87% Indian Adults Always or Often Purchase Sustainable Products- Survey

• Indians Prioritize Spending on Sustainable Products and Contributing to Local Businesses
• 97% of the Indian respondents are interested in spending money on items that will have a positive impact on local businesses and communities
• 98% want to spend money on items that will help build low-carbon communities around the world

Indians want to leave an impact on the planet by prioritizing spending on sustainable products and contributing to local businesses, as per the American Express Trendex report1. 87% of Indian respondents always or often purchasing sustainable products and 97% interested in spending money on items that will have a positive impact on local businesses and communities, which is highest amongst all the other surveyed countries.

The survey further reveals 98% of Indian respondents want to spend money on items that will help build low-carbon communities around the world. 97% think all products should be required to be environmentally friendly while 96% think about the impact on the planet when making purchase decisions. Encouragingly, 92% of Indian adults surveyed are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products with growing awareness on the benefits of sustainable products. For 43% of Indian adults surveyed, increased product availability and a better understanding of the product benefits are key motivators to purchase sustainable products in the future while for 37%, it is a better price point.

Manoj Adlakha, SVP and CEO, American Express Banking Corp India said, “Indian customers are making conscious decisions and shifting their buying patterns by prioritizing spending on sustainable products thereby contributing to local businesses and leaving a positive impact on the planet. Ever since the pandemic hit the world creating an irreversible impact on millions of people around the world, people are becoming increasingly mindful about the purchases they make and the impact that will create for generations to come.”

Key insights:

• Giving back to the environment - 98% Indians surveyed wish companies would make it easier for them to reduce their carbon footprint whereas 97% of surveyed Indians will be more loyal to a company/brand that works to address environmental issues.
• Preferring sustainable products - 92% of Indian adults surveyed are willing to pay a premium for sustainable and 94% of those Indian adults that would pay a premium say they would pay at least 10% more for sustainable products while 29% are ready to pay 50% more for sustainable products and 23% of them even higher than 50%. In terms of categories, 96% of Indians surveyed, one of their goals in 2022 is to make more sustainable choices when purchasing clothes, tech products, eating food and while traveling and 86% of them have already started shopping at second hand or consignment retailers rather than purchasing new items to reduce environmental impact. When making decisions about where to dine out, more than half (55%) of Indians surveyed consider the number of plant-based options available at a restaurant.
• Endorsing for sustainable products- About 97% of surveyed Indians would like to shop more with a company that takes action to reduce the impacts of climate change and are more likely to trust brands that work to address to environmental issues.
• Awareness about sustainable issues - Indian adults surveyed have become more focused on a variety of sustainability topics this past year with air-pollution (96%) and recycling, renewable energy, and climate action (95%) gaining the most interest.
• GenZ/millennials more sustainability conscious - 57% surveyed GenZ/millennials respondents are more likely to plan on purchasing sustainable products this year to help reduce their environmental impact. 72% GenZ/millennials Indians surveyed are more likely to talk to their children about environmental issues.

1American Express Trendex - The American Express Trendex is a trend index that tracks how consumers, small businesses, and merchants are feeling about spending, saving, travelling and more. Data is sourced monthly in the United States and biannually globally, including in the UK, Australia, Japan, Mexico, India, and Canada.

Survey Methodology: This Morning Consult poll was conducted between March 8-13th, 2022 among a national sample of 1,998 in the US, 1,000 in Japan, Australia, India, UK, and 999 travelers in Mexico and Canada who have a household income of at least $70K and defined as adults who typically travel by air at least once a year. This study has an overall sample of 7,996 Global Adults.

Within this audience, the Gen Z/Millennial demographic group is defined as respondents who were born between the following years:1981- 2004. Results from each market’s survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: personal cards, business cards, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, Kabbage, Resy, corporate card, business travel, diversity and inclusion, corporate responsibility and Environmental, Social, and Governance reports.

Sustainable Trading Launches Non-profit Membership Network

Sustainable Trading launches non-profit membership network to drive ESG change across financial markets

30 founding members from asset management, banking and brokerage, market making, exchanges, technology and service providers

Mobilising the trading industry to drive positive ESG change by developing industry best practices, benchmarking and transparency

Launching today, the Sustainable Trading membership network is dedicated to transforming environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices within the financial markets trading industry. Led by industry veteran, Duncan Higgins, the network will bring firms together to devise practical solutions to industry specific ESG issues and develop a mechanism for self-assessment and benchmarking.

Sustainable Trading members will consider the environmental impact of how the financial trading industry builds, maintains, and operates trading infrastructure along with a focus on areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion, employee wellbeing, engagement with communities and a stakeholder-oriented approach to enterprise governance.

Membership of Sustainable Trading is open to participants within financial services engaged in trading or providing trading-related services. Drawn from across the industry, the founding members include: Aegon Asset Management, AllianceBernstein, ArchES, AXA Investment Managers, Bank of America, big xyt, BMLL Technologies, BMO Capital Markets, BTIG, Credit Suisse, Equinix, Euronext, Federated Hermes, Instinet, Invesco, Investec, Jefferies, Liberum, Liontrust, London Stock Exchange Group, M&G plc, Neovest, Ninety One, Options Technology, Outset Global, Redburn, Russell Investments, State Street Global Advisors, T. Rowe Price and Union Investment.

Commenting on the launch, Founder and Director Duncan Higgins said: “The financial system has tremendous capabilities to lead its own transition to a more sustainable future. Sustainable Trading will mobilise members around a practical approach to setting and achieving their ESG goals and establish grassroots champions of change”. He continued: “Working together we can create a robust, sustainable industry for the future; one where the principles of good environmental, social and governance practices are woven throughout our daily lives.”

Kirstie MacGillivray, Head of Multi Asset Dealing and Treasury, Aegon Asset Management, said, "Aegon Asset Management are excited to be a founding member of this initiative. Being a force for good is at the heart of our business; the collaborative approach of Sustainable Trading will deliver a powerful force for sustainable change in financial markets trading, benefitting all participants."

To find out more about Sustainable Trading membership, please visit this website.

Developing 1st Smartphone Made With Recycled Ocean-bound Fishing-Nets Collected from Indian Coastline

Representative Image

DSM Engineering Materials today announces it has supported Samsung Electronics to deliver the first smartphone device to be made with Akulon® RePurposed. This high-performance polymer is produced by DSM from repurposing discarded fishing nets collected from the Indian Ocean. The new Galaxy S22 series smartphones and Tab S8 series tablets mark an important milestone in the sustainability of smartphone devices, and underlines DSM’s commitment to enabling a circular economy through recycled-based innovation.

DSM Engineering Materials is a business group of Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living. Headquartered in Netherlands, DSM uses discarded fishing nets to produce the recycle-based polyamide Akulon® RePurposed. The company use the material recovered from the fishing nets collected along the coastlines of India. 

Launched in 2018, Akulon® RePurposed is made by partnering with the local community along India’s coastline to collect and retrieve abandoned fishing nets. These are then processed into the exceptional polymer, containing a minimum 80% recycled polyamide 6.

Fishing Nets for recycling

Image - DSM.com

Working with Samsung Electronics, DSM tailored Akulon® RePurposed to meet the specific high-performance requirements of the new Galaxy S22 series and Galaxy Tab S8 series. As such, the material is incorporated into key components including the Galaxy S22 series’ key bracket and inner cover of the S Pen, as well as Tab S8 series’ inner support bracket. Thanks to its unique properties, Akulon® RePurposed offers an excellent balance and leading mechanical performance, and has already been applied to various industries, such as automotive, consumer goods, and electronic devices. More at - www.dsm.com/akulonrepurposed.

Last year, Samsung launched of a new software update that allows consumers to convert their older Galaxy smartphones to various types of Internet of Things (IoT) devices under the company's initiative called Galaxy Upcycling at Home.

DSM has developed a wide range of engineering materials over the years to help its customers in support of a sustainable, low-carbon circular economy and has committed to making available bio- and/or recycled-based alternatives for its entire portfolio by 2030. These circular materials help to de-fossilize the economy and society, reduce plastic waste and carbon footprint, and meet changing legislative and end-consumer demands.

Pranveer Singh Rathore, Materials R&D Manager at Samsung Electronics, said, “Through this open collaboration, which combined our technology with DSM’s expertise, we successfully developed a solution that bridges the needs of the planet and our Galaxy users. The Galaxy S22 series and Tab S8 series help advance Samsung’s sustainability vision, Galaxy for the Planet, which includes reducing our environmental footprint by incorporating recycled materials in all new mobile products by 2025. We’re excited about strengthening our partnership with DSM and continuing to positively impact Galaxy users and the environment as we expand our efforts to integrate repurposed ocean plastics across our entire product lineup in the years to come.

Nileshkumar Kukalyekar, Business Director South Asia, DSM Engineering Materials, said, “As the first player in the electronics industry to be making its smartphone with Akulon® RePurposed from discarded fishing nets, Samsung shares our ambition to develop sustainable recycled-based solutions that help consumers make more eco-conscious choices in their daily lives. Together, we will continue to deliver sustainable and scalable solutions that help to address the climate crisis. We hope Samsung’s move to recycled ocean-bound fishing nets will inspire many others to take similar steps to make our planet a better place.”

DSM

DSM Engineering Materials is a business group of Royal DSM is a global, purpose-led company in Health, Nutrition & Bioscience, applying science to improve the health of people, animals and the planet. DSM’s purpose is to create brighter lives for all. DSM’s products and solutions address some of the world’s biggest challenges while simultaneously creating economic, environmental and societal value for all its stakeholders – customers, employees, shareholders, and society at large. The company was founded in 1902 and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. More information can be found at www.dsm.com.

Sustainable Products E-Commerce Marketplace SustainKart Closes Pre-Seed Round Led by India Accelerator

SustainKart, a Hyderabad-based e-commerce marketplace exclusively for sustainable products, has raised $500K in its pre-seed round led by India Accelerator. The round was able to close in a record time and saw the participation of several HNIs, industry experts as part of India Accelerator’s network.

SustainKart offers a wide range of eco-friendly, green & clean products across all lifestyle categories, from fashion to decor, food & nutrition, kids care, pet care, furniture & furnishings to home care, all under one roof. It helps conscious Indians choose products hassle-free. The platform ensures the authenticity of the products & brand claims by a strong audit process.

Commenting on the investment, Mona Singh, Co-founder of IA said, “Our decision to invest in SustainKart is consistent with our philosophy to back brands that promote eco-friendly living. Apart from this, we are amazed with how SustainKart is at the forefront of bringing innovative solutions in changing the spending pattern of Indian households for their lifestyle commodities.”

Founded by renowned entrepreneurs Shilpa Reddy & Kanthi Dutt, the platform was launched in January 2021 and has witnessed massive growth in the last year. With over 950 brands and 68000 SKUs, it is the largest e-commerce marketplace in Asia for clean D2C brands & sustainable consumers.

It aims to grow into a house of brands with celebrity co-founders. Bhoomitra, a beauty brand by SustainKart backed by actress Keerthy Suresh was launched a couple of months ago. “We plan to launch a series of private labels with A-lister celebrity co-founders to have a stronger foothold in the sustainable D2C space. Multiple strategic seed-stage D2C brand acquisitions are planned for this year”, says founder Kanthi Dutt.

On track to capture a share of $ 4BN of the Indian sustainable consumer e-commerce space by 2026, leading brands like mCaffeine, Tribe Concepts, Neemas, Let’s Shave, SuperBottoms, amongst several others have already been listed on the platform in its first year. “Sustainable consumerism is only growing. Thanks to the pandemic, only more people realized the impact of consumer behavior on climate change. However, sustainability is a journey that has caught momentum now, like never before”, says Shilpa Reddy, co-founder, SustainKart.

SustainKart not only hosts a long list of leading brands that are Vegan, cruelty-free, upcycled- recycled, biodegradable, hand-made, organic and chemical-free but also promotes local & small clean brands. They provide a single convenient platform where consumers can find sustainable alternatives for every need and motivate people to choose a nature-friendly sustainable lifestyle.

Flex Releases 2020 Sustainability Report

2019 accomplishments include a 10% growth in renewable energy use, 20% incident rate reduction and 93% of global sites hosted community outreach activities

Flex (NASDAQ: FLEX) recently released its 2020 sustainability report, summarizing the company’s global sustainability activities, performance and results from calendar year 2019. The report provides a look at how Flex is stewarding sustainable manufacturing operations to minimize its environmental impact, driving responsible business practices and contributing to the communities in which it operates.

Flex’s sustainability efforts focus on five areas, including people, community, environment, social innovation and integrity, and align with 20 goals the company set out to reach by the end of 2020. The company’s 20 goals support the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Global Compact’s principles.

2019 key highlights

• 10% increase in renewable energy use year-over-year


• 20% safety incident rate reduction from 2018


• 98% of new global suppliers were screened using social and environmental criteria


• Women represented 42% of the company’s total workforce and 30% of the Board of Directors


• 93% of sites hosted community outreach activities, supported by 48,000+ employee volunteer hours


• Nearly 100,000 people benefited from 20+ projects through the Flex Foundation

“Sustainability is core to Flex’s mission of becoming the most trusted technology, supply chain and manufacturing partner. As we determine our next set of sustainability targets, we remain committed to driving programs that help address broader societal and environmental issues, such as climate change, and transparently disclosing our progress toward our goals,” said Kyra Whitten, Vice President, Marketing, Communications and Sustainability at Flex.

In 2019, Flex was recognized as an FTSE4Good Index Series constituent for the fourth consecutive year, received an A- rating from CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) for its disclosures in climate change and water security and earned the highest disclosure and transparency score on environmental, social and corporate governance factors from Institutional Shareholder Services, among other honors for sustainability initiatives.

Prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards: Core Option, the Flex 2020 sustainability report can be viewed at https://flex.com/company/our-sustainability/reporting-and-alignment.

AIC-IIITH Foundation selects 10 Tech-based Social Enterprises focused on Sustainable Development Goals

 Atal Incubation Centre at International Institute of Information Technology (AIC-IIITH) has selected 10 startups for its flagship Akash incubation program for tech-based social enterprises working on Sustainable Development goals.

AIC-IIITH received 100 applications from 17 states, out of which 17 were selected for the final round. The process which began in December 2019 and went through multiple rounds, concluded in an online selection conference consisting of Viveck Verma, Entrepreneur, Strategic Advisor and Investor; Anup Puthan, TechExpert and Investor; Emmanuel V Murray Senior Advisor at Caspian Impact Investment Adviser and Rennis Joseph, Social Entrepreneur and Director at Ignis Career. 

The selected startups will be supported through their entrepreneurial journey by business coaching, bootcamps and workshops on various topics like finance, IP, marketing, etc. mentor and expert chats, peer learning sessions, as well as an opportunity to apply for seed funding.

AIC-IIITH is at present supporting diverse social enterprises from sectors like Edutech, Healthtech, Environment, etc. The 2nd cohort also consists of 10 startups from diverse fields all working to help India achieve SDGs by 2030.

Ramesh Loganathan, Director, AIC-IITH, congratulated the startups and said, “Being part of this incubation program is an excellent platform for social entrepreneurs to get tools to grow and become sustainable and thus multiply their social impact.”

The startups that are part of the 2nd cohort are:

Adva Enviro Solutions Pvt Ltd - Fighting water crisis in India through mass action approach using innovative water conservation techniques to make ground water rich and promote people to conserve rainwater.

Transit - HelpTruck drivers facing problems of liquidity for costs like diesel, toll tax and food. Lot of time they get lynched. A lot of time parties don't give payment to the drivers in time. Transit provides them with transit cards, which can help them solve all these problems.

SDG Healthcare Private Limited - Developing an AI/ML based screening solution to prevent anaemia among the majority of the rural population of children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers and males in the health care sector.

KOTUMB Digital Empowerment and Careers Pvt Ltd - A career enhancement, guidance and jobs/ entrepreneurship solution for the educated youth of tier 2 and tier 3 locations via an android mobile app.

Ecowrap - An end-to-end integrated waste management solution for the Hotel, Restaurant and Cafe (HORECA) sector that will address illegal dumping of waste into landfills causing pollution, wastage of precious resources and avoid zero monetization of waste.

Ayata Intelligence Private Limited - Indian Horticulture productivity is 250 % lower than the global average. Addressing it through IoT & AI powered SaralKheti technology, which screens crops with stress management at 3 levels: Soil, Crop and Atmosphere.

Mayukh.ai - Creating loan availability options for those without any formal credit history via KarzSiddhi, an end to end solution to facilitate the loans from NBFCs (primarily) by ratifying the character, commitment and capacity of an individual artisan or semi skilled person like electrician, mechanic, plumber, etc.

Digibeings - Making mental health treatment and diagnosis scalable, affordable and accessible via virtual human AI.

Jivandeep Health Services - India's only end to end solution for organ transplant catering to the needs of patients from the initial diagnosis to rehabilitation and sustainability.

Kaiinos Education Services- Address the challenges in monitoring climate change using satellite data and the availability of public learning material to process and publish satellite data. And developing a participatory eLearning platform for the same.

About AIC-IIITH Foundation:

AIC-IIITH FOUNDATION is an Atal Incubation Center set up exclusively for incubating and supporting tech-based social enterprises. It seeks to deploy entrepreneurial energy and technological innovation for social impact to help India achieve the SDGs. Supported by the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Government of India, AIC-IIITH FOUNDATION also seeks to nurture the social enterprise ecosystem by acting as a platform for sharing ideas and insights. With over 10,000 sq. ft space consisting of co-working spaces, conference room, meeting space and other facilities, AIC-IIITH FOUNDATION aims to provide collaborative space to entrepreneurs. These benefits are further enhanced by the multiplying effect of agglomeration effects and network effects of being situated in the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), IIIT-Hyderabad, which is a cluster of incubation centers, research labs and resources. Website - https://aic.iiit.ac.in/

Azure Power Awarded Most Sustainable Company in the Solar Energy Industry as Part of World Finance Magazine's Sustainability Awards 2020

Azure Power, a leading solar power producer in India, has been awarded the Most Sustainable Company in the Solar Energy Industry by World Finance Magazine. Azure Power received the award for their effective environmental, social and governance pillars, and operating their business while meeting sustainable needs. Azure Power has cut emissions, reduced water consumption and ensured their physical waste is disposed properly and with as little carbon footprint as possible. Over the years, Azure Power has avoided over 5.2 million tons of CO2 equivalents since inception, realized 50% savings last year in water consumption per unit of electricity generated and created over 4,300 local jobs since inception in the remote communities we operate in.

Through Azure Power's corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, they have made a positive impact on the communities they operate in and improve livelihood among rural households through various activities around the thematic areas of skill development, water and education. Their core values of honesty, excellence, entrepreneurship and social responsibility reinforce the approach to providing energy in a sustainable way.

Commenting on this award, Mr. Ranjit Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Azure Power, said "For us, sustainability is the essence of our business and lies at the heart of our value proposition. At Azure, we continue to work towards sustainable economic development across our communities to contribute to a better society."

World Finance provides coverage and analysis of the financial industry, international business and global economy. The magazine is now  introducing sustainability awards to businesses that have shown admirable commitment to sustainability and are making the business world a much greener place. All of World Finance's sustainability awards winners are announced at https://www.worldfinance.com/awards/sustainability-awards-2020.

About Azure Power

Azure Power (NYSE: AZRE) is a leading independent solar power producer with a pan-India portfolio over 7 gigawatts. Azure Power developed India's first private utility scale solar project in 2009 and has been at the forefront in the sector as a developer, constructor and operator of solar projects since its inception in 2008. With its in-house engineering, procurement and construction expertise and advanced in-house operations and maintenance capability, Azure Power manages the entire development and operation process, providing low-cost solar power solutions to customers throughout India. For more information, visit: www.azurepower.com.

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste and UN-Habitat Partner to Tackle Plastic Waste in the Environment

New partnership will establish better waste and resource management strategies in high plastic waste leakage cities

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (the Alliance) today announced a strategic partnership with UN-Habitat to implement solutions toward a circular economy, creating business and livelihood opportunities while enhancing resource recovery.

The new partnership, which will kick off with projects in six target cities in Eastern Africa and Southern Asia, will use the UN-Habitat Waste Wise Cities (WWC) Tool to map waste flows and assess potential plastic leakage from waste management systems and identify short- and long-term pathways to increase the amount of plastic waste collected, recycled and recovered. The program supports the Alliance's focus on developing meaningful city projects in high plastic waste leakage communities, and the WWC Challenge to clean up and establish sustainable waste management in 20 cities around the world by 2022.

"For the two billion people worldwide that lack access to waste collection, a significant barrier to establishing an effective municipal solid waste program is lack of data," said Jacob Duer, President and CEO, Alliance to End Plastic Waste. "Through our work with the UN Habitat, we'll provide city leaders for the first time with a comprehensive understanding of their waste management systems, its gaps and solutions for improvement. We expect the work to have an immediate and lasting positive impact on these six cities and hope to use what we learn to scale the program to more urban communities."

The participating cities include Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya; Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar in Ethiopia; Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and Mangalore (Karnataka) in India.

At the conclusion of the programme, which will occur over the next ten to twelve months, comprehensive assessments of the waste management practices in the key cities will be executed with the goal to outline solutions to increase the amount of plastic waste collected and recovered. The assessments may suggest feasibility studies for investments in larger plastic waste management infrastructure.

The partnership will also work to engage local stakeholders to ensure appropriate community members and relevant waste chain actors are involved from the onset in order to solve infrastructure gaps and reduce plastic waste leakage in the program cities through an inclusive approach.

About the Alliance to End Plastic Waste

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste is an international not-for-profit organization partnering with government, environmental and economic development NGOs and communities around the world to address the challenge to end plastic waste in the environment. Through programs and partnerships, we are focused on solutions in four core areas: infrastructure, innovation, education and clean up. As of June 2020, the Alliance has nearly 50 members companies and supporters representing global companies and organizations located through the Americas, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. For more information, visit: www.endplasticwaste.org

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Ending Wildlife Trade will Protect the Environment; Reduce Risk of Future Pandemics like COVID-19

The death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala has sent a wave of shock and grief across the country. It is a sombre reminder that humans are capable of horrific acts of cruelty and violence towards animals.

Wild animals belong in the wild. It is time to end the needless practice of wildlife trade and no more pandemics like COVID-19

This World Environment Day, the time has come for all of us to join hands and ensure that wild animals do not suffer such acts of barbarism again.

Wild animals are traded for the purpose of our entertainment, for medicine and are treated as products. This cruel trade causes the suffering of millions of animals and endangers the health of people with pandemics like COVID-19. It also has a terrible impact on our environment.

With this in mind, World Animal Protection has launched a global appeal to ban the trade of wild animals forever. The organisation is appealing to the leader of G20 nation to agree for this global ban when they meet for the G20 nations summit in November.

In India, World Animal Protection is urging Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to support the global call for wildlife trade ban when he represents the country at the G20 summit.

Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection India said, "We can no longer ignore the fact that rampant trade of wild animals for the benefit of humans resulted in outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. And if we don't act now, this won't be the last pandemic. Wild animals belong in the wild. That is their natural habitat. We appeal to Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, who has been an advocate of animal welfare and wildlife preservation in the past, to support the global ban of wildlife trade at the G20 summit."

"It is time to bring back balance to the natural order. We must all take this pledge today on World Environment Day, that we will not participate in any activity that uses wild animals as products. Wildlife is an integral part of the natural environment and should be cherished there, not put in cages. With that in mind, I urge the Indian government to effectively enforce existing wildlife protection laws to stop trade of wild animals and wild animal products."

World Animal Protection has also requested World Health Organisation to permanently ban all wildlife markets around the globe in the wake of coronavirus pandemic and to take a highly precautionary approach to the wildlife trade.

The aggravated risk to human health caused from close contact to wild animals in the wildlife trade and in entertainment can no longer be ignored.

By ending wildlife trade, we can:

• Protect thousands of species at risk of extinction due to human exploitation and help maintain biodiversity


• Help ensure wild animals have a home and continue to play their vital role in maintaining functioning ecosystems


• Prevent invasive species being introduced to new habitats, which can cause resource competition, bring a risk of disease, and native species declines


• Stop extensive environmental pollution associated with the industrial farming of wildlife for commercial purposes, like fur farms


• World Animal Protection has a strong track record of supporting local communities to transition away from incomes based on wildlife cruelty.

It's urgent that we come together now to implement to a comprehensive wildlife trade ban to eliminate the threats of future pandemics to our health and economies. #EndWildlifeTrade.

Join us and ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to support the call for an end to global trade of wild animals. Sign this petition here - www.worldanimalprotection.org.in/end-global-wildlife-trade-forever

Summit on Sustainability to Evolve Action Plan to Fight Climate Change

A real-life hero, Chaitram Pawar from Maharashtra’s Baripada village in Dhule district showed to the rest of the country how with dedication and focused work, the man on the street can do wonders and force the government to sit up and take notice. At a time when water, or rather the scarcity of water, is leading to water wars, here in this tiny village, Chaitram brought development to Baripada, a small, with just 108 Vanvasi families and a population of just 785, surrounded by a 445 ha forest. It supports a rich vegetation composed of species such as teak or saag, devakhumba, palas, pangara, ain, kumbha, moha or mahua, neem or kadulimb, karwand and others. Wild animals found here are panther, Indian wolf, black-naped hare, fox, monitor lizard, and others.

Presenting his success story at the day-long Sustainability Summit Panchjanya and Organisor the flagship publication of 73 year old Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited, the environmental activist said that in the early 1990s the village faced scarcity of firewood, food and water due to deforestation. A hill near the village became barren, and one-third of village wells went dry.

With the help of local NGO, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, he organized the villagers and laid the foundation of self-development, a model that has vowed everyone. What he did was to take full benefit of all the government schemes and get the villagers organized to start the afforestation programme and then tackled the water shortage. Slowly it became a movement and today there are people from different parts of the country and the world visiting the village to look at how they managed to conserve the biodiversity in their surroundings. Strict punishments for cutting trees, no bullock carts in forests etc, villagers forming watch dog squads.

Today, the forests are richer and farming activity has increased manifold, Pawar told the Summit attended by environmental activists, bureaucrats, political representatives and people from different walks of life.

The summit is an effort to bring all of them onto a single platform and come out with a bunch of workable ideas to add value to government efforts to fight climate change, which is already causing havoc in many parts of the world.

Participating in a panel discussion on Water Rejuvenation or Water Wars: What are we heading for? Bollywood Singer Mohit Chauhan, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, said there is no life without water and there is no water without jungles. His observation based on his own experiences along his life journey, only goes to show how correct Pawar was in his assessment and action plan was to conserve forests as the first step towards repairing the damage to environment caused by unfettered felling of trees in forests.

Jal (water), Jungle, Janwar (animals) are all connected the Bollywood rock star said and recalled traditional knowledge and wisdom handed down for generations and the Indian lifestyle was the proper model to follow for maintain environmental sustainability.

Even today, many places in Himachal Pradesh have traditional water bodies, for humans and animals, alive and people ensure that groundwater is recharged through their traditional practices. And wherever, the balance is disturbed, the singer said led to even loss of economic activity and loss of livelihood for people. Mohit Chauhan cited the example of Bharatpur bird sanctuary of Rajasthan where the number and variety of migratory birds fell drastically due to afforestation in the region and this, in turn, resulted in a fall in the number of tourists that led to a fall in tourism business, affecting the livelihood for people of the region.

Which is why, the concept of sustainability is gaining more currency in the development debate over the past few decades. War against nature in the name of development is still an issue that the environmentalists are grappling with and the Sustainability Summit is an attempt to come out with suggestions for action to the government.

Mr. Nirmal Kumar Agarwala, of HCS Infotech, also spoke about the increasing need for urgent action on the environmental issues in view of the climate change-induced disasters taking place and more importantly, those that are waiting to happen.

On the occasion Environmental activist, Mr. Manu Gaur, President tax payers association of Bharat highlighted seriousness of the issue and pressure of population as a hurdle in conserving nature.

He presented some key statistics and environment landscape to help define the direction of the country’s sustainability efforts.

Mr. Hitesh Shankar Editor, Panchjanya said that the country’s culture and traditions formed the foundation of the sustainability as basic tenets have been handed down to us from generation to generation. India is one of the few countries where Mother Nature is worshipped – sun, trees, water and cow – and the simple lifestyle that requires lesser resources help in maintaining environmental sustainability.

Mr. Prafulla Ketkar, Editor Organiser, said that the Summit on Sustainability was the first of a series of such interactions with experts and their interface with all the other stakeholders with an objective of evolving an action plan for the consideration of the government. Water conservation forms a significant aspect of the overall environmental sustainability.

~ Newsvoir

Lavina Sequera of "Soil of India" awarded as Asia's Top Sustainability Superwomen

Lavina Sequera, Founding Member Soil of India is among 26 outstanding women leaders from 11 countries has been selected as Asia’san annual listing of exceptional female sustainability leaders in the region. They were chosen out of 126 nominations from 20 countries across Asia of which 4 women leaders are from India alone – the Companies recognised are Tata Steel, Tata Power, Godrej and Soil of India.

Soil of India is a destination site - for the well-being of humanity.

The 2019 List was announced by Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) CEO Tim Mohin, and ÁsthildurHjaltadóttir, GRI's Chief of Network Engagement and Regional Implementation Officer, at the recent Asia Sustainability Reporting Summit in Singapore.

A Sustainability Superwoman is one who leads change through sustainability strategies and initiatives within her organisation as well as outside. An international jury reviews and assesses the nominations to identify the winners.

Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen is a non-profit project initiated by CSRWorks International, Singapore’s most trusted name in sustainability consulting, training and thought leadership. The project’s purpose is to recognise and honour the contribution of exceptional women leaders who are driving change to make the world a better place.

[caption id="attachment_134898" align="alignright" width="300"] Lavina Sequera
Image - Angel.co[/caption]

Speaking about the award, Lavina Sequera said, “It is an honour to be recognized for our work at Soil of India www.soilofindia.com, that supports artisans at risk, the well-being of our planet and its people. I am particularly proud to share that with over 20 million artisans in India, Soil of India in the last 7 years has laid the foundation to create ‘The World’s Largest Sustainable Lifestyle Store, both online and offline’.

A Social Enterprise, SOIL is committed to supporting the cause of inclusive growth (among over 20 million artisans across India) and all natural, ecological lifestyle merchandise, for valuable and conscientious customers of the world.

Initiated in 2012, this B - C project took over 5 years to curate, travelling into the gut of India to identify and build a robust supply chain of Artisans and their amazing handmade merchandise, and was officially launched on 15th August, 2018.

Unlike any other, SOIL is reviving the lost glory of India’s vast heritage and culture by contemporizing its unique, pure and natural creations that till this day remain universally aligned, and unknowingly support the cause of the crisis of climate change and the wrought of mechanization.

Unexplored thus far, no one has fathomed the intrinsic depth and magnitude of the mosaic of India’s natural merchandise that can transform lives and lifestyles for the better, across the world. In fact, given this magnitude of India’s awesome merchandise, SOIL has laid the foundation to create ‘The World’s Largest Sustainable Lifestyle Store.

In its POC stage yet, we are seeking a Global alliance through investment in this ‘Green Project’ that will help scale both, an expanded community of Artisans, and an ever growing Customer base across the world - towards the well-being of artisan families living on the edge, peoples, and our beloved planet.

Our philosophy is anchored to the triple bottom line of – People, Planet and Profit.

“The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force of our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity”. Capt. Jean Luc Piccard.

CSRWorks International is a GRI Certified Training Provider, GRI Data Partner and a GRI Gold Community Member. CSRWorks is also IIRC’s Foundation Training Partner for approved Training in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. As EcoVadis’ CSR Expert Partner for Southeast Asia, CSRWorks provides training and advisory to suppliers participating in the EcoVadis CSR Assessment.

~ Business Wire India

[Top Image by Harry cao on Unsplash]

DST-backed SRI-TBI and Polyplex Launch Startup Accelerator for Environmental Sustainability, Waste Management & Renewable

Polyplex Corporation Limited, one of world's largest manufacturers of packaging film, and Shriram Institute - Technology Business Incubator (SRI-TBI), a Delhi-based business incubator of Shriram Institute for Industrial Research and supported by Department of science & technology (DST), Government of India, have announced that they have joined hands to run an Accelerator Program - 'CleanEdge' for Environmental Sustainability, Waste Management & Renewables. This is a four month program and will run from February 2019 till May 2019.

CleanEdge Accelerator program has started accepting applications. With rigorous evaluation 15 startups will be shortlisted to participate in this program.

Key offerings under this program are 1) High quality intensive mentorship by Startup Experts, Functional Strategy Experts, domain related technical & sector specific experts. 2) Access to State-of-the-Art pilot lab facility at SRI-TBI in Delhi & Co-working facility at Aspirelabs. 3) Access to 'Appropriate' Technology, Opportunity to raise Seed-Capital upto 25 lakhs. 4) Access to Impact investors and Potential Customers. 5) Post acceleration support.

With Polyplex and SRI-TBI as anchors, this program is also being significantly supported by Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India under its umbrella of National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) scheme launched in 2016.

Who can apply - Startups working in Clean technology but not limited to -- Circular Economy, Waste Management, Recycling & Up-cycling, Plastic & Rubber, Clean water & Clean air Technologies, Renewables, 3D Printing, Smart City Solutions, Environment Sustainability.

Polyplex Corporation Limited is among the world's largest manufacturers of packaging film with manufacturing facilities in five countries and employs over 2000 people globally. Apart from Infrastructural support, Polyplex through its network brings a high-quality business mentor pool, global linkages and market access for young startups.

Shriram Institute for Industrial Research is an organization providing research and testing services in the field of plastics, rubbers, specialty chemicals and waste management. It also helps startups grow through nurturing innovative ideas into technologies and incubating entrepreneurs through its Technology Business Incubator.

This program would be executed by Aspirelabs Accelerator - founded by Ranjit Singh - Director at Polyplex Corporation Limited and an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and BITS Pilani. Applications for CleanEdge Accelerator are now open. Program details are accessible at https://aspirelabs.com/clean-tech. Also anyone can share this article with budding entrepreneurs working in clean-tech areas in their network to help drive innovation, growth and collaboration in a socially impactful field.

Aspirelabs is a starup accelerator centrally located in Delhi-NCR with ten thousand square feet of premium office space and having access to high quality business and startup mentors. It is designed to foster entrepreneurship and innovation, and has a range of customized programs to enable young businesses and startups scale up to large profitable businesses. Aspirelabs is closely associated with Startup Oasis - a Jaipur based incubation centre of Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) which is India's leading incubator operating under the aegis of IIM Ahmedabad.

In last few years there have been number of initiatives and programs launched by organizations, young businesses, startups and even by Government of India to tackle challenges in area of environmental sustainability, Waste Management and renewable energy.

In June last year, India's Union science & technology minister Harsh Vardhan had announced that India will soon have its first international incubator to promote innovation in the field of clean energy and stimulate research, innovation, and entrepreneurship for the global initiative on clean energy. With a total investment of around $5 million, the incubator is being set up in a public-private partnership.

At the same time, Yes Bank has also launched multi sector accelerator program called YES SCALE which offers a 15 week program for startups in the areas of clean tech and Agritech, among others.

[Top Image Source - Aspire Labs@Facebook.com]

World Environment Day: 10 Indian Startups That Are Making Earth A Better Place To Live

With increasing population and urbanization, the environment has become the major concern as its condition is degrading at a rapid pace. People careless act towards the environment has led our mother Earth to bleed in pollution causing her to lose the green for which she was known for.

But this scenario seems to change as entrepreneurs are coming up with innovative ideas to protect our mother Earth. From recycling of floral waste, manufacturing of herbal clothes to providing solar energy in the household, these entrepreneurs have found the alternative to protect nature with help of their skill-set and churning this opportunity into money.On this Environment Day, We at IndianWeb2 brought to our readers of the most amazing startup of our Indian entrepreneurs who are working towards the betterment of the climate.

On this Environment Day, We at IndianWeb2 brought to our readers of the most amazing startup of our Indian entrepreneurs who are working towards the betterment of the environment.

So let's celebrate Environment Day with these 10 amazing startups:

HelpUsGreen

Preserving River Ganges By Flowercycling

Founded in 2015 by Ankit Agarwal and Karan Rastogi, HelpUsGreen is a social enterprise based in Kanpur, on a mission to save the Ganges. With the help of their startup, the duo is preserving river Ganges from becoming a religious sewer by flower-cycling. They collect floral waste from the temples and mosques in Uttar Pradesh and recycle it into patented lifestyle products providing livelihoods to 1200 rural families. The waste is handcrafted by rural women Self-help groups into patented organic fertilizer and incense sticks. According to their website, they have collected 3,35,000 kilograms of flowers from the temples and mosques and flowercycled® into organic products.

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Till date, they have prevented 997 kilograms of poisonous arsenic, lead and cadmium from the harmful farm-runoff, toxic pesticides and insecticides used to grow flowers from getting into the river Ganges. Further, they have helped 1219 rural women to earn their living and fighting the societal dogmas. Duo with the help of their startup is helping in keeping river Ganges clean and inspiring others to contribute in this deed.

Graviky Labs

Turning Pollution into Ink



Graviky Labs is one of the few carbon capturing startups in the world and only such startup in India. It is taking stock of the growing pollution situation in the country by creating paint and ink from pollution itself. The startup has built a contraption that gets connected to the exhaust on the tail pipe of a vehicle, and once it is done collecting the raw carbon, the soot, it take it through a purification process which successfully converts that air pollution into printing ink. The same procedure can be done using chimneys or boats to collect effluence and then convert that into ink. Read more this company here.

Sustain Earth

Making Rural Landscape Where Women Can Cook In Smokeless, Pollution free Condition



This innovative startup provides clean and affordable cooking gas to rural households in India using innovative biogas technology and enterprise models. With the aim to provide reliable, safe and affordable Biogas systems for rural household, Sustain Earth uses Biogas technology to provide clean cooking gas to rural communities.

They have built robust biogas technology through a user-centric design approach named Gau Gas systems. It is easy to install, more reliable and easy to maintain. They use the internet and mobile connectivity to keep track of the performance of their systems.

Green Nerds

Providing Solutions For Environmental Issues

[caption id="attachment_117435" align="aligncenter" width="700"] PECK -- A plastics PET bottle and E-waste Collection Kiosk. It act as collection point for dry waste in corporate offices, malls, public places and will offer candy as reward[/caption]

Incepted in the year 2010, Green Nerds have developed a range of technology products to control littering, segregation, manage and recycle commercial, residential, household and municipal solid waste in a scientific way. Focused on providing solutions for environmental issues, they offer a complete range of solutions and products for waste management and other environmental issues. Their solution includes development and erection of plant, equipment and technology for different types of waste management and industrial dedusting systems and technologies i.e littering management in railways, airports, malls, etc. Over the years they claim to installed closed to 100 small and large plants, products in municipalities across Karnataka and AP, and commercial, residential buildings, Temples etc.

Saahas

Leveraging Nature, People And Technology to holistically Manage Waste



Established in 2013, Saahas Zero Waste (SWZ) is a socio-environmental enterprise. Through the Zero Waste Programme they operate on-site solutions for bulk waste generators including tech parks and residential complexes. For smaller waste generators, they offer holistic waste management which includes collection and process at their units, Kasa Rasa.

Further, they have an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program where they partner with packaging companies and e-waste producers to develop and implement a reverse logistics mechanism that facilitates in bringing back large volumes of post-consumer waste into the recycling chain. Apart from this they also run a ‘closing the loop’ initiative where startup offer products made from waste including compost and a range of other recycled products like roofing sheets from recycles consumer tetra packs and gifting box made from recycled computer/mobile chipboards.

Apart from this they also run a ‘closing the loop’ initiative where startup offer products made from waste including compost and a range of other recycled products like roofing sheets, clipboards, stationary items. Backed by Indian Angel Network, SZW currently manages 25 tons of waste per day across Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Bakeys

Cutlery You Can Eat



Plastic, a petroleum by-product is more harmful to human body because of the presence of several toxins and carcinogens. Its application as food consumption utensil enhances the chances of these chemicals to get into the human system.

Founded in 2010 , Hyderabad based Bakeys worked on the innovative idea of completely removing plastic cutlery and replace it with edible ones. The edible cutlery is made from flours of less irrigation demanding crops such as jowar (sorghum). Bakey’s edible spoons come in three different flavours - sweet, plain and savoury. A set of 100 such spoons costs just Rs 300.

EcoFemme

Revitalise Menstrual Practices That Are Healthy, Affordable And Eco Positive



A women-led social enterprise, Eco Femme, founded in 2010 produce and sell washable cloth pads, provide menstrual health education to adolescents, and open dialogues on menstruation all along the way. Tamil Nadu-based startup aims to create environmental and social change through revitalizing menstrual practices that are healthy, environmentally sustainable.

Aura Herbal

Dying Naturally



Founded by Arun Baid and Sonal Baid, Aura Herbal is developing their own process of manufacturing natural textiles and dyes, sourcing herbs and other raw materials through made-to-order contracts with farmers in Madhya Pradesh and South India. Incubated in Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Aura opened its first showroom in Ahmedabad where it announced the launch of the Aura brand of the organic herbal range of apparels and accessories. Under the brand, Aura Herbal Wear company designs t-shirts, shirts, scarves, yoga apparels, eco bags, fabrics, undergarments and SPA products by using herbal dyeing process. In this process, company makes its textiles right from growing cotton to the finished product completely organic and chemical dye free.

ONergy

Providing Decentralized Energy Solutions To Underserved Households



Established in 2009, ONergy (Punam Energy Pvt. Ltd.) is a Kolkata-based social enterprise that provides decentralized energy solutions to underserved households and institutions. The company provides complete energy solutions with an entire range of solar products. Till date, ONergy claims to impacted 2,50,000 lives by providing solutions such as solar lanterns, solar home systems, solar water heating systems, solar inverters, solar street lighting, cookstoves, KW installations for households and institutions. Not only this, ONergy has also launched innovative products such as solar TV, solar computer, solar microgrids and solar irrigation systems.

It operates through a network of trained rural entrepreneurs and leveraging the existing networks of local NGOs, SHGs and MFIs. Currently, it operates across West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand through a network of RECs that reach out to remote areas.

Fourth Partner Energy

Bringing Sustainable Change By Installing Solar Grid



Founded by three partners in 2010, Fourth Partner Energy (4PEL) aims to build, develop and manage a large operating portfolio of decentralised solar power assets in India. They provide innovative products and services that harness the renewable resources at lower costs. It is a full-service Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) providing design, engineering, installation and O&M services for rooftop solar systems. They have completed over 500+ installations across multiple states in India and executed grid connected and off-grid installations with capacities ranging from 1 kWp to 500 kWp. Their customers range from a variety of industries such as educational institutions, corporates, hospitals, banks, industrial clients, and non-profit organizations.

So these are few green startups which are contributing towards the better environment and providing greener and healthy life to the masses in India. If you find any other startup who is contributing towards making greener India do mention it in comment box below.

[Top Image - Shutterstock]