Remarkable changes have occurred in the recent past. The Companies Act, 2013 brought about the requirement of mandatory CSR spending in specified areas. The Paris accord of 2016 required countries to develop sustainable business practices and reduce the impact of their emissions to diminish the impact of climate change, waste and water management.
Further, in 2017, the United Nations set out an ambitious programme called sustainable development goals (SDGs), covering 17 goals and 169 interlinked targets. Attainment of SDGs requires significant effort from both the governments as well as the private sector. The SDGs have the potential to provide a framework for mobilizing companies to invest in sustainable development in an ongoing and scalable way, while also pursuing their own business interests. The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals forecast to generate market opportunities of over $12 trillion a year by 2030. Some believe it’s a conservative estimate.
Top Trends 2018
- Companies are gradually incorporating SDGs into their responsible business actions. Of the 218 companies studied, 60 companies have mapped their responsible business actions to SDGs. Nine of the top 10 companies mapped their goals to SDG.
- ENERGY – Renewable energy capacity and its utilization has geared up. While solar is the most preferred, biofuel picks up speed.
- WATER – Access to water and management of water resources continues to be a focus area for internal operations and CSR.
- WASTE – Initiatives to manage e-waste, municipal waste and plastic reuse & recycling showed an increasing trend.
- DATA – Customer data and its privacy become a material aspect in the operations of services companies. Companies typically place the accountability of maintaining confidentiality of customer data on their Board of Directors and Senior Management.
- SCORES AND RANKING – Tata Chemicals received the highest score. Scores have improved over last year. Responsibility reporting is ramping up. Manufacturing companies perform better than service companies. Public and private companies are narrowing the gap.
- CSR SPEND – Spending on CSR as well as the number of companies spending more than 2% has been rapidly increasing. Manufacturing companies spend more than service companies and private companies spend more than public companies. Companies tend to spend primarily on education and health.
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List of Contents
- Top Trends 2018
- Sustainable Development Goals in India
- Renewable Energy
- Water
- Waste
- Data Privacy
- Responsible Business Performance
- CSR Spend
- Responsibility Matrix
- Five years of ranking responsible businesses
- Methodology
Responsible Business Rankings
India’s Top 100 companies for Sustainability and CSR