The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized the 7th edition of GreenCo Summit in Chennai on June 28 with its theme “Green Makes Business Sense”, surpassing all the previous editions in terms of the number of participants.
Inaugurating the Summit, Mr. V. Narasimhan, Co-Chair, GreenCo Summit 2018, and Executive Director (Foundry), Brakes India Ltd., welcomed the general trend among industries to go green with a special focus on environment-friendly systems. He also expressed his confidence that more companies, particularly in Tamil Nadu, would intensify their drive to go greener in the coming days.
In his special address, Mr. Jamshyd N. Godrej, Chairman, CII-Godrej GBC and past President, CII, explained the GreenCo parameters such as energy efficiency, renewal energy, water conservation, green house gas mitigation, material conservation, recycling & recyclability, waste management, etc. Understanding the science of climate change would determine the future of industries. Hence companies should necessarily adopt GreenCo efforts and initiatives for their better functioning.
Mr. S. Krishnan, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, in his special address, observed that Tamil Nadu is the first State in the country to adopt the Green Environment norms under NGT. Ecological concerns linked with GreenCo, Deming Prize, ISO ratings, etc., are already in practice in most of the companies in Tamil Nadu. The overall attempt among companies in general is to use public transport and car pooling so as to avoid air pollution.
Dr. Thirumalachari Ramasami, former Secretary in the Union Department of Science and Technology, in his special address, said a sustainable business model in Green is the order of the day, and as far as the GreenCo initiative is concerned India is ranked 14th at the global level.
On the cccasion, over 50 companies in sectors like automobiles, manufacturing and information technology were presented the Platinum, Silver, Gold and Bronze Awards. Prominent among the Award winners were Tata Motors, JK Tyres, Brakes India, Cummins, Godrej, Kirloskar, etc.
Today more than 450 companies in different sectors are working on GreenCo rating. As per the Tamil Nadu Government Vision 2023, around 2,035 companies are geared up for this GreenCo Certification and the Road Map, Pathway, Approach is leading to this GreenCo Certification, and over 90 companies have reached the mark of Rs. 180-crore saving in their Green Energy strategy.
Mr. S. Raghupathy, Deputy Director General, CII, proposed a vote of thanks.