“The key difference between sustainability and ESG, emerged in the last two years. ESG is primarily driven by the need for investors to know how the firm is communicating about its goals for sustainability,” explained Mr. Shikhar Jain, Deputy Head at CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development at CII-Delhi, while interacting with students, faculty and audience gathered at IIM Bangalore.
The Centre for Management Communication and Environment and Sustainability Club of IIM Bangalore in collaboration with CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development organized this talk, titled “ESG & Business Strategy: Reaching new frontiers with the Triple Bottom Line”.
Dr. Deepti Ganapathy, Chair, Centre for Management Communication, led the discussion which covered a range of issues, from India’s leadership communicated at COP 26 and COP 27, to emerging sectors such as green hydrogen, renewables and EVs for young business leaders to startups and the innovations they can bring.
Dr. Ganapathy spoke about the Climate Ambition Summit that will be the focus for COP 28 and noted that since the adoption of Paris Agreement in 2015, there has been an increase in the number of Net-Zero commitments by non-State actors. She stressed on the need to deal with the climate of misinformation and confusion, with particular emphasis on the “C” and “A” by firms that can mislead consumers, investors and regulators with a false narrative.
Agreeing on the significance of “Credibility” and “Accountability” - the criticality of C and A, can lead to commitments from firm, noted Mr. Jain.
He urged students to become brand ambassadors of India’s strategic growth in showing leadership in domains such as renewables, green hydrogen, etc and to communicate about this relentlessly.
Highlighting the importance of communication in conveying the critical aspect of ESG, he spoke of the connect to ESG with business strategy.
Sanya Monga Secretary of the Environment and Sustainability Club presented a token of appreciation to Mr. Jain, while Bhaskar K, from the leadership committee of the ENS club, thanked the participants pursuing PGP, PGPEM, EPGP, and PhD programs for their overwhelming response and questions posed to the speakers. “Your engagement and curiosity have fuelled the meaningful discussions we have had, let us continue to champion sustainability, embrace the triple bottom line, and reach new frontiers in the business world,” he added.
