livelihoods ....................................................... 3 I. Disclosure of Triple Bottom Line Performance ...................................................................................... 3 National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Performance ....................... 3 II. Creating Institutions for measurement and rating ............................................................................... 4 III. Creation of preferential incentives ...................................................................................................... 4 IV. Spreading Awareness and Empowering Decisions .............................................................................. 4 Some of the Initiatives taken by ITC ............................................................................................................. 4 1. Mission Sunehra Kal .............................................................................................................................. 4 2. CII-ITC Center for Sustainable Development ........................................................................................ 4 3. E-choupal .............................................................................................................................................. 5
2|Page
Introduction
This report is based on the address by Y C Deveshwar, ITC chairman on the 100th annual general meeting of the company. This article highlights Company’s Triple Bottom Line performance during the year gone by, touches the aspects of Green GDP, the initiatives taken by Government of India and the some suggestions by the Chairman. Following are the sustainability challenges of India ? ? ? ? ? ? UNDP places India 119th out of 169 countries in human development 55% of the population suffers from widespread deprivation With nearly 17% of the world’s population, India has just 1% of global forest resources and 4% of water Already, half of the country’s arable land is water-stressed Climate change affecting agri-based rural population leading to a threat of loss of livelihood and escalation of the problem of food scarcity Continuously growing population putting stress on limited resources
Green GDP
In order to measure the costs of development we need to go for Green GDP. It is a new approach which takes the cost of environmental degradation, depletion and loss of biodiversity into the GDP. Conventional methods of calculating economic growth, such as the GDP, do not take into account the costs on account of environmental depletion, degradation, or loss of biodiversity. The Provide policymakers as well as civil society need realistic assessment of issues that have to be addressed for a more sustainable growth of the economy and Green GDP is quintessential in this direction. In order to address the challenges listed above we need to enlarge the size of our Green GDP and accelerate the creation of sustainable livelihoods. It calls for multi-dimensional efforts on the part of Government, Business and Civil Society – individually and collectively. Government of India has taken following steps in this direction ? ? ? ? Missions launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change The initiative on Energy Certificates by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Programmes such as the Bharat Nirman
3|Page
Ways to mobilize markets for Green GDP and Sustainable Livelihoods
The consumer franchise is very powerful in reinforcing Green GDP and sustainable livelihood. Consumers here stand for government, consumers, employees, investors, society in general. When consumers make informed choice in choosing those companies which have sustainable practices this becomes a benchmark for competitive advantage and slowly becomes a norm. So a framework and market mechanisms for empowerment of consumers need to be build rewarding the innovative capacity of corporates. Four things which could be done in this area
I. Disclosure of Triple Bottom Line Performance
The ITC Chairman advices all the companies exceeding a threshold size to make a sustainability reporting in their annual disclosures. This can follow either of the below two guidelines ? GRI ? National Voluntary Guidelines as per Ministry of Corporate Affairs National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Performance As per these guidelines there are three sections in the report 1. Part A This contains brief explanation of the operations of the company so that the reader of this report can develop some expectations about what he would be reading in the next sections and can analyze whether they are sufficient steps taken or not 2. Part B This contains the disclosures of the company's performance in various areas following the below principles Principle 1 – Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Principle 2 – Products Life Cycle Sustainability Principle 3 – Employees' well-being Principle 4 – Stakeholder Engagement Principle 5 – Human Rights Principle 6 – Environment Principle 7 – Policy Advocacy
4|Page Principle 8 – Inclusive Growth Principle 9 – Customer Value 3. Part C This contains two parts. First part will specify the negative consequences of company’s operations last year (in view of sustainability performance) and second part talks about the goals and plans of the company in the directions of sustainable operations.
II. Creating Institutions for measurement and rating
Another advice of Deveshwar is that there is a need for evolvement of institutions that will design, develop and award ratings to companies based on triple bottom line performance. Government can support the development of responsible business "Trustmark" rating system based on which credits can be given organizations for their sustainable performance. Also a new cadre of social auditors will be evolved for this. Similar to carbon credit trading here also we can have a sustainability credit trading.
III. Creation of preferential incentives
The government must give preferential and differential incentives to those companies which follow sustainable practices. The banks and other financial institutions can also give more preference to these customers in their credit appraisal process.
IV. Spreading Awareness and Empowering Decisions
In spreading awareness the role of civil society, consumer bodies, schools, educational institutions and media is very important and this can lead to responsible business with competitive value proposition.
Some of the Initiatives taken by ITC
1. Mission Sunehra Kal
ITC launched Mission Sunehra Kal, a rural capacity building programme fostering local initiatives to develop water and forest resources, open up new non-farm livelihoods, empower women economically and expand primary education. The Mission now embraces a community of thousands of villages that are influential nuclei of change in rural localities spread over 11 States. A clearly focused self-help movement has gained ground in village after village in these areas, with farmers co-operating to create much needed economic, environmental and social assets out of their own resources.
2. CII-ITC Center for Sustainable Development
The CII - ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development is an institution that creates a conducive, enabling climate for Indian businesses to pursue sustainability goals. It creates awareness, promote thought leadership and build capacity to achieve sustainability across a broad spectrum of issues.
5|Page
3. E-choupal
It is launched in June 2000, 'e-Choupal', has presence in over 40,000 villages through 6500 kiosks across ten states. This initiative is the world's largest rural digital infrastructure benefitting over 4 million farmers.
doc_671900071.docx