In this exclusive interview, India CSR’ Rusen Kumar speaks with Guruprakash Sastry, Associate Vice President and Head of Climate Action at Infosys, one of the global leaders in sustainability and corporate responsibility. Infosys has established itself as a pioneer in climate action by achieving carbon neutrality across its global operations for five consecutive years and implementing innovative strategies that align with global environmental goals. Guruprakash Sastry provides insights into the company’s ambitious sustainability efforts, its long-term vision, and the impactful initiatives driving its success in contributing to climate resilience and global sustainability goals.
Excerpts of an Interview:
1. Infosys has maintained carbon neutrality across its global operations for five consecutive years. Could you provide more insight into the strategies and initiatives that have enabled this accomplishment?
Infosys’ carbon neutrality is based on a unique three-pronged approach of reducing, avoiding and then offsetting emissions. Super-efficient new building designs, continuous monitoring and optimization of operations ensure minimal use of electricity, thereby reducing emissions. Adoption of renewable energy through captive solar plants and green power purchase help in avoiding emissions. The unavoidable emissions are then offset by implementing carbon offset projects. We believe this approach is essential to minimize environmental impact, delinking business growth from resource consumption, which is the need of the hour to achieve global climate goals.
2. What is Infosys’ long-term environmental vision, and what key steps is the company taking to achieve this vision?
We continue to push the envelope, set new benchmarks and drive positive societal change, beyond being responsible, when it comes to environment. When we achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, we published our ESG Vision 2030, committing to continue efforts towards climate action. Our goal is to continue to remain carbon neutral, reduce our absolute emissions and engage our value chain on climate actions. We share our best practices and experiences, collaborate with stakeholders and the wider society including academia, encourage innovation and continuous improvement towards contributing to national and global climate goals.
3. The Infosys Crescent building was honoured as one of the 100 Iconic Sustainable Buildings globally. Could you elaborate on the sustainable practices and technologies integrated into this building that contributed to its recognition?
The Infosys Crescent building is unique in many aspects. It is highly efficient, comfortable for occupants, and low on operational costs. It stands as a testament to the transformative power of sustainable practices. Through passive design strategies such as daylighting optimization, efficient insulation for walls and roof, and climate-based shading, we have minimized our dependency on artificial lighting and air-conditioning, created a space that is not only visually appealing, but also energy-efficient. Our in-house-developed innovative radiant cooling system, equipped with state-of-the-art sensors and controls, ensure healthy indoor air quality and thermal comfort while minimizing energy consumption. 100% of the wastewater is recycled and used within the premises. Rainwater recharge wells aid in improving ground water table while rainwater collected from rooftop is utilized for potable purposes, reducing dependency on municipal water source. The Infosys Crescent building is a replicable, scalable example of a super-efficient office building with a holistic approach to sustainability.
4. Can you discuss the types of carbon offset projects Infosys supports, such as renewable energy or afforestation initiatives? Are there particular regions or types of projects that Infosys focuses on more heavily?
Infosys’ carbon offset projects have been designed to create both social and environmental impact. The projects, which are being implemented since 2016, continue to benefit more than 2,64,000 families, across five states, mainly in the rural parts of India. There are two types of carbon offset projects implemented – improved cookstoves and household biogas units. While the improved cookstoves reduce the use of firewood and minimise smoke during cooking, the household biogas units provide clean cooking gas, eliminating the need for firewood in rural households. Both the projects have a positive impact on health and livelihood of people, while being beneficial to the environment through reduced emissions.
5. Could you elaborate on how Infosys’ sustainability efforts contribute to broader global environmental goals, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
Infosys’ efforts towards environmental sustainability have a far-reaching impact, covering aspects of energy, water, waste, human health and livelihoods, and are aligned to 12 UN SDGs. Energy efficiency and renewable energy significantly reduce emissions into the atmosphere thereby contributing national and global goals aligning to the Paris agreement to address climate change. Our water conservation efforts to reduce our water demand and restore ground water not only benefit Infosys premises but also have a larger positive impact on the surroundings as water is a shared resource. Our pledge to eliminate single-use plastics from our campuses has a larger purpose to address the challenge of plastic pollution globally.
6. What are some of the biggest challenges Infosys faces in pursuing its sustainability goals, and how does the company overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges is the lack of awareness and capacity in the ecosystem. Our initial efforts focused on creating awareness among the different stakeholders – internal and external – by getting global experts in areas like energy efficiency, passive design of buildings, smart monitoring, etc. Continuous engagement helped in creating capacity, while clear data from our monitoring systems gave us confidence to scale up and continue efforts. Accurate monitoring of ‘before’ and ‘after’ data for every initiative and thereby clearly demonstrating impact played a major role in getting leadership confidence and continued support. Sharing our learnings on the public domain, especially about new technologies and new initiatives created confidence in the industry and enhanced capacity in the ecosystem, which in turn helps us in scaling up our efforts further.
(CopyRight@India CSR)
