Tata Technologies, TVS Motor Company, Others Comment on Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing - World Environment Day

World Environment Day is the most renowned day for environmental action. Since 1974, it has been celebrated every year in more than 100 countries; engaging governments, businesses, celebrities and citizens to focus their efforts on a pressing environmental issue. Above all, World Environment Day offers a global platform for inspiring positive change. It recognizes that global change requires a global community.  It pushes for individuals to think about the way they consume; for businesses to develop greener models; for farmers and manufacturers to produce more sustainably; for governments to safeguard wild spaces; for educators to inspire students to live in harmony with the Earth; and for youth to become fierce gatekeepers of a green future.  It requires all of us for creating awareness about the conservation of our environment.

Sustainability is the need of the hour in all business practices. We need more far sighted, innovative and creative solutions to address the environment challenges to ensure a cleaner and greener future for the future generation.  To achieve long-term sustainability, we need to approach the environment, climate, economy and society as inseparable parts of the same entity.  Making businesses more sustainable starts with being aware of the issue at hand and understanding just how important it is to make changes — both for the business and the planet.  To avert negative impact on climate, industries, in particular, are looking a long-standing commitment for sustainable environment.

Commenting on the World Environment Day, a spokesperson from TVS Motor Company said, “With a population of over 1.34 billion, India needs a well-integrated and transformative mobility system that is equitable, affordable as well as efficient and sustainable.  As a responsible manufacturer, TVS Motor Company is committed to create green mobility by developing suitable technology, products, and business solutions.  It is our endeavour to not only delight our customers with best-in-class product offerings but also ensure sustainability across all our operations.  Over the last 20 years, we have been tirelessly working towards implementing best practices to eliminate any impact on environment in our manufacturing processes, supply chain, dealers.  Some of the energy conservation measures that the company is progressively undertaking development of technologies including alternative materials, weight reduction, cost reduction, and improvement of fuel economy; development of new technologies in the areas of Hybrid and Electric power trains. The company has also been at forefront of introducing alternate mobility options by offering cleaner, greener sustainable future mobility solution. TVS Motor Company recently launched electric scooter - TVS iQube Electric and ethanol based TVS Apache RTR 200 Fi E100.   At our manufacturing units, we have consciously set aside and developed one-third of the area outside each of our factory buildings as green cover to restore biodiversity in these habitats.  In all, 18 farm ponds support 418 species of birds, animals, and insects along with approximately 81,000 trees around the factories and 16,375 hectares under watershed management.  As many as 443 species of vegetation thrive around the factories.

Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the social arm of TVS Motor Company, is also creating awareness about the challenges of climate change in rural communities, teaching farmers better methods of drip irrigation to save water, encouraging planting of trees in denuded patches, teaching households in villages about waste segregation and better sewage disposal.  The Trust works at grassroot level to create awareness and promote change as progress can only be sustained when the development process touches key aspects of everyone’s life.”

Mr. JK Gupta, Chief Financial Officer, Tata Technologies Ltd, commented, “In recent months, the world has witnessed several catastrophic events from the Australian wildfire to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, there is a need for concerted action on climate action, bio diversity and health, which has been encapsulated perfectly by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. In line with this, we at Tata Technologies firmly believe that business growth and sustainability can coexist together. Our vision of ‘Engineering a better world’ has constantly propelled us forward, with our capabilities in full vehicle design, right-weighting, smart manufacturing and electric vehicles enabling our customers to design, develop, manufacture and realize better products. We believe in creating products that are safe, have a low carbon footprint and deliver better experiences.

As a responsible corporate, we have also undertaken several initiatives for water conservation, waste management and energy conservation. This, along with the drive to improve overall green forest cover through tree plantations, has only re-affirmed our focus on the ecosystem and environmental conservation. The World Environment day is a timely reminder to businesses that they need to take care of the environments they operate in and back it up with decisive action. This will go a long way in ensuring that we progress towards a future which is not only driven by profitability and growth, but is also a place where our planet truly thrives.”

Mr. Prashanth Achar, CEO, GP Petroleums Ltd, said, "The year 2020 has posed as a wakeup call for the entire world. With the current state of events the theme “Time for Nature” this World Environment Day is totally apt and also a need of the hour. It is absolutely crucial for all of us to make a change and contribute in whatever way we can. We at GP Petroleums are committed to holistic development encompassing Environment, Health & Safety. We understand the importance of reducing carbon footprints especially in the lubricant sector and the role played by every individual in contributing towards global warming. There is an urgent need for good quality eco-friendly fuels and lubricants to ensure  vehicles operate with optimum efficiency and reduced emissions. The introduction of BS VI norms this year is in the right direction and we are ready with our new range of lubricants that will be suitable for BS VI compliant vehicles in the Indian market.

Our approach to sustainability involves integrating innovative economic, environmental and social business practices into our operations to deliver long term sustainability solutions to our internal and external stakeholders. We aspire to create growth opportunities that benefit not only our business partners, clients and economies, but the environment and society as well.”

Mr. Asad Lalljee, CEO, Avid Learning - the cultural philanthropy arm of the Essar Group, said “As we celebrate World environment day, I believe that it is critical to keep the conversation on sustainability alive and ongoing now more than ever with issues and concerns regarding climate change and environmental degradation growing worldwide with unprecedented changes and shifts occurring around the globe. We are at the brink of a crucial and seismic shift and we need to leverage conversations toward cultural changes around this topic and successfully usher in and showcase the spirit of sustainability.

We at Avid Learning are organizing Environment Week to mark this day through our platform @AVID Online to showcase the power of arts, as it brings to fore the many issues of sustainability the world is currently facing and highlights how practitioners and experts from the creative sector are – both individually and collectively – responding to and engaging with these matters through their work. We are excited to be participating in the global movement for change and a greener future and through such programming, we are able to facilitate conversations that could help people and the planet achieve a sustainable equilibrium."