EY Global Delivery Services (GDS), in partnership with Bhumi and supported by Vibhinna India Foundation, is undertaking a project to construct 21 ‘Insect Cafés’ across Bengaluru’s major botanical gardens. The initiative is designed to provide safe havens for insects, crucial for pollination and maintaining ecological balance. The project was launched with the installation of seven cafés at Doddasaagare Botanical Garden on March 22, followed by additional installations at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens on April 19. The final phase is set for June at Cubbon Park, where the remaining cafés will be es ..read more

Arjun Vijayaragavan, Founder, KarbonWise Highlights of Arjun’s chat with SustainabilityNext What is India’s approach to ESG, and do you think there’s a need for change? India’s approach to ESG has seen a positive step in establishing the comprehensive BRSR framework mandated for the top 1000 listed entities. While the quality of responses varies, they serve as a starting point, and we expect improvements over time. However, some areas still require attention: The BRSR report is submitted in PDF format as part of the annual report, limiting insights and benchmarking. Enhancing the BRSR to sto ..read more

IIT Kanpur has announced the introduction of a new eMasters program in Sustainable Construction Practices and Project Management. Aimed at equipping professionals with advanced skills in sustainable construction, the course is designed to address the urgent need for environmental management and sustainable practices in the construction industry, which is a significant contributor to global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The construction sector, responsible for 36% of global energy use and 40% of CO2 emissions, is under increasing pressure to adopt sustainable practices. In response, th ..read more

The Indian plywood industry appears to be one of the most sustainable sectors in India. Most plywood makers have got themselves certified with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) which ensures manufacturers source wood from sustainable sources.  Heightened focus on indoor air quality, often many times worse than outdoor air quality, has also forced the plywood sector to adopt Zero-emission technologies. They reduce indoor emission by off-gassing of formaldehyde – a component used in adhesives and resins to bind the wood panels. The plywood is E-Zero emission compliant when the fo ..read more

Yes, if you listen to a bunch of people driving a spirited campaign to turn the city’s water woes around. Understandably, the current acute drinking water shortage has made the citizens sceptical about Bengaluru’s future. Many even are ready to declare that the city would go dry very soon.  At the Jal Pe Charcha conclave at the Bosch campus on 29 April 2024 afternoon, several organizations came together to announce how they are working to make Bengaluru a water-positive city in just over two years. It was good to hear that many plans are already in various stages of i ..read more

Top Recommendations Water-efficient crop cultivation (especially irrigation) techniques today cover less than 20% of the total cultivable area under food grains in India. This low adoption is despite several government, industry, and philanthropy initiatives. The study found that challenges to scaling and adopting water-efficient technologies include over-reliance on short-term philanthropic funding, lack of synergy among individual stakeholder initiatives, and insufficient credible and publicly available data for decision-making. The report recommends using science and data to make better de ..read more

Greenway Grameen has been providing sustainable cooking solutions to rural communities since 2010. Founded by Ankit Mathur and Neha Juneja, the company designs and manufactures efficient cookstoves that significantly reduce the amount of biomass required for cooking. By focusing on user-centric design and leveraging local needs and resources, Greenway Grameen addresses the critical issues of health, environment, and economic inefficiencies that stem from traditional cooking methods. Ankit shares his journey in the clean cooking sector that spans over 14 years with Benedict Paramanand, Editor ..read more

The agriculture sector is the most primitive when it comes to using technology. But Gen AI is going to change that big time. In a short chat with Santhosh Jayaram, Head Sustainability, HCL Tech, on the sidelines of the recent World Economic Forum, Ranveer Chandra, MD, Research for Industry and CTO Agri-Food, said that AI has the potential to revolutionize agriculture and help Sustainability become more transparent. As the CTO of Agri-Food at Microsoft, Ranveer is working on making FarmBeats a product. He also works on Azure Data Manager for Agriculture, a platform that leverages cloud co ..read more

According to a recent study commissioned by Amazon, 69% of Indian consumers are content to receive their online purchases without extra packaging. This initiative is part of a broader effort by the e-commerce giant to reduce the consumption of packaging materials and minimize the environmental footprint of its delivery processes. The survey revealed that most customers are comfortable receiving everyday items such as clothing, detergent, and stationery in just their original manufacturer’s packaging, which merely includes an added address label. However, there remains a preference for discree ..read more

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced a city mayor, a non-profit foundation, a social enterprise, a government initiative and a research council as its 2023 Champions of the Earth. Josefina Belmonte Belmonte, mayor of Quezon City in the Philippines (Policy Leadership), the UK-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Inspiration and Action), China’s Blue Circle (Entrepreneurial Vision), José Manuel Moller of Chile (Entrepreneurial Vision) and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Science and Innovation) were declared winners “for their innovative solutions and trans ..read more