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All of us are experiencing the impact of climate change. Sustainability is the single most important human mission for this century," Kulmeet Bawa, president and managing director, SAP, Indian Subcontinent, said in a welcome note at the inaugural Mint Sustainability Action Summit 2022.
India has the highest social cost of carbon, he said, citing a study published by the Lancet Planetary Health Journal, wherein the researchers concluded that around 740,000 annual deaths in India can be attributed to the abnormally high and low temperatures.
Yet another London-based thinktank said India can lose 3-10% of gross domestic product annually by 2100 and the poverty rate may rise by 3.5% in 2040 due to climate change.
The statistics are startling, but the question is how can we bring about change? he said. “Today, a very significant majority of consumers, especially in the younger generation, are changing their purchase preferences based on sustainability. But, surprisingly, a lot many businesses are yet to sense the winds of change and realise that being environment conscious is no longer a matter of choice."
India’s focus must be to transition to clean energy to bring down 33% greenhouse gas emissions, and transition to green transport, which can help us reduce 13.5% of carbon dioxide emissions from the current transport ecosystem, and adopt a circular economy, Bawa added.
The need of the hour is a cross-industry collaboration, rapid innovation and fasttrack approach to bring our ideas to life, and start measuring and recording the sustainability to ensure the efforts are being directed in the right direction.
“Technology will definitely be playing a very crucial role in order to address these challenges and the rapid digitization that businesses are undergoing will definitely help our economy and the society at large. From a SAP standpoint, we are clearly walking the talk and that, too, at a very fast pace. Over the last two years, we have reduced our carbon emissions by 55% in our company, our e-waste has come down by 46% and we have brought down our energy consumption," Bawa said.
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