Message from the Head of the Centre

Going "green"

In the business context 'Going Green' means reducing, minimising or reversing the negative impact of business activities on the Earth and its resources.

With unstable fuel prices, contracting profits, rising emission levels, and visible impacts of climate change, companies are transiting from the business as usual approach to sustainable and eco-friendly business practices. Successes of companies over medium to long term provide evidence of substantial gains to businesses by adopting sustainability principles into corporate strategy & business operations.

Companies from diverse sectors such as auto, chemicals, ICT, energy, infrastructure, and retail are embracing environment practices that include reducing material consumption, cutting on conventional energy use and using alternative fuels, engaging employees on energy conservation, re-cycling or reusing water & wastes, green buildings, and greening supply chain.

Although implementing 'green' practices demands initial investments in terms of time and resources, benefits are derived over long term. Some of these benefits to businesses are reduced operating costs, minimised future risks & liabilities and an improved public image. Beyond these operational benefits, environment responsibility also makes an excellent business sense. It helps explore new and lucrative markets to strengthen their branding and consumer confidence in their portfolio.



Sustainability Business Trends Update

Green Procurement

Environmentally responsible, sustainable or "green" procurement is the selection of products and services that minimize environmental impacts.

Corporate procurement departments are the untapped sources of environmental value in companies. With increased environmental awareness; managers are integrating environmental, health, and safety concerns into their strategic sourcing. Companies are recognizing that their wastes, emissions, and environmental risks are often directly linked to the quantity and quality of the goods and raw materials it procures.

This has resulted in the increased growth of suppliers recognizing that the environmental quality of their products provides them with competitive advantage in courting and maintaining beneficial relationships with corporate customers. While poor environmental performance products can just as easily put them at a disadvantage. Environmental managers in leading companies are teaming with their procurement departments to leverage their efforts to green their supply-chain.

Employees also have the responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of the employer by promoting and following green procurement practices through obtaining environmentally responsible goods and services - waste, resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions gets reduced; which in turn, decreases the risk to the environment and to human health. Acquiring environmentally responsible products & supplies and adapting to pollution prevention criteria are good initiatives to advance sound environmental management for the operations.

Implementing environmental procurement requires an initial investment of time and effort, but pays lasting dividends in terms of reduced product life-cycle cost, cost efficiency, and minimized environmental risk.

The CII-ITC Centre of Excellence is developing Green Public Procurement guidelines for the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. The purpose of the project would be to develop green procurement guidelines and build capacity of key stakeholder constituencies to assist them in formulating, implementing, and / or enforcing green procurement policy at the national and sub - national levels.