The time has come for environmental social governance (ESG) to be demystified and be made an integral part of business organisations cutting across sectors, business leaders at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Kerala ESG Business Summit here opined.
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“ESG is a lifeline for any organisation, not just for manufacturing organisations. It is no more just about ticking a box about compliance or counting carbon footprint. It is time organisations consider the wider aspects of sustainability that cover people and purpose and much more”, CII Kerala chairman and joint managing director of Synthite Industries, Aju Jacob said.
Managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd, Loknath Behera said the concept of ESG needed to go beyond mere conclaves and discussions and be an integral part of the functioning of corporates. He said multilateral funding agencies now routinely ask for two key reports before approving funding, namely environmental and social impact reports of the proposed project.
Director of ESG for KPMG India, Padmanabhan G Nair said the ESG concept was quickly making its way into organisational strategies and even the market attention on ESG was on the rise. He pointed to the rise of sustainable global supply chains to emphasise the worldwide acceptance and adoption of ESG norms.
CII Southern Region chairman and the Volvo Group India president and managing director, Kamal Bali pointed out that growth and sustainability were often seen as counteracting forces, but that need not be so. “Going forward, we need to draw less resource and focus more on reuse”, he said.
CII Kerala vice chairman and chairman of Manjilas Food Tech Vinod Manjila, Group Meeran chairman Navas Meeran and CGH Earth co-founder Jose Dominic participated in the discussions on ESG.
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Later, Vinod Manjila, Chairman, Manjilas Food Tech Pvt Ltd has been elected as the Chairman of the CII Kerala State Council for the year 2024 – 25 and Shalini Warrier, Executive Director & Business Head – Retail, Federal Bank as the vice Chairperson.