KPMG celebrated its 30th anniversary in India with its first awards for companies practicing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) as part of their corporate responsibility. The awards coincided with a conclave with the theme – Thought – Action – Impact.
Hindustan Unilever Limited – Consumer Market Sector and Cipla Limited’s Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Sector won first and second place in the composite ESG category.
Achieving impact through ESG requires calibrating short-term KPIs with a longer-term vision. It also requires navigating shareholders’ expectations by managing short-term pressures with maximizing longer-term opportunities. It’s never easy.
ESG is still nascent in India and the road to learning is long. Learning by doing things right, preferably the first time, is what leaders hope. Chances of them succeeding in this journey get higher if they have an enabling ecosystem, less-ambiguous regulations and a workforce that takes ownership of their actions.
Attracting ample domestic and global climate finance to implement ESG goals get better when companies’ strategies align with their sustainability goals. This requires leaders who can take people along a transparent route. Indian organizations are beginning to get the nuances of voluntary disclosures.
But there’s still some way to go to prevent many of them from resorting to greenwashing. How to prevent greenwashing will be a challenge for a few more years. Introducing traceability criteria into all products will help significantly.
Winners
Fifteen Awards were given to companies across seven key sectors.
Environment
- Hindalco Industries Limited – Industrial Manufacturing & Auto sector
- Godrej Properties Limited – Infrastructure and Real Estate sector
- Tata Consultancy Services Limited – Technology, Media & Telecom sector
- UPL Limited in Energy – Natural Resources & Chemicals sector
Social
- Hindalco Industries Limited – Industrial Manufacturing & Auto sector
- Godrej Properties Limited – Infrastructure and Real Estate sector
- Wipro Limited – Technology, Media & Telecom sector
- The Tata Power Company Limited – Energy, Natural Resources & Chemicals sector
- HDFC Bank Limited – Financial Services sector
Governance
- Mahindra & Mahindra Limited – Industrial Manufacturing & Auto sector
- Infosys Limited – Technology, Media & Telecom sector
- The Tata Power Company Limited – Energy, Natural Resources & Chemicals sector
- HDFC Bank Limited – Financial Services sector
The awards were chosen by a high-profile jury comprising:
Aditi Haldar
Director of South Asia, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
Amit Tandon
Founder and Managing Director, Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS)
Beroz Gazdar
Former Sr. VP – Group Sustainability, Mahindra & Mahindra Group
J B Mohapatra
Former Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ministry of Finance – Government of India
Joe Phelan
Executive Director Asia Pacific, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Kalpana Morparia
Independent Director & Former Chairman South & South East Asia J.P. Morgan & Co
Mukund Govind Rajan
Chairperson, ECube Investment Advisors
O.P. Bhatt
Independent Director and former Chairman, State Bank of India
Sean Kidney
Co-Founder and CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative
Tanya Singhal
Founder Mynzo Carbon and Former Founder SolarArise
Tejinderpal Miglani
Founding Member, Climate Angels
Support Green Journalism
SustainabilityNext crossed its 100th Edition in October 2022. Since April 2013, every month, SN has been publishing action-oriented green entrepreneurial stories, sharp interviews with change leaders and incisive book reviews. We wish to make it a fortnightly shortly.
SN Youth, launched in June 2021, is turning into a platform for the youth to share their green journey and inspire others.
SN launched India’s first Green Literature Festival in July 2021 to celebrate and grow environmental writing and reading among the youth, executives and entrepreneurs.
You will agree that only awareness is not enough. The world today needs action NOW to save itself. Support our efforts to drive climate action by reaching a million readers by December 2023.
