INDUSTRIAL

SUSTAINABILITY

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Approach to Integrated Sustainability -
Industrial Sustainability
Introduction

This report aims at finding out the meaning of industrial sustainability and problem faced while
implementing the sustainability targets. Additionally, this report assesses the catalyst for industr ia l
sustainability.

The Indian Industrial sector is diverse and comprises sectors as; Textile, Food Processing, Chemical,
Cement, Steel, Mining, Petroleum, etc. The industrial sector is increasing its footholds by large since the
consumption is increasing. Further our understanding of the negative impact of the industrial activity has
us reaching out to sustainability and it has found its way in top management agenda. This is also because,
in the current environment, competitive advantage is for the organizations that do more with less.
Profitable industrial sectors are incorporating sustainability in their business approach, model and
governance processes to capture growth opportunities, resource advantages, and cost savings.

“Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm; it’s

about doing more good”

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Measuring Sustainability & bottlenecks

Conventional measurement of Industrial Sustainability comprises of plant installation, building

operation, raw material input, manufacturing process, and final product output. In India, by far the
conventional ways of Industrial sustainability has been legally imparted or made applicable in a certain
set of industries identified as Orange, Red Category and further based on their built-up areas.
Such industries are required to take the NOC from the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate
Change apart from other government departments. Obtaining such NOCs require impact assessment in
the form of strategic environmental assessment, health impact assessment, and social impact assessment.
This does sound foolproof on document however it all succumbs down under a plethora of
documentation. Limited involvement of public and government agencies in the initial phases and no site
visits ensure that sustainability is more on the document rather than on-site.
Additionally, in the absence of alternative of EIA even the vigilant organization falls into a red-tape trap,
continuous meetings and incorporations without any being implement on-site. Hence it is mostly meeting
pollution control board norms, which is a generalized set of requirements rather than a thorough study of
the specific industry.
Thus, these bottlenecks are to be further tackled by defining new norms of measuring sustainability.

New Sustainability Approach

Environmentally Aware companies are leading by example, one of them demonstrated that approach to
their sustainability efforts and has five critical elements:
1. Designing a strategy, organization, and governance model that defines clear sustainability
ambitions and ensures they are achieved. – Ensuring sustainability reaches its board during the
conceptualization stage itself.
2. Reshaping supply chains to assure long-term, sustainable supply of resources – Ensuring that
sustainability becomes contagious. Vendors, stakeholders who shall be onboard for longer- ter m
shall have to incorporate sustainability in their preamble and further in process.
3. Rethinking operating and business models to enhance resource efficiency through innovative
approaches that consume and waste less of critical inputs such as water and energy. – Putting
energy and capital on alternatives.
4. Capturing growth opportunities by developing new sustainability-based products and value
propositions that support price premiums and adjacent growth. – Creating a vertical of more
sustainable products through consumer and market-based research.
5. Measuring impact by defining and communicating metrics for corporate social responsibility. –
Defining the benchmark for CSR and subsequently improving by attrition for the years to come.

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Then other industrial sectors may not fall in a critical category of waste production and pollutio n
emission. Such industries have found out a way to penetrate the social structure of India and found out
areas that impact regional sustainability as a whole. One such company is Standard Chartered; WASHE
(Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Education) is the Bank’s approach to sustainability. It provides access
to water, sanitation facilities and education to adolescent girls in municipal schools and disadvanta ged
communities at large. This takes care of the social structure and in turn, contributes to a better society.

Hence new sustainability approach moves away from defining sustainability only in product design and
process technology. It is true though that process and raw input do define the types of pollutants emitted,
solid and hazardous wastes generated, resources harvested and energy consumed. But, in a business
environment, there are other factors such as exploitation of new markets for growth, the enhancement of
products to maintain demand, global sourcing to sustain margins, therefore, life cycle assessment is
unsustainable.

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The evolution of a new definition of ‘sustainability’ focuses on supply chains (SSCs), require a
fundamental shift to a holistic approach with a fundamental reassessment of the value and product
creation. Some of the new sustainability concepts have been analyzed and proposed by reformers such
as:

 the challenge of closed-loop supply chains (Guide et al., 2003)

 sustainable supply chains: an introduction (Linton et al., 2007)

 sustainability in the supply chain domain (Carter and Rogers, 2008)

 energy efficiency in supply chain and climate change (Halldorsson and Kovacs 2010).

These approaches bear considerable resemblance in the current industry scenario such as:

 Dependency between supply and consumption exist therefore without consumption being
sustainable production cannot be sustainable.

“Consume less; share better”

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  Management of inter-organization relationships is what falls flat on sustainability. One of the
departments in an organization strives for Green Building Certification while the other department
fails to recognize any such agencies.

 Replacing a traditional value proposition with a sustainable value proposition is hard to imple me nt
as suggested by Srivastava in his paper published in 2007. This is true because replacing a
successful business model on the pretext that the environment is being harmed is hard in
Industries.

 Fragmentation limits understanding. It is still unclear in most of the industries what sustainab le
implies. However, the approach is changing and by the way of recruitment and faculty training in
the existing organization this could be seen; the zeal of understanding sustainability.

 Limited number of economical and successful sustainable models.

Road Ahead!

Organizations have collaborated and intensive research led to leading companies starting by relying on
environmentally sustainable supply chain business models. It focusses on the management of informatio n
and interfaces between the customer, marketing, design, operations, logistics, and other external agents
of the entire supply network.

Then, there are development phases that focus on improvement in product durability and performance,
incorporation of external supply networks, the inclusion of the customer and the usage phase, as well as
activities to recover reuse and remanufacture the residual value through economies of scale. These steps
also generate a new vertical of employment. It would require suppliers to be able to provide the services
to support original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and third-party recovery specialists for reverse flows,
including end-of-life. Thus, a new industrial sustainable design approach has been structured. Direct
process implications of this revised approach are:

 Reduce waste during industrial processes.

 Yield improvements (less waste).

 Energy and material increased efficiency

 More recycling rate.

 Reduced virgin material extraction.

Finally, this approach requires a fundamental reassessment of how and where value is added, consumed,
and recovered involving product and manufacturing processes redesigning.

Additionally, the government incentives and the parallel government body and organizations like
GRIHA, LEED, etc. are making the path ahead for a new way of thinking sustainability. This does fall
under the COP21 Global tax agenda; further smoothens the sustainability path ahead.

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A fine example of Industrial Sustainability is the relationships among the firms comprising the
Kalundborg Eco-Industrial Park. It is the ideal case and inspiration to various industrial park around
the world. It involves the exchange material wastes, energy, water, and information.

Conclusion

According to the report ‘Go Green – The Mantra for Sustainable Living’ by ANAROCK; India is only
second to the USA in terms of the built-up area under green. Understanding the loophole of governme nt
body not been able to cooperate with the upcoming organization, business models and industries from
the conceptual stage; Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of
India, offers fast track environmental clearance for green building projects and sustainable projects.

Additionally, the government is pushing to encourage sustainable developments by monetizing the

incentives in terms of time and money (ie FAR). India has proposed incentives to the energy-intens ive
industrial sector or energy generation sector to install equipment to curb emissions and to develop
infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs). Still, there is a long road ahead; educating and reaching the
end-user is the mantra to functional and successful industrial sustainability.

LinkedIn URL:

www.linkedin.com/in/purva-saxena-18794217

Email ID:

purvasaxena953@gmail.com

Bibliography:

https://www.nap.edu/read/4982/chapter/10

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Sustainability-and-Triple-Bottom-Line-Performance-Mukatia-
Githii/187eb0ce67bb741070dcb285dc6d19a96a85df82

https://www.scirp.org/(S(czeh2tfqyw2orz553k1w0r45))/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=85040