Increasing pressure on
natural resources

While climate change affects business and communities it impacts the developing countries the most and they face the challenges of dealing with the consequences.

 

Rising inequalities

World over women’s participation in labour markets tends to be lower than men’s. In India, female labour participation is less than 25%.

Public health concerns have an impact on the health of a nation. Wage loss due to preventable diseases such malaria and dengue continue to plague many of the geographies that we operate in.

 

Our belief

We believe society, environment and business cannot operate in silos. As a responsible business we’re accountable for much more to stakeholders besides our financial performance.

In this increasingly uncertain world, we began our sustainablity journey with the Good & Green vision. Ten years ago, we made a promise to build a more employable and greener world, and put people and planet alongside profit.

 

Our sustainability promise

Sustainability isn’t new to us. We’ve always maintained a sizeable part of our promoter holdings in Godrej Trusts that invests in education, environment and healthcare.

 
 

Good & Green vision

In 2010, we laid out our sustainability vision that made us look inward at our operations and processes, and outwards at our ecosystems, supply chain and communities.

We had three ambitious goals led by one central team, guided by our company boards, and implemented by numerous teams across our companies.

 

Shared value approach

The issues we set out to tackle are too large for us alone. Along our journey we collaborated with quite a few implementation partners who helped us improve our understanding, provided solutions and supported us in addressing specific issues.

We embraced the shared value approach in sustainability that looks at business solutions to stimulate social and environmental progress.

 
 

Milestones we achieved

Ten years down this road,
we’ve come a long way in our
sustainability journey in the
promise we’ve made.

 
 

Trained 500,000
vs goal of 1 million

We’ve trained and supported over half million underprivileged people to improve their incomes through better jobs, improved farm practices, or building their businesses.

 

Reached 3.5 million

We enabled 3.5 million people to protect
themselves against vector-borne diseases.

 

Renewable portfolio is 50% vs goal of 30%

Over half of the energy we use across our companies is from renewable sources.

 

Lowered energy use by 30% vs goal of 30%

For every tonne of product manufactured we now use 30% less energy.

 

Recharged 4x the water
vs goal of water positivity

We recharge four times the water we use in our processes. Moreover, for every tonne of product manufactured we now use 35% less water.


Lowered emissions by 50% vs goal of carbon neutrality

For every tonne of product manufactured we now emit almost 50% less emissions.

 

Lowered waste by 75% vs goal of zero waste to landfill

For every tonne of our product manufactured we now send 75% less waste.


95% green product profolio for GPL

Almost all homes built by GPL are green certified with a minimum of LEED Silver rating.

 

Encouraging impact

It’s encouraging to see the social impact our work has had. We’ve seen women too shy to speak, start and run a successful business, dry arid regions transform in to a green space, and see malaria hotbed regions fight back to knock out malaria deaths.

Our green investments in our manufacturing operations have saved over INR 140 crores over the decade. Our shop floor teams drive the green initiatives and lead from the bottom up. And we’re now working with our supply chain to amplify our impact.

 

Our learning

We over achieved few of our targets but also
under achieved few others. Along the way
we’ve faced tough challenges – some within
our control and some beyond.

We’ve learned lessons that have helped us
pivot, and adapt, and at times, even
accept our shortcomings.

 
 

Driving impact bottom up

In 2010, when we first shared our targets internally it seemed like a mountain of a task. It took a mindset change over the next few years to get people onboard. As teams saw direct ROI of green initiatives, the confidence and acceptance grew and it became a seamless part of the manufacturing teams.

For social impact, all our programmes were developed based on the community needs and tweaked to local contexts. This ensured a deeper engagement and successful outcomes.

 

Employability to livelihoods

We started out with the employability goal of training ‘1 million people’. But along the way we asked if our programmes are creating a meaningful lasting impact? When we got our answer, we pivoted our approach to a holistic lens of livelihoods support.

We achieved just over half of our target but this programme now means a lot more to the 192,000 women who entered the workforce for the first-time, to the 100,000 farmers who improved productivity and incomes, and to the 94,460 construction workers registered to receive entitlements.

 

Offsets are only part of the answer

It’s relatively easy to keep emitting the same carbon emissions and offsetting them by carbon credits or mitigation projects elsewhere. But we choose to look inward first.

Like we started with reduced our specific water consumption at manufacturing and then implemented integrated watershed programmes that not only helped the environment but also ensured improved livelihood opportunities for thousands of farmers. We’re now a water positive Group.

 

Embedding sustainability in our supply chain

Working on our manufacturing processes was a start. We wanted to make our products and the entire value chain environmental-friendly and responsible. Setting up the Sustainability Procurement Policy was our first big step towards empowering our supply chain to be sustainable.

There was an initial resistance, but we guided them to be more transparent as it would ultimately make them more efficient and productive. We chose gradual adoption over strict compliance and went on a collaborative mode. Today, sustainability has become an important part of our vendor selection process.

 

Our 2025 goals

With the first decade behind us, we are now
looking at crafting bigger and bolder
sustainability goals that align with
our businesses.

We are continuing on our journey to build a
more equitable and greener world.

 
 

Vision 2025

Our next five year sustainability vision focuses on building an equitable and greener world for over 20 million people.

 

Equip communities with skills that empower

  • Empower 150,000 people in emerging economies with skills and livelihoods support to enhance their incomes.
  •  

Influence sustainable consumption

  • Ensure efficient waste management systems for 8 municipalities in India impacting 10 million people.
  • Ensure a third of all our products are greener than in 2020.
  • Partner with consumers and customers to promote sustainable consumption of our green products.
  • Focus on sustainable packaging by reducing plastic packaging, increasing use of post-consumer recycled materials, and using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable materials.
  • Partner with suppliers to adopt our sustainable supply chain policy and improve their ESG performance.
  •  

Improve health and well-being

  • Strengthen public healthcare systems in three states in India.
  • Protect 10 million people against vector-borne diseases.
  • Enable access to entitlements and ensure well-being for over half million people.
  •  

Lead in sustainability action

  • Achieve scope I and II carbon neutrality and calculate scope III emissions.
  • Improve energy efficiency in line with our EP100 commitment and achieve 70% renewables in energy mix.
  • Maintain water positivity, achieve and maintain zero waste to landfill.
  • Announce our commitment towards the global Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and publish our roadmap and targets for emissions reduction.
  • Increase transparency in our ESG reporting and disclosures, reaffirming our commitment to sustainability.
  • Advance human rights and inclusion across our value chain.
  •  

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