CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CESD) announced INDIA’S MOST SUSTAINABLE companies at a special presentation held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 14th Jan 2013. I was present at the event which was held amidst tight security and tight timeline because the Chief Guest for the event and presenting the awards was none other than the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. The ceremony was attended by some of the most illustrious and distinguished CEOs who came to receive their awards. A total of 25 companies were rewarded in various categories.

The event which is in its 7th year, is a manifestation of a larger goal – that of creating a mechanism for visibility of those corporate initiatives that are making genuine advances toward sustainability. The role that CESD is playing is an important one as it seeks to reward companies with a comprehensive sustainability strategy and that are creating real impact.

Here is the list of companies that received the awards:

What I think can be improved…

Visibility. In spite of the President giving away the awards, the Indian mainstream media remains aloof to highlight the sustainability initiatives of the Indian companies. The question is how can CII ITC improve its presence in the media. Not one mainstream news site has reported about this event.

Passion. Everything was perfect - the setting, the agenda, the chief guest, the winning companies…but there was one major ingredient that was missing – passion. Yes, the event lacked passion.

Although CII ITC could not have done a better job in creating a more visible impact than to rope in the President of India to give away the awards and taking sustainability to the highest level, the lack of passion gave the event a “business as usual” feel. I thought sustainability’s ambition is to make a radical departure from the business as usual scenario.

The event was no longer than an hour’s proceeding with clockwork precision without much time left to network and build some relationships. But more importantly, the aim of such awards must be fulfilled – that is to motivate other companies to follow into the footsteps of the leaders…and the way to motivate them is by infusing passion and sense of fulfilment into the people that make it happen.

Dispassionate statements achieve little in that regard “….India’s growth must be inclusive that addresses the challenges of poverty alleviation, mitigating environmental degradation, climate change, and escalating energy requirements….” How many times have we heard that and yet we keep seeing policies focusing on economic parameters only! The thing is people see through the façade.

So, here are a few ways how these awards can be used to derive their full value:

1. Instead of dedicating a separate day for such awards and dispersing the crowd in a couple of hours (which many may feel as a day wasted as most make long journeys to attend such events), CII ITC can give away the awards during their flagship Sustainability Solutions Summit that run for 2 to 3 days.
2. Although bringing in the top political leadership is fine, our president didn’t do much in motivating other companies to shoot for such awards. So bringing in someone who is genuinely passionate about sustainability to give away the awards can do wonders in the commitment of the companies.
3. Report about such events in the mainstream media – better still, build a dedicated portal for sustainability news.

While standing in the line, I had a brief discussion with the Chief Sustainability Officer of one of the winning companies. On asking why some companies are not serious on sustainability issues, his reply distils the essence of the sustainability movement in India – “…see those companies don’t have many stakeholders on their backs that force them to do something for these issues…our nature of business calls for a different behaviour and stance on such issues…”

I think we need to change that!

Note: The CII-ITC Sustainability Awards are given based on rigorous assessment which involves two stages and is an eight month long assessment with 1000 man hours dedicated to it. This results in a detailed feedback report for each participant and also helps identify successful models that are replicable. The 2013 application cycle begins in April.

Related reads:

• India’s most Sustainable Companies rewarded at CII-ITC Awards
• 5 Takeaways from the CII-ITC Sustainability Solutions Summit
• Rewarding “the Good” @ CII-ITC Sustainability Awards
• At CII-ITC Sustainability Summit 2012: Post on Sustainable Agriculture
• Mainstreaming the Economics of Ecosystems @ CII ITC Sustainability Summit