Blog

Entrepreneurs should prioritise technologies that are beneficial for the environment from day one, said Pratyush Kumar Panda, Sectoral Expert in ESG and Founder of the Basudev Panda Foundation.

He emphasised that having a plan for environmental sustainability ensures the long-term viability of an entrepreneur’s technology, platform, and product.

During a fireside chat with YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma at TechSparks 2024, Panda discussed cleantech, carbon emissions, and the need for large-scale tree planting. Citing examples from Tata Group and Fortune 500 companies, he said, “If you are to be a long-run player, the society factor, the ESG factor, has to be inbuilt into your mission statement from day one.”

“If you’re building a new unicorn, so you’re going towards that in built carbon offsetting, decarbonisation process from the day one itself. Don’t jump into technology which is not clean,” he said.

He cautioned that while tech that is harmful to the environment might deliver good EBITDA in the early stages, it leads to high carbon emissions, and slowly both customer and clients “go away.”

“If your investors are outside, if your clients are outside [of India], they’re talking about your net zero targets or if you have heard about science-based target initiatives (SBTI)… Everybody is going on to one Bible called SBTI,” he noted.

Each business’ greenhouse gas emissions vary. “What is my scope 3 might be your scope 1 might be scope 2 for somebody else, we are all part of the same supply chain,” he said.

For context, Scope 1 emissions refer to direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from sources owned or controlled by a company, such as emissions from company vehicles and equipment. Scope 2 emissions are indirect GHG emissions from the generation of purchased electricity consumed by the company, while Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain.

The fireside chat also featured Raj Mohan, Founder Director, of Sustainable Green Initiative, who aims to plant one billion fruit, timber, and mangrove trees across India, to help alleviate hunger and poverty while fighting pollution and climate change. Currently, the organisation has already planted five crore trees.

India’s green technology and sustainability market size is projected to exhibit a growth rate (CAGR) of 28.80% during 2024-2032, according to data from consulting firm IMARC Group.