Sustainability Initiatives at WIPRO: Education and Environment

Wipro Limited is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process
services. Sustainability at WIPRO is all about Good Citizenship which stems from the belief that corporations are socio-
economic citizens and that their objectives have to be congruent with society’s goals. Wipro started its formal sustainability
journey in 2001 with Wipro Cares, the community care program followed by Wipro Applying Thought in Schools (WATIS) in
2002, an initiative that addresses issues of systemic reforms in school education. They have formulated eight guiding principles
which include well defined and measurable sustainability goals, accountability at every level of leadership integrated into
mainstream planning, budgeting and review process, building organizational capacity, defining progress measures that are
appropriate to context-emphasize the long term and the qualitative equally, focus within as well as outside the boundary and
explore disclosure as a catalyst for self-transformation.

Parameter 1: Education
● Wipro Applying Thought in Schools works towards systemic reform of education in the country working on the
problems of access and quality with civil society.
The approach is to support organizational development and learning by facilitating a reflective learning network of
educational organizations and by supporting early-stage organizations; Providing financial and other support to
organizations to gain experience and practical understanding of working in education and build long-term capacity to
work across the country.
● Wipro’s community care initiatives are channeled through Wipro Cares, the not-for-profit trust, which engages with
our proximate communities on the domains: Primary Health Care, Education for underprivileged children, Education
for children with Disability, Environment and Disaster Rehabilitation. The Wipro Cares model is a great example of
where employees play a key role both in terms of volunteering and monetary contribution.
● Wipro School Education Fellowship (SEF) launched in March 2013 is focused on STEM in schools primarily serving
disadvantaged communities in US cities. The program works in close collaboration in over 20 school districts wherein
250-350 teachers go through a 2-year fellowship with intense support to develop their capacities to be better
teachers and change leaders. Wipro has committed about USD 9 million to this cause.
● Wipro Earthian has been designed to act as a catalyst for awareness, action, and innovation among the youth. The
driving force of the concept of sustainability education is to provide theoretical learning in addition to practical
experience fostering personal development and community participation.
How it works:
1. Earthian has an annual cycle of competitions, in the school programme students have to present their
sustainability ideas in two themes–biodiversity and water.
2. The college programme comprises of analytical case writing and reporting on key sustainability issues like
mobility, waste and water.
3. Post this, the ten best projects from schools and colleges are shortlisted and felicitated in an annual event –
the Wipro earthian Sustainability Awards.
4. This is followed by the Continuous Engagement Program (CEP) under which select institutes, along with
sustainability experts, come together to embark on a collaborative exercise to create substantial learning
experiences to become partners in change.

Parameter 2: Environment
The key themes of Wipro’s ecological sustainability program are Energy, Water, Waste Management, Campus Biodiversity and
Urban Resilience. The total valuation of their ecological footprint is INR 10,841 million which works out to 2% of their revenues.
Wipro is known for complying with all applicable environmental regulations. Their Natural Capital Valuation Exercise to gauge
global operational footprint and upstream value chain impacts from business travel, fuel and energy-related activities.
● Energy: Their green building design, rigorous execution of energy-efficient technologies and renewable energy have
led to the use of 40% of electricity from renewable energy sources, only to have doubled in the last 5 years. Their
server rationalization and virtualization program since 2007 has contributed energy savings of approximately 20
million units.
● Emissions: They have reduced global people-based emissions intensity by 14% which is 1.2 tons per person per
annum. In 2017-18, they registered a 5.5% reduction in air travel footprint. The carpooling initiative has led to a
cumulative saving of 916 tons of CO2 since inception. Wipro was one of the earliest organisations to have Science-
based targets (a global initiative that calibrates organizational targets in line with the Paris Agreement) for a
reduction in carbon intensity and emission still 2050. Wipro also became the first Indian major business to join EV 100
 initiative- a global initiative launched by The Climate Group that addresses the issue of transport sector being the
highest contributor to greenhouse gases.
● Water: Their efficiency of water use has been improving at 6% on a compounded annual basis over the last 5 years.
Nearly 42% of their freshwater requirements are met through high-grade treatment and recycling. At an aggregate
level, these initiatives translate into savings of nearly 1400 mn litres of fresh water per annum. There was an 11.5%
reduction in per employee water consumption. This was possible due to the installation of aerators, waterless urinals,
water metering, water reuse, nanofiltration, rain water harvesting and employee participation. Their initiative
“Participatory Community Water Project” in Sarjapur, Bangalore has been.
● Waste Management: Their waste management strategies include regular monitoring of air, water and noise levels to
operate within regulatory norms, reducing materials impact, recycling and arranging for safe disposal or treatment. It
further involves separation, recycling, waste management audits, partnering with vendors. All their campuses in India
segregate, track and manage more than 30+ subcategories of waste. Close to 90% of the total waste from India is
recycled through both, in-house recycling units and through authorized vendor tie-ups. 65% of their total mixed solid
waste is recycled and the rest is sent to landfills. 100% of their e-waste is recycled by approved vendors. The Hasiru
Dala Project convened by Wipro in Bangalore not only seeks to address waste management but also organize and skill
waste workers.
● Biodiversity: Their urban biodiversity program addresses the twin aims of creating biodiversity in their urban
campuses while also using it as a platform for wider employee education and advocacy. Their goals are to convert five
of their existing campuses to biodiversity zones and to design all their new campuses on biodiversity principles. Their
first project in biodiversity was the unique Butterfly Park and wetland biodiversity zone that uses recycled water at
the Electronic City campus in Bangalore.

Moving forward - The solutions

Sustainability is not only about measuring and acting on the present consumption of resources. It comes with the responsibility
of safeguarding and replenishing resources for future generations.
Although Wipro has been the torchbearer for most companies to accomplish sustainability goals a lot more is left to be desired.
Education and Environment are two critical areas of focus globally. The following actions can further boost Wipro’s goals:

1. Adoption of schools in the neediest and remote areas of the country. Wipro has both the intent and resources to
bring in the expertise to foster quality education to the most under-resourced.
2. Wipro can partner with government schools to provide infrastructure and impart curriculum in collaboration with
KIPP schools, USA.
3. In partnership with NSIC and other governmental organisations- career and technical skills can be facilitated to
students from North-East right from the secondary level of schooling as it has the highest drop-out per cent at this
level.
4. India being a thriving ground for startups, Wipro can initiate a program similar to Earthian to involve the brightest
youth to bring about change.
5. It can encourage employees to work from home every now and then as studies show that this measure not only
improves productivity but also helps reduce organizational footprint by reducing the number of cars on the road and
utilization of office resources.
6. Wipro can partner with environmental NGOs like Greenpeace and WWF to find scalable solutions and prototype new
approaches to address issues like deforestation and water scarcity in our country.
7. It can also provide financial, skills, knowledge and network support to entrepreneurs who are trying to develop
technologies for a sustainable and cleaner future.
8. Since it has now been proven that meat consumption contributes to carbon footprint, introducing meat-free days
once or twice a week will raise awareness of the employees making them more conscious of their personal habits and
choices.

Submitted by,
Alekhya Gampa VS001902
Aparna Ghosh VS001909
Sarmista Patra VS001942
Saumya Singh VS001943