Alfa CNG

Sustainability is the new buzzword today as companies actively seek to reduce their carbon footprint and invest in creating eco-friendly products and solutions. As eco-strategy expert, Andrew Winston, puts it, 'a green wave is sweeping the business world' as organizations increasingly realize the importance of going green.

Sustainability and sustainable issues have traditionally been viewed as an extension of a company's CSR programme. However, this perception is undergoing a distinct change today as companies realize that sustainability can lead to wealth creation.

According to Andrew, who has incidentally co-authored a book on this topic with Dan Esty of Yale University titled 'Green to Gold', the best companies are innovatively focusing on sustainability to create value in four fundamental ways - It can help drive new revenues, enhance brand value, cut costs through eco-efficiency measures and reduce risks related to changing consumer tastes and regulations.

Ecomagination

GE has already shown the way with its innovative venture, Ecomagination which illustrates its commitment to develop products and solutions that address environmental challenges and generate profitable growth. Ecomagination focuses on key areas of the company's business including energy, technology, manufacturing and transportation.

Products developed under the Ecomagination brand include locomotives for use on China's mainline rail system which reduce emissions and are more fuel efficient than other locomotives, LED traffic and road signals which result in significant energy savings and require lower maintenance and innovative wind turbines.

Ecomagination products have resulted in substantial revenues running into billions of dollars for GE, making it one of the company's most successful initiatives. This is a clear example of how sustainability can help create profits for stakeholders.

Closer to home as well, there are several companies which have taken the initiative to both reduce their carbon footprint and harness the power of sustainable solutions for the greater common good. Mahindra, for instance, has launched several eco-friendly products such as India's first bio-diesel tractor, the Alfa CNG, which is a dynamic three wheeler cargo carrier and the Bijlee, the first-of-its-kind electric three wheeler in India. Most recently, M&M launched the environment friendly Bolero Pik-Up CNG, the first CNG model to be launched in the large Pickup category which offers savings of up to 40% on costs as compared to a comparable diesel vehicle.

So how can companies make sustainability work to their advantage?

Andrew Winston suggests three initial steps:

• Companies must first understand how their business impacts the environment across the value chain. Do suppliers, for instance, follow environment-friendly practices?

• Organizations also need to know what others think of their environmental performance. This would include perceptions held by employees, customers and perhaps even NGOs.

• Last but not the least, businesses must take stock of their core competencies when it comes to creating environment-friendly and energy-efficient products and actively work towards developing the same.

I think this poster says it all.

Is it that difficult??

Forget the Government or the environment NGOs – They are all doing whatever it takes to spread awareness and literally Clean up! (I shall give my views on that campaign some other time).

Just ask yourself this:

In the tons of litter found on the road, does that one wrapper on the road, belong to me?
Is that one cigarette butt mine?
 
Littering is an involuntary habit for most of us. You can in fact, say that it’s like going to the gym for that one more day, or more aptly, its like you trying to stop biting your nails – but you somehow never realize how you got those abnormal blunt looking nails!

None of us WANT this city to be a garbage dump. No way.
But we need to unlearn, and hurl out the habit – of littering our streets.
And this change is going to be tough and a conscious one (It definitely was for me)

Excuse me for this gyan, but I believe there are 2 broad steps to this one:

Step One: STOP LITTERING YOURSELF!

Get a grip on yourself, be it a chocolate wrapper, no matter how small, a bus ticket, an expired movie stub, nothing goes down the road. If you don’t find a Bin, shove those in your pockets, handbags, or purses.


Step Two: IT IS OKAY TO TELL OTHERS TO STOP LITTERING

This is even tougher, but you don’t mind doing it if you have mastered step one!


The Mahindra Way

Our Employee Volunteers at various Mahindra Tractor and Auto plants and at our Club Mahindra offices in rustic areas often do exactly this - several clean up drives, waste management workshops, anti-plastic drives etc around their localities - and here lies the importance – of just TELLING people and making them conscious about their own habit.

My escapades in the Mumbai locals have taught me two ways to do this: Sounds simple, but it requires guts.

a)    Request at first – This works with the mellow-looking ones
“Excuse me, could you please not throw this on the ground? Please use the dustbin”

You may get 2 broad types of reactions to the above:

•    An embarrassed apologetic ‘sorry!’ (your purpose is served, congratulations!)
•    You get an angry look, or… an even more angry retort .. slander .. Or even an outright tirade.

In any case, NEVER lose your cool.

b)    The last and in some cases the best option is the non-violent method –
SOMETHING YOU MUST DO IN FRONT OF THE ONE WHO IS LITTERING –
SOMETHING THAT WILL SURELY EMBARRASS HIM/HER –
& something that they will never forget

Wear your best smile and Take it to the Basket yourself!  :)