Beyond the Earth Day theme: Corporates in action mode
A theme itself will not move the needle and get things done. While the 2025 Earth Day theme, Our Power, Our Planet, is a powerful statement crafted to inspire and ignite conversations, turning this into reality will depend on action. This year's theme also underscores the growing responsibility of businesses in shaping a sustainable future through definite actions -- decisive, sustained, and far-reaching.
In India, many corporates have become trailblazers in sustainability by stepping up to take ownership of the environmental impact of their operations and investing in impactful change. Studying some of these corporate-led green initiatives offer not only an inspiration for others to follow suit but also provides a practical action blueprint to combat climate change meaningfully and at scale. One example of a long-term champion of sustainability is ITC which aims to meet 100% of its electrical energy needs from renewable sources by 2030. This is backed by substantial investments in green infrastructure and supply chain decarbonisation. Twelve of the company's hotels are the first in the world to receive LEED Zero Carbon certification and five are the first to ever be LEED Zero Water certified. As the country strives for net-zero emissions by 2070, it becomes pivotal to how public-private synergy can drive systemic, scalable climate action.
ITC is well on their way to achieve their sustainability goal as in FY 2023-24, the company has already met over 50% of its total energy requirements from renewable sources such as solar, wind and biomass. In October 2024, it commissioned a new solar project in Karnataka, which took the company's share of renewable energy in its total electricity consumption in the state to nearly 90%.
Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) is another company that has committed to achieving 100% energy needs from renewable energy sources. And HMIL is aiming to reach the target by 2025! One of the strategies adopted by Hyundai India is purchasing green power since October 2022 from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) to increase its renewable energy portfolio to 64%.
Apart from action and awareness, innovation is a key driver to scale results. AvanStrate, has recently launched its latest innovation—a display glass that enables a 95% reduction in carbon emissions. It is also the industry's first display glass to incorporate at least 50% recycled content. This innovation exemplifies how sustainable transformation in high-volume industries can create outsized impact.
A growing number of companies are taking green actions and are reframing their business models to operate on the cutting edge of sustainability and climate action. Global initiatives like RE100, which bring together hundreds of large and forward-looking businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity, have made some real impact. But imagine the scale of the impact if every company in the world commits to meet all of their electrical energy needs by a defined timeline. So, to save our planet, it makes perfect sense for all companies to start talking about and taking action to weave in sustainability across their respective operations.
This article is authored by Ranganath Tannir, secretary general, Think Change Forum, New Delhi.
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