Sustainability Outlook partners with CII for 8th edition of the GreenCo Summit 2019

CII’s GreenCo Rating System equipping Indian industry gain the competitive advantage. Globally, companies/organisations have made sustainability as one of the growth strategies and are adopting multi-pronged approach to bring down their energy, water and other natural resources consumption. This new paradigm shift is not only addressing ecological issues and concerns but also is offering new growth opportunities to various stakeholders. Indian companies have also amply demonstrated that economy and environment go hand-in-hand and going the green way makes good business sense.

                    Of late, companies are keen to know how green their company is. This in turn would enable companies to develop their long term growth plan. This is one of the excellent growth strategies adopted by companies to stay ahead of the growth curve. 

Complementing industry’s effort in further enhancing their energy and environmental management initiatives is CII’s GreenCo rating system, a first-of-its-kind rating system, launched ​in 2011. GreenCo rating system holistically assesses the company’s performance on 10 broad green parameters and also suggests on the way forward.

CII’s GreenCo rating system is applicable to both service and manufacturing sectors. The rating is implemented at the facility level in a manufacturing or service company. Almost all the industry segments are covered under the rating, which evaluates companies on the following broad performance parameters:

1. Energy Efficiency
2. Water Conservation
3. Renewable Energy
4. GHG Mitigation
5. Waste Management
6. Material Conservation, Recycling and Recyclability
7. Green Supply Chain
8. Product Stewardship
9. Life Cycle Assessment
10. Eco-friendly surroundings, Biodiversity & Innovation

 Presently, over 550 companies (including PSU, SMEs) are working on GreenCo rating. This includes over 235 GreenCo rated companies. The first 91 GreenCo rated companies have achieved annual cumulative savings of Rs. 175 Crores.

The Indian Government has acknowledged GreenCo rating in the “INDC document” (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) as one of the voluntary initiatives of Indian industry, aimed towards addressing climate change concerns. UNIDO has featured GreenCo Rating as one of the key industry initiatives in India that is promoting environmentally sustainable business growth.

Facilitating green growth strategies  

Due to its multi-pronged and holistic approach, GreenCo rating is enabling companies to assess where it stands in terms of environmental management. This in turn is providing a robust framework on how to raise the bar of environmental performance, and encouraging companies to set-up a long-term roadmap for resource conservation and improved profitability. It is also equipping the company to meet future environmental compliance norms and in the process making the company/ organisation ‘future ready’.

Introduction of global best practices

GreenCo rating has facilitated introduction of newer concepts such as green supply chain, product stewardship and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Indian industry. GreenCo companies have used LCA as an excellent tool to identify new opportunities for reducing environmental impacts as well as achieve cost benefits. As a part of the green supply chain initiative, many large companies have adopted SMEs and helped them implement GreenCo SME rating.

Market Transformation

GreenCo rating system has enabled in offering new growth opportunities to various technology providers/service providers. New disciplines like green logistics, green procurement, sustainable packing, and clean technologies are receiving increased attention and encouraging products and technologies, which are ecologically superior and economically viable.

GreenCo Summit  

CII in its efforts to take forward the GreenCo movement has institutionalized the annual GreenCo Summit, which is serving as an excellent platform to learn and share green concepts and offers a platform to network and explore new growth opportunities.

CII is organising the 8th edition of GreenCo Summit 2019 on 3 – 5 July 2019 in New Delhi.  The three-day event will feature the following programmes:

• 3 July 2019             CII Environmental Best Practices Award 2019
• 4-5 July 2019           International conference - GreenCo Summit 2019

Topics that would be covered during GreenCo Summit 2019 would include the following:

• International experiences & world class practices in Green
• Transforming supply chains - logistics, procurement, packaging
• Design for environment - resource conservation, recyclability and zero toxicity
• Development of green products through life cycle approach
• Green initiatives driving innovation
• Green Marketing & Branding
• Experiences of GreenCo Champions
• Panel Discussion with CEOs

Coinciding with GreenCo Summit 2019, CII is organising the CII Environmental Best Practices Award on 3 July 2019.  The objectives of the Award include the following:

• Recognize & award environmental best projects implemented in the Indian Industry
• Facilitate sharing of information on benefits amongst industry to implement best environmental practices
• Instill a sense of competition to motivate other industries to implement more innovative projects

Conclusion

GreenCo movement in India is well poised to set new global benchmarks in energy and environmental management and in the process offer many new growth opportunities to the stakeholders. Companies/ organisations are going that extra mile and making concerted efforts in underlining that ‘green makes good business sense.