To sustain the pace of economic growth, businesses must be able to operate without compromising the future capacity of the ecosystem, President Pranab Mukherjee said while giving away the CII-ITC sustainability awards here on Monday.

Calling upon the Government to vigorously pursue policies that promote energy efficiency and the private sector to play a bigger role, Mukherjee said even though the 11th Plan policies to reduce energy had led to savings equivalent to 10,836 MW of avoided power generation, much more needed to be done.

“I expect the private sector to play a major role towards ushering an era of green energy and sustainability,” he added.

The President gave away CII-ITC sustainability awards to 25 companies, including Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals, Haldia, which received the top honours this year.

Among the other firms that bagged the awards were TVS Motor, Yes Bank Ltd, Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Bharat Aluminium Company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Infosys Ltd, Ambuja Cements, Bhoruka Power, Reliance Industries– Hazira, and SAIL – Bhilai, Rashtriya Ispat, Toyota Kirloskar Mahindra Lifespace, Dalmia Cements, Mantri Developers, JSW Steel – Salem and BHEL – Tiruchy.

aditi.n@thehindu.co.in