Blending growth with sustainability

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: A recent one-day CEOs' forum held in New Delhi deliberated on Leader-ship for Sustainable Competitiveness. Organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in alliance with the Canadian International Development Agency, the forum aimed at making industry balance growth with sustainability. The forum also provided an opportunity for signing of an MoU between CII and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is an Amsterdam-based multi-stakeholder network devising sustainability reporting framework for organisations across the world. The MoU aims to enable industry gain knowledge on sustainability reporting.

The forum saw senior corporate executives discussing the implementation of strategic change for corporate sustainability management (CSM) in today's global business economy. The speakers presented successful tools for transforming a corporate entity into sustainable enterprise.

The brainstorming also gave an insight into various options for companies to consider for achieving sustainable competitiveness. The forum discussed business case studies where sustainable competitiveness has been successfully inducted in the system. Business models for CSM, strategies for addressing risks and opportunities with today's economic, environmental and social imperatives, and stakeholder engagement and integration of management systems were also part of the discussion.

The meet was also attended by Prem Chand Gupta, minister of state for company affairs, who suggested that sustainability competitiveness be considered by the industry for its and country' s overall growth. He added, “If an economy cannot remain competitive on sustainable basis, it cannot expect sustainable growth, as business and investment will start moving to other economies which are more competitive.”

Admitting this, Y C Deveshwar, president, CII and chairman, ITC Ltd, said that the challenge is to secure the desired quality and pace of development, not only economically but also socially and environmentally. “As the nation embarks on an ambitious journey of economic growth, this is also the right time to engage with the broader scope of growth — namely sustainable development. The need of the hour for the Indian industry is to play a proactive role towards achieving sustainable growth.”