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<ul><li>HUL has facilitated environmentally <keyword id="2335463" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="safe-disposal">safe disposal</keyword> of more than 1.2 lakh tons of post-consumer-use plastic waste since 2018. </li><li>HUL has partnered with various organisations for the collection of plastic waste.</li></ul>Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) today announced that from 2021 onwards it will collect and process more plastic packaging waste than the plastic in packaging used by it. The company will enable processing of over 1 lakh tons of post-consumer plastic waste through collection from all of the states and Union Territories. Since 2018, HUL has facilitated environmentally safe disposal of more than 1.2 lakh tons of post-consumer-use plastic waste. In 2020, despite the Covid pandemic, the Company stepped up its efforts in the reduction of plastic waste. This has been made possible through investment and partnerships to improve the waste management infrastructure in over 100 towns across India. HUL has partnered with various organisations for the collection of plastic waste including Saahas, Carpe, Recykal, Planet Savers, RaddiConnect, Geoycle, Ramky Enviro. Through its partners and with support from Municipal Corporations, the Company has reached out to housing societies and commercial establishments to improve the collection of plastic waste. The Company is also working in partnership with the <keyword id="162448" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="United-Nations-Development-Programme">United Nations Development Programme</keyword> (UNDP) and the international organization Xynteo. Through these partnerships, material recovery facilities have been set up in Mumbai to demonstrate the feasibility of inclusive end-to-end waste management solutions. Apart from this, the Education Department of Maharashtra, HUL and Xynteo have rolled out a digital school curriculum focused on the importance of segregation, collection and safe disposal of waste. The programme reached nearly one lakh children in Maharashtra during its pilot last year and is currently being scaled across the state. Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL, said, “Our vision is one where key stakeholders work together to ensure that plastic stays in the economy and out of the environment. As a responsible company, we are committed to playing our part. We believe that this is a collective responsibility, and each stakeholder needs to play an active role in managing plastic waste to fulfil the vision of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.“ Willem Uijen, Executive Director Supply Chain, HUL, explained, “This is in line with the commitment we have made for a circular economy. We have taken a head start on implementing the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework for plastic waste management. HUL has also developed an ecosystem of partners enabling the collection and safe processing of plastic packaging waste. We have now scaled up our joint efforts to collect more plastic packaging waste than our total plastics footprint, four years ahead of what we previously thought was possible.” Natasha Zarine, CEO of CARPE (Centre for Applied Research and People’s Engagement) said, “With HUL's support we have carried out disposal of large quantities of plastic waste since 2018 in a safe and environment friendly manner. The partnership has also helped positively impact the lives of workers involved in waste collection. HUL has been the pioneer in implementing EPR in India and their support has helped our start-up grow and expand into new territories. This helped us to work towards our national ambition of Swachh Bharat”.

HUL aims to achieve 100% plastic waste collection this year

<ul><li>Last week, <keyword id="178761" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hindustan-Unilever-Limited">Hindustan Unilever Limited</keyword> (HUL) launched its first in-store vending machine model, <keyword id="11605454" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-fill-machine">Smart Fill machine</keyword>, for its Home Care products with the aim to reuse, reduce and recycle plastic.</li><li>We talk to Prabha Narsimhan – Executive Director (Home Care) for Hindustan Unilever and Vice President (Home Care) for Unilever South Asia about the company's latest sustainable projects, how HUL has been focusing on becoming a sustainable company at a larger level, and future goals.</li></ul>Earlier this year, Hindustan Unilever Limited had announced that it would collect and process more plastic packaging waste than what it uses in a bid to achieve 100% plastic waste collection by the end of 2021. HUL has taken one more step forward towards sustainability and achieving this plastic waste neutrality goal. The FMCG giant has launched an in-store vending machine model, Smart Fill machine, for its Home Care products. It allows consumers to reuse and recycle plastic. According to Terrin.org, around <a href="https://www.teriin.org/sites/default/files/files/factsheet.pdf">43%</a> of manufactured plastic in India is used for packaging purposes, and is mostly single-use plastic. India produces an estimated 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, which is likely to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. With this growing concern around plastic pollution generated by companies, more and more brands are realising the importance of becoming sustainable and relooking at their packaging strategy. The ban on single-use plastic has also further pushed manufacturers to look at green alternatives. So, to do its bit for the environment and undo some of the damage caused by plastic, HUL’s Smart Fill machine will allow its consumers to reuse their plastic bottles by refilling products from its brands like Surf Excel, Comfort and Vim, to begin with. <div type="Youtube" id="Bkjlj6S5c5E" title="HUL‘s ‘Smart Fill’ machine empowers consumers to reduce plastic waste" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bkjlj6S5c5E/mqdefault.jpg"></div> The vending machine has been installed at Reliance Smart Acme Mall in Mumbai and the project is currently in pilot stage. Sharing how HUL is slashing its product prices to nudge consumers to switch, Prabha Narsimhan – Executive Director (Home Care) for Hindustan Unilever and Vice President (Home Care) for Unilever South Asia said, “As an incentive, consumers are being offered Rs 30 off on the MRP or effective price at the store if they get their own bottle and Rs 15 off to those who purchase the Smart Fill bottle. The flagship brands that consumers can avail these benefits on include Surf Excel liquid for Top Load and Front Load washing machines; Comfort Fabric Conditioner and Vim Dishwash Liquid Gel.” The COVID-19 pandemic has added a safety dimension to sustainability that consumers and organisations must now balance. However, for HUL, the timing couldn’t be more perfect to launch this pilot. Sharing why, Narsimhan said, “COVID-19 in general has been difficult for businesses and brands across sectors. After most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, we have continued our on-ground efforts with health guidelines in place, for elimination of plastic litter. All our plastic waste collection partners mobilized their resources to minimize disruption without risking the health of their staff members and partners. In fact, COVID has improved our focus on responsible disposal of waste, which is why we feel it is a good time to start this pilot.” After gauging the response at Reliance Smart, the project will be implemented across the country. Narsimhan said, “We believe that upstream interventions such as shifting from single use towards re-use and refill models can be one of the most impactful solutions to plastic waste from an environmental, economic, and social perspective. This project will serve as an ideal pilot to gather learnings and use them to replicate it across the state and the country. Given that this is our first initiative, we have partnered with Reliance. In fact, we had partnered with Reliance Smart across 3 cities, in 2019 to carry out an awareness drive amongst customers on the importance of segregation of waste at the household level for effective waste management. Continuing with our shared vision to manage plastic waste, we have collaborated with Reliance Smart for this pilot project as well. We are hopeful that through our awareness building exercises, we will be able to ensure mass behavioral change in the consumers regarding the role that they can play in curbing this menace. We aim to use learnings from this pilot project in Mumbai to create a scalable refill business model in partnership with prominent retailers and modern trade outlets.” To further promote the cause and get more consumers to visit the mart, HUL has partnered with influencers in the vicinity. Narsimhan shared the marketing plan with us. She said, “One of the key aspects to draw visibility to the vending machine is in-store branding. Our effort would be to make sure that as more and more consumers visit and experience this model, they will be able to help us spread the awareness through word-of-mouth, which we plan to amplify further. We have also tied-up with a few influencers in the catchment areas around the store that will help us create surround sound around the Smart Fill. As the initiative scales up further, we will look at a more broad-based digital campaign that will help us further spread the message across consumers.” Millennials and GenZ today are much more conscious of the brands they choose. Their choice usually depends on how much of an effort a brand is making towards helping the environment and society at large. While Narsimhan agreed that young people are more likely to be the first adopters of refilling, HUL is trying to target all age groups. She said, “Millennials and Gen Zs are by far one of the most conscious consumers we have witnessed in the last two decades. Born in a digital age, this generation is socially aware, more health-conscious and understands the impact of their actions on the environment. All our sustainable interventions are designed to not just cater to their sensibilities, but towards the larger goal of driving real, on-ground impact that is accessible. As for the ‘Smart Fill’ project, we are catering to consumers across demographics including Millennials and Gen Zs. Since Reliance Smart is a retail outlet that garners footfalls across age groups; we intend to bolster awareness and empower our consumers to make smarter decisions when it comes to the issue of plastic waste generation.” But this isn’t the only sustainable effort that the FMCG giant has taken in this year. Walking us through the past action-filled 6 months, Narsimhan shared, “We have substituted commodity polymers with performance-based polymers, optimized the packaging designs and changed the packaging formats of our products to consume less plastic. For example: Pond’s Talc was recognized at the 24th DuPont Global Packaging Award for reducing packaging through innovation. We have developed coating technology to replace the polymer coating in our soap cartons. Our soap bar range cartons in skin cleansing are plastics free. We have started migrating to recyclable flexibles across our portfolio starting with pilots in few brands like soap wrapper of Lux and Lifebuoy, Sunsilk shampoo sachets and Pond’s tubes. We have also started using rPET (80% recycled PET) in our blister packs for personal care brands such as Pepsodent toothbrush, Vaseline lip care. We have launched Vim liquid bottles having 50% rPET. We have initiated use of rHDPE (25% recycled HDPE) in our personal care bottles like Tresemme, Sunsilk, Surf Excel Laundry liquid and Comfort fabric conditioner.” Brands play a huge role in bringing about change in society and Narsimhan said that brands should use that to empower consumers to make better choices. She said, “Consumers relate to brands that resonate with their own way of thinking. Brands that don’t just advocate such ideas but put them into measurable, result-oriented action. Therefore, brands can and must play their part in empowering consumers to make sustainable choices. And one of the key aspects of this empowerment journey is by offering choices that are accessible and hassle-free. With our plastic waste collection initiative and now the refill machine, we are encouraging and empowering our consumers to be a part of this solution. These small changes that consumers make on a day-to-day basis can lead to a sizable impact overall.” When it comes to sustainability, we often hear the three popular R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in every marketing campaign. Many companies have promoted only recycle and reuse. However, reduce hits at consumption. As a result, HUL has also formulated long-term goals to focus on reduction of plastic. It has committed that by 2025 100% of the company’s plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable and halving use of virgin plastic by reducing the absolute use of plastic packaging and accelerating use of recycled plastic. Shedding some light on HUL’s larger sustainability efforts and vision, Narsimhan said, “We are committed to accelerating a transition to a circular economy, moving from the linear take-make-dispose model to a regenerative approach, which keeps materials at their highest value for as long as possible. We recently announced that from 2021 onwards, we will collect and facilitate environment-friendly processing of more plastic packaging waste than the plastic we use in our packaging. Since 2018, we have facilitated safe disposal of more than 1.5 lakh tons of post-consumer use plastic waste with the help of collection and disposal partners across India. We are also working closely with the government and other partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Xynteo for end-to-end pilot projects for plastic waste management. Apart from this, the Education Department of Maharashtra, HUL and Xynteo have rolled out a digital school curriculum focused on the importance of segregation, collection and safe disposal of waste. The programme reached nearly one lakh children in Maharashtra during its pilot last year and is currently being scaled across the state.”

Hindustan Unilever Limited’s Prabha Narsimhan shares latest steps that the company has taken towards sustainability to achieve its goal of 100% plastic waste collection by the end of 2021

Let's not waste time discussing the superficial policies and motives behind <keyword id="6607915" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="environment-friendly">environment-friendly</keyword> business policies of the big companies as they are doing it for their own sake. Companies such as <keyword id="44863" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="HUL">HUL</keyword>, <keyword id="47120" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="PG">P&amp;G</keyword> and <keyword id="54572" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="PepsiCo">PepsiCo</keyword> are transforming business processes, factories, sourcing practices, packaging and distribution offices, etc., to counter rising costs, mitigate risks and, basically, save themselves not the planet. 
 Yes, a solid <keyword id="6354502" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CSR">CSR</keyword> record looks fantastic on paper. It sounds even better when weaved into the chairman's speech, at HQs or at Davos, where arctic meltdowns had taken a backseat to those of the financial kind, according to an Economic Times report. 
	 

	So what are the reasons behind it? We should remember that at the end of an increasingly warmer day, companies have a business to run, employees to pay and stakeholders to answer too. And one would also agree that CEOs will always put quarterly financial reports before climate destabilisation reports. 
	 

	Indeed, making the case for more businesses across the spectrum to adopt sustainable practices is the fact that securing the Earth's future and the company's bottom line, is one and the same thing. Priya Nair, executive director — home care, HUL, said, "As organisations realise this is about business and not just social responsibility then it becomes the heart of brand management, innovation and business processes." 
	 

	Now read how the big companies have made profits! Since 2008, Unilever has avoided factory costs of over 400 million by reducing its environmental impact. The <keyword id="34523" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="fmcg">FMCG</keyword> major's competition, P&amp;G's Waste to Worth program has successfully found uses for tons of material that was previously sent to landfills; and in the process has created nearly $2 billion in value for the company through cost savings and revenue generation. For instance, in Mexico, waste from the production of Charmin toilet tissue is recycled and used to make roofing tiles. In India, P&amp;G's Mandideep site uses scrap material to build partitions for low cost housing. 
	 

	"Through this process we are able to diverge 3000 tons of waste per year away from landfill and convert our waste into a product with value," says a P&amp;G spokesperson. On the packaging front, a seemingly insignificant tweak on <keyword id="113080" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Olay">Olay</keyword> Total Effects bottlepump design saved the company 800,000 tons of plastic a year. Since 2007, P&amp;G has reduced packaging by 7% per consumer use; the goal is a reduction of 20% by 2020. PepsiCo's saved over 1,000 metric tonnes of PET in 2013 through innovations in its packaging sustainability efforts. 
	 
	
		Of the 130 Heineken breweries across the world, 23 are located in water scarce areas, some in Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Indonesia and Spain. Bringing the environment dimension closer to the organisational goals in various ways includes building solar breweries and sustainable water sources. 
		 
	
		As Heineken's director global sustainable development, Michael Dickstein observes, "It is not just about eco-efficiency or risk mitigation but also about business opportunity." 
		 
	
		In the last couple of years, Heineken has saved around 75 million through its eco-efficiency programs. At the Nyongera brewery in Burundi 100% of product raw materials are locally sourced. Also the brewer has the highest percentage of returnables from production. And in partnership with local farms, the residuals from the brewing process goes into cattle feed as it is rich in nutrients. "We are making sure the shifts are not revolutionary but rather evolutionary in order to keep in balance the profit base i.e. the famous triangle of people, planet, profit," says Dickstein. 
		 
	
		The tectonic shifts in the way consumers perceive the role of brands today, have also quickened the pace of transformation. A recent study by McCann Worldgroup indicated that 85% of consumers believe that global brands have the power to make the world a better place. 84% said their ability to effect positive change is higher than that of governments. 
		 
	
		For Indian conglomerate ITC, present in categories from foods to hospitality, sustainability efforts focus on two specific areas — the creation of sustainable livelihoods and environmental replenishment. 
		 
	
		India is home to 17% of the world population, but has only 2.4% of its land mass, 4% of the planet's water resources, and 1% of global forest resources. And one-third of the global poor live in India. 
		 
	
		Pradeep Dhobale, executive director, ITC, asserted, "Globally, the key challenges that are of immense concern are poverty, social inequity and environmental degradation. India mirrors these challenges. Therefore, it is critically important to find ways of replenishing the environment and addressing the threat of climate change that makes rural societies even more vulnerable. ITC's sustainability strategy focuses on Triple Bottom Line performance that builds and enriches the country's economic, environmental and societal capital." 
		 
	
		Documentaries on disappearing glaciers, homeless mammals, deadly droughts, depleting ozone and a world on precipice of disaster just might get people to put their empty Evian bottles in the right trash can or even set up compost pits in the backyard. But it's never enough to push companies, big and small, and governments, to tackle environmental and climate change with any degree of urgency. However, the fact that going green will lead to better growth just might do the trick. 
		 
		(Image: Indiatimes)

Companies like HUL, P&G & PepsiCo going green for their own sake

In the second part of his interview to the <keyword id="6364480" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Chairman">Chairman</keyword> of <keyword id="188563" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-Council">Indian Council</keyword> of Competitiveness, <keyword id="209438" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Amit-Kapoor">Amit Kapoor</keyword>, global thinker and Founder and <keyword id="2540" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="President">President</keyword> of Enterprise for a Sustainable World, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping businesses make the transition to sustainability, <keyword id="49090" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Stuart-Hart">Stuart Hart</keyword> talks about how Indian <keyword id="134585" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Micro-Finance">micro finance</keyword> institutions can work towards cleaning their negative image. 
 
 
How do you think the negative air around micro <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword> can get resolved? Are other financial mechanisms going to evolve for helping new entrepreneurs? Micro-financiers who are promotional in character have now overreached and have created some negative air about them and in some cases have become extractive by charging useless rates. So, you get a push back on micro finance rates as there would always be players who would abuse the opportunity. But that does not undermine the importance of micro finance overall. It’s enormously important in building the craft businesses of the world. Micro finance is not a vehicle for building the promotional businesses of the future. That requires a different type of financing. India does not have the traditional venture capitalist structure as in the US. The traditional structure of VC in US does not do a good job of <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> the kind of BOP sustainable enterprises that we are after. 
 These kinds of enterprises require time on the ground, capacity building, partnering and trust building in order to develop a viable value proposition. The traditional VC model out of California or <keyword id="6368596" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="boston">Boston</keyword> does not factor in the pioneer gap time. That VC model has a much shorter time clock and many of them have been involved in several ventures. The traditional VC does not have the patience to wait for 3-4 years for creation of a trust based value proposition in business model. 
 
So, what we are seeing is the beginning of impact investing and I would say India is the epicenter of impact investing. The impact investing space is now like the Wild West in that it’s the whole spectrum, people who would ideologically think that in order to get the investment we need in social businesses we have to eliminate the capitalistic incentive. We have this whole new innovative financing space where you have financers playing with different models and it is not clear which one of them work the best. In order to promote tomorrow’s sustainable BOP promotional enterprises there has to be market returns that are not going to trap the investment capital you need to create the scale necessary to build the impact. There is not enough philanthropy capital in the world, there is some, to do social businesses, but there isn’t enough to get to the level of investment that we are going to need for the impact or the transformation that we want. 
 
I think we have to figure out how we can have the market returns and at the same time lift the poor, generate opportunities, build capacity, generate livelihoods, make market returns, and leap frog to the future technologically. That’s when I will call the BOP enterprise, green leap. That’s where the big opportunity lies in the next decade. It is relatively easy to start small local enterprises with 0-return on capital. The thing that takes the most creativity is how do you simultaneously converge disruptive leap frog technologies and inclusive business models that lift the poor and generate market returns at the same time. 
 
How do you react to people who are in the business of exploiting the poor? It would be a clinically correct statement to say that if your job is to provide aid and there is less and less need for aid then fewer people are going to work in that space so that there may be perverse incentives built into that system. If you flip it over and look at it from an <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</keyword>’s lens then the reverse is true. From a business point of view it’s in the business person’s interest to make more and more people less poor because then you can migrate people up the <keyword id="1195806" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="value-chain">value chain</keyword> further. Not only you can expand business opportunity but they also become prospective customers for a broader range of products and some would be considered up-market over time. The only way that happens is to alleviate their income levels. 
 
How does capitalism look at its future? There are people who would look at the institutions of capitalism. If we look in to the future 50 years hence, the population growth would have been stabilized and we would be living in a world of stable/ declining population. We would be living within nature’s budget meaning we cannot take the natural capital more than nature generates. And we can’t put more waste back into the system than nature can absorb. There are certain systems/ conditions that suggest that the current model to understand growth cannot continue. Hence I see the capitalistic motivation, which is to achieve competitive advantage, to search for growth and profit opportunities, actually can be trend to an advantage, which can help us move up toward that more sustainable world looking out 30-40-50 years. We can use the current capitalistic motivation to get to tomorrow’s technology and business models. We have immediate need to transform to more environmental sustainable technology that’s innovation <keyword id="107737" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Entrepreneurship">entrepreneurship</keyword> opportunity. Over the next 2-3-4 decades, if we look at it through right set of glasses the current incentives of capitalist system would lead to a more sustainable world because there is an entrepreneurial opportunity to leap frog to environmentally sustainable technology and to grow by serving the other because that’s really the only place where growth remains. We can continue to grow and sell high end products to rich people and that becomes a more increasing competitive space. In order to be successful purely at the top of the pyramid is really tough but when it comes to the base of the income pyramid that’s still relatively unoccupied space. If it does not happen through entrepreneurship then it would happen through the club of government eventually which is bad for the world if it is just government swinging the club. So, I actually see the entrepreneurial process over the next 20 years as one of the important <keyword id="382268" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="leverage">leverage</keyword> points to getting the world to say 2040-2050 where we have stabilized human population, where we are living within the natural capital budget. 
 
How would governments have to transform themselves to enable the kind of idea that you are saying? 
The travel lines that I see suggest to me that the current character of political organizations is not sustainable either. We have now had 300 plus nation states as a part of the dominant political organizations and I think the whole concept of nation states may be out, just like the concept of 19th century industrial capitalism. We would probably have to adapt and change in the coming years. I think the mind of political organization would also have to shift. If you look at what is going on in the world, most of the innovative public policy happening in the government is happening at the local level, i.e. cities/ mayors who are the real political innovators. Innovative thinking is also happening at the global level where problems are trans-boundary that they don’t respect national boundaries. So, we are going to need innovative solutions that require global collaboration. At the other end of the spectrum it is being more embedded in the communities and that is local government who are the mayors that making it happen at the local level on the ground. In some sense nation states are stuck in <keyword id="1009187" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="the-middle">the middle</keyword> they really don’t do a good job of either one of those things. 
 
What do you think would be the best example of your work that has created a transformation on ground? The entire thing looks like a puzzle where we do not know the pieces of the puzzle. This evidence can be seen in both corporations and entrepreneurial ventures. If I look at <keyword id="44863" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="HUL">HUL</keyword> – the Shakti program has the elements of the puzzle pieces but not the whole puzzle. For example a Chinese company “Ching La Stoller” is a very interesting company sprung out of <keyword id="2767432" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Chenla-University">Chenla University</keyword>. They have innovated glass vacuum tube solar hot technology. Most of the solar hot water market today uses flat panel solar, the cost is coming down but still typically beyond the reach of most people. It has created this technology for Jet for making hot water using glass vacuum tubes. So, it’s very inexpensive and sustainable from a materials point of view. It’s basically glass vacuum tubes stuck into a water tank and they heat the water. It’s extremely good at collecting the sun’s energy and heat. There is a notion that green products are for the rich people which is a huge mistake. So they tried to market in the high end markets of <keyword id="6368000" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Shanghai">Shanghai</keyword> and <keyword id="1333" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Beijing">Beijing</keyword>. The product completely failed as those people already had hot water. So, they went out to the towns and the rural areas, outside of the big cities, in central and western China and they discovered enormous demand where people had only periodic access to hot water. They had to adopt the technology and product and create a different business model which included the local people. So, they had to transform the design of the artifact itself and then create inclusive financing mechanism of business model that employed local people and sales and service. It took some time but they eventually figured out that this is really the growth engine. Over the last decade this glass vacuum tube solar water hot system has become a billion dollar industry. It has grown from the bottom up and is growing 60% a year just in China. So, the technology started first in the underserved space, leap frog and then inherently went global. The inclusive business model provides livelihoods; functionality local people did not have before, and is highly profitable all at the same time. I see this company as offering many of the puzzle pieces for the future of sustainable entrepreneurship and is a leverage point for getting us out of the trap that we are in.

Thinkers/Thinkers 50: Microfinance institutions should stop charging useless rates to become attractive says Stuart Hart

<ul><li>After the global pandemic, <keyword id="49089" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sustainability" source="Orion">sustainability</keyword> and health seem to have become important factors for consumers.</li><li>According to Capgemini’s recent report, consumers engage more readily with brands and retailers that they perceive to be sustainable and genuinely committed to green practices.</li><li>The report found that 48% of consumers share an emotional connection with products or organizations that demonstrate eco-friendly qualities.</li><li>As we move forward this year and health concerns and sustainability continue influencing consumer decisions, we speak to brands, research and design agencies about how brands can integrate sustainability into their core values and move beyond mere lip-service.</li></ul>It might be a new year but the world continues to grapple with familiar challenges and threats: we are on the verge of entering the third wave of COVID-19, the country’s capital, New Delhi is currently facing alarmingly high levels of indoor air pollution and Uttarakhand's forest fires emitted nearly 0.2 megatonnes of carbon in the past one month, a record since 2003 (CAMS report). So 2022 will clearly be a busy year for brands as consumers get more serious about climate change and expect brands to increase their focus on living sustainably in harmony with nature. While businesses exist to make money, Manish Chowdhary, Co-CEO, Body Cupid Pvt Limited says that there are two ways to do that. He explained, “One is sustainable, by keeping other living and non-living things in mind. The other one is inspired by greed. So no matter how small a brand’s effort may be, it has to be aligned with sustainability if the brand wants to continue in the long run. Brands exist for consumers and it is important that we listen to what they want.” From driving workforce diversity to taking a stand on climate change, there’s a definite change that has taken place in consumer expectations. In the last few years, sustainability has become one of the biggest decision-making factors for consumers, and more so after the pandemic. They have realised that mother earth has suffered enough. In this digital world, consumers are demanding more transparency and are quick to call out greenwashing. They are expecting to see concrete actions. And as Chowdhary said, it has become imperative for brands to listen to what consumers want because they exist to serve consumers. Today’s consumers are not only pivoting towards more sustainable products but are also willing to pay a premium for them. Gen Z and Millennials lead all other age groups in this respect. When shopping for groceries, 72% of Gen Z and 66% of Millennials say they are willing to pay more for organic foods and in fact, did so the last time they were grocery shopping, compared to 56% of Boomers, found Capgemini. Its recent report said that 80% of consumers want to contribute to the fight to save the planet for future generations. And it is not just a phase. 70% of consumers agreed that post-pandemic, they will be more careful in terms of maintaining and protecting their personal health. Covid has only reminded us that there is a long way to go on sustainability. On how the pandemic has altered consumer behaviour, Lulu Raghavan, Managing Director, Landor and Fitch said, “The pandemic has fundamentally shifted consumer behaviour. An IBM study shows that 93% of consumers have changed their views on sustainability after the pandemic. This is totally understandable. The horrid virus which came out of nowhere has ravaged lives, ruined livelihoods. The only silver lining is that it has woken us up to the paramount importance of our own health and wellbeing and that of our Mother Earth. Sustainability is now a definitive transformative force that will upend existing industries and create new ones. If digital transformation was the buzzword in corporate boardrooms, ECG will take centre stage in the coming decade.” But what exactly is a sustainable brand? Ashwini Deshpande, Co-Founder and Director, Elephant Design defines it as, “A brand that values ethical sourcing and supply chains, is inclusive, and follows environment-friendly processes and materials while staying viable for its stakeholders is qualified to be labelled as a sustainable brand.” Kartik Johari, VP, Marketing &amp; Commerce, Nobel Hygiene believes that in the coming months, people will start to question what is sustainable and what is not along with how we can continue to reduce our carbon footprint across all aspects of our lives. He said, “Consumers at the end of it are people and they expect what is good. The ‘brand promise’ is essential to them. Now, alongside they are also making space for the environment due to excellent work by activists and journalists around the world. You will remember, for example, that riveting photo of a straw stuck in a turtle's nose. How many millions of turtles have we lost to this? Yet it took just that one photo to break through the global psyche. Now straws are the Number One environmental enemy. But this does not mean the onus should be entirely on people to choose better! Companies have to improve their offering. And that is correct for consumers to expect. Moreover, important to note, there are some 50 or 60 companies in the world, which are responsible for majority of emissions. Strong regulations on them can solve what collectively 500 million people may have to do. But who’s going to bell the cat? As Mr Musk rightly has been saying that, give the solar industry the same amount of subsidies, for a year, that you give to oil and gas, and see the amount of transformative change it brings! The onus cannot be on that one little end consumer and their war to save their environment.” During the pandemic, brands like WOW Skin Science, Diageo and Dettol launched eco-friendly packaging to test the waters, indicating that more brands in India have started reevaluating their packaging strategy to put the environment first. Big FMCG companies such as Marico, HUL, Nestle India, Future Consumer, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-co, Parle Agro also announced in 2020 that they will move to 100% recyclable packaging by 2025 helping towards a sustainable future. Joining the bandwagon, the Indian Government has also started its efforts towards reducing our country’s carbon footprint. Currently, India is the world’s third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, after the US and China. According to an Assocham and PwC report, landfills are brimming with so much urban waste that by 2050, India is reportedly going to need a landfill that's the size of its capital, New Delhi. And consumers aren’t ignoring these horrifying numbers anymore. Elysha Young, Trends Manager, Mintel APAC said, "India’s Prime Minister has pledged it will reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, backed by aggressive 2030 targets. By laying the groundwork in the form of policies, India is signaling that it is open and willing to support innovation around sustainability, and indeed that carbon-emitting industries will no longer be tolerated. This presents an opportunity for global companies looking to tap into India's vast population but also issues a challenge to foreign and domestic companies to ensure they are cutting emissions throughout their value chain. It's in India's self-interest to stem global warming, with the nation of 1.3 billion people being one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The nature of the short-term targets means that action will need to be taken immediately, which will see a strong focus on renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, as well as the batteries needed to store such energy. Companies would do well to look at the emissions within their own value chains and determine where cuts can be made. Communicating these to consumers will help them to make choices that align with the national strategy; the opportunity exists to ensure consumers feel like they're also doing their bit." In 2022, brands that snooze will definitely lose More and more consumers are becoming aware of their choices and realising that whether it is a worn-out piece of mask they decide to throw or a sanitary napkin or even as simple as a plain t-shirt, never really goes ‘away.’ It all ends up in a landfill. Human activities are clearly harming the global environment and brands have no choice but to migrate to sustainable solutions and work towards building a circular economy. So, in 2022, if brands don’t switch, they lose consumers, investors, and all stakeholders. Chowdhary said, “At the industry level, there is nothing without sustainability. The consumers of today are conscious and aware. They know the choices they are making. So if companies &amp; brands do not opt for sustainable practices, eventually the smart consumers are going to make a switch. We can only expect the awareness to grow and actions to increase, especially with the challenges that our planet is facing today.” Anjali Malthankar, National Strategy Director, Tonic Worldwide sees sustainability as one of the big topics in 2022 – right from fashion, green products, green living to electric vehicles, every category will be touched by sustainability filter. She said, “If the brands have already not made sustainability part of their commitment in any form yet, it’s high time they join the eco-wakening movement. Consumers are already looking for some form of reassurance or the other from brands in terms of conscious behaviour, as consumers are at different stages of adoption – it is a mix of curious, concerned, and advocates. At the very least, they are looking to not feel guilty about consuming the brand. Conscious living, mindful living, Green living, purposeful living are all the buzz words in communications today. For brands it is inevitable to have sustainability as a larger goal.” It is not just the environment and consumers who benefit from eco-friendly practices, businesses with low carbon footprints are more likely to have a better brand image and can easily woo consumers. Deep Bajaj, CEO &amp; Co-Founder, Sirona Hygiene said, “Companies are realizing that being conscious of their environmental impact can benefit them in every manner possible. Consumers desire sustainability owing to the ailing earth. Companies that work to become more environmentally responsible, not only contribute to a better future, but also establish a progressive brand image, happier employees, and a loyal client base. Consumers are real people who are affected by real environmental issues on a daily basis. They are aware that it is no longer limited to textbooks and that industrial activities have a direct impact on their daily lives. As a result, what goes into the making of a product and what goes inside it is extremely important to them. Other than environmental consciousness, they expect transparency from brands.” While brands in India have already started taking baby steps towards converting their business into a sustainable choice for consumers, we will get to witness more demonstrable actions in 2022. And those who fail to prioritise mother earth, will have to face consumers’ wrath. Deshpande said, “The emerging consumer base of millennials &amp; Gen Z is not a forgiving lot when it comes to ethics or ecology being compromised by a brand. But others are not quite as aware and may base their decision only on factors like price or convenience above sustainability. There is no choice. It is a survival mandate for a brand to become sustainable. Otherwise, we will see every resource being depleted in the next few decades.” Kantar BrandZ data shows that brands with weak purpose grow 70% but brands with strong purpose grow 175%. At the same time, India is still a price-sensitive country and consumers stick to the convenience of buying what you are used to. So, on how brands can move beyond mere lip-service and greenwashing this year, Raghvan suggested, “Use innovation to develop products developed against that purpose. Embrace design thinking across the board. Embed a new mindset deeply in the culture and transform from within. Communicate and evangelise with consumers." In 2022, experts are confident that brands will embrace sustainability that will benefit people, planet and profit.

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