Green is good

In her book, My Life in Full (2021), Ms Nooyi discusses

her "Performance with Purpose" vision
January 14, 2022 23:22 IST

Can businesses continue making profits if they prioritise environmental sustainability? Going
by some of the high-profile business books published in India recently, the answer is: Yes.

Narotam Sekhsaria, chairman of Ambuja Cements, believes that “environmental

consciousness” is good for the planet and for business. This mantra has had a “direct
beneficial impact on the bottom line”, and helped him command a premium price for his
cement. In his book, The Ambuja Story (2022), he remarks, “Even consumers feel happy
about buying from companies that are eco-friendly and run their business ethically.”

Using a mineral called fluorspar from the discarded industrial waste of a nearby unit of the
Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, his factory managed to lower the melting
temperature in the kiln. Mr Sekhsaria writes, “We were able to cut down fuel consumption by
three per cent. Cutting down electricity consumption by even a unit at the plant led to a
saving of rupees 20 lakh annually. And as our production grew, the savings multiplied.”

Cement factories are concerned about dust because it can cause equipment to malfunction,
leading to production delays and reputational risk. Mr Sekhsaria invested in dust control
equipment at a high cost. As a result, there were fewer breakdowns. This prolonged the life of
the cement plant. The dust-free environment gave him the confidence to plant a rose garden.

Indra Nooyi, former chairperson and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, was hit by the
realisation that “millennial women and men flooding into the workplace” would not choose
the company unless it “turned the corner on health and the environment.” PepsiCo then cut
down greenhouse gas emissions, adopted waterless bottle-washing techniques, incorporated
higher levels of recycled plastic in soda bottles, and published detailed sustainability reports.

In her book, My Life in Full (2021), Ms Nooyi discusses her “Performance with Purpose”
vision. She writes, “We needed to join the global effort to restore the health of the planet and
couldn’t wait any longer for more evidence on global warming. We had to be very open-
minded, seeking out and embracing completely new ideas for our business in these areas.”

Innovation helps companies figure out how to be profitable as well as environmentally

responsible. Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, believes that they should
do this because it is the right thing to do and not because a regulator might show up one day.
He also champions the circular economy in his book, Play Nice But Win (2021).

Apparently, he gave his engineers a challenge that they loved. It was about finding ways to
minimise the environmental impact of their products without increasing the cost for the
company. He writes, “With every single thing that we build, we think about how we can
make it so that it can be deconstructed and all the parts reused.” Dell has a jewellery designer
who makes rings, necklaces, and earrings from the gold in their printed circuit boards.
He adds, “Materials are a key source of innovation: recycling plastics and other materials
from old computers into new parts and identifying opportunities to use waste materials —
like ocean-bound plastics — resources that can be brought back into the economy.
Accelerating the shift to a circular economy benefits us, our suppliers, our customers, and the
world.”

Harsh Mariwala, founder and chairman of Marico, is another corporate leader who is serious
about sustainability. In his book, Harsh Realities (2021), he writes about a gradual shift from
fossil fuels to renewable energy, and efforts such as redesigning network routes, upsizing
vehicles, consolidating warehouses, and improving vehicle utilisation for fuel efficiency.

Since water availability is critical for the company, it has been helping with dam de-silting
projects to create additional storage capacity for rainwater. It is also involved in creating
check dams near its operating locations in order to improve water table levels and irrigation.
Marico’s water consumption is being offset by building farm ponds for local communities.

Mukund Rajan and Col Rajeev Kumar, who used to work for the Tata Group, and have co-
authored the book, Outlast: How ESG Can Benefit Your Business (2021), spotlight
Marico’s performance on environmental, social and governance metrics. The company
invests in safflower and coconut farmers through long-term contracts to reduce the risk of
supply shocks. It also trains them to strengthen agricultural productivity and multiply their
yields.

In her book, Watershed: How We Destroyed India’s Water and How We Can Save It
(2021), Mridula Ramesh, executive director of Sundaram Textiles, advises businesses to
include water in their core business strategy in addition to sustainability reports and corporate
social responsibility spending. Hopefully, businesses, starting with water, will embrace
resource optimisation on other fronts. Caring for the environment, and making key business
decisions in keeping with that agenda, seems to have translated well into commercial success
for many.