An Investors look at eco sustainable businesses and solutions
An Investors look at eco sustainable businesses and solutions
Businesses have embraced sustainability goals in path breaking ways, like LUSH cosmetics eliminating packaging altogether with its line of “naked” shampoo bars, conditioners, henna hair colors and massage bars, or car manufacturers like Ford and General Motors, Tesla investing in fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly declared 17 global goals for 2030 known as the Sustainable Development Goals, which included broad ambitions like eliminating poverty, gender equality and clean water and sanitation. However, sustainability goes beyond environmentally-friendly business practices; it includes a commitment to gender equality and diversity, social mobility, and investing in the community and making the least carbon foot print.
By the https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/2020-global-100/2020-global-100-methodology-15704657/ methods, the top 10 “clean” companies globally by rank
Top eco-sustainable business ideas
There is a growing demand by consumers to be more environmentally-friendly. This has created a growing number of green business opportunities. You can open any business from services helping others to be more eco-conscious or offering environmentally friendly products.
- Package free shopping
- Sustainable construction materials
- Bicycles and electric 2 wheelers
- Handmade organic – all natural products
- Eco consulting
- Upcycled furniture
- Eco friendly fashion
- Indoor/landscape garden makers
- Composting solutions
- Organic food and produce
- Alternate energy
- Apps for car-pooling / recycling
What’s next?
In view of such fresh and new ideas, what’s next? Is this a sling shot hit and miss event or an ever growing evolving one?
In India, we have plenty of scope for such innovations and small ventures to take off.
- Pitch your idea, plan get product samples
- Crowd fund your project/bank financing
- Sell online
- Build and grow
CII GreenCo rating system ( India – first of its kind in the world) was evolved in the last 2-3 years and evaluates the performance of companies on the ecological front in a holistic manner and guides these enterprises on how to make products, services and operations greener. The process of definition, certification has been evolved by CII. This would drive the whole chain of resources management and utilisation, keeping environment impact in mind. Today, more than 100 companies are in various stages of GreenCo rating and 25 of them have been certified from Silver to Platinum.
The implementation of GreenCo rating offers the following benefits to companies:
- Provides multiple Energy, Environmental and Resource conservation benefits
- Builds world class competitiveness and provides new opportunities for cost reduction
- Enhances Corporate Green image
- Helps implement the latest sustainability concepts and global best practices
- Makes companies future ready to meet stricter environmental needs / regulations
- Enhances credibility & creates transparency among stakeholders
- Extensive capacity building with the involvement of cross functional team
- Helps understand where the company stands compared to peers & competitors
- Excellent tool for top management to monitor green performance
- Builds strong long-term roadmap for ecologically sustainable business growth
- Drives innovation
Green growth is desirable. For an environmentally sustainable future, India needs to value its natural resources, and ecosystem services to better inform policy and decision-making especially since India is a hotspot of unique biodiversity and ecosystems.
Green growth is necessary. With cost of environmental degradation at US $80 billion annually, or equivalent to 5.7% of GDP in 2009, environment could become a major constraint in sustaining future economic growth. Further, it may be impossible or prohibitively expensive to clean up later.
Sneha R
Dilzer Consultants Pvt Ltd
Credits:
https://www.givaudan.com/sustainability/going-green-in-india
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/03/06/green-growth-overcoming-india-environment-challenges-promote-development
https://www.customercontactweekdigital.com/customer-insights-analytics/articles/sustainable-impact-investing-wells-fargo
https://www.indiatoday.in/environment/story/green-business-opportunities-and-challenges-256285-2015-06-08