Circular economy offers a clear and credible pathway to achieve sustainably — one that equally puts focus on people, the planet and profit, said experts at Sankalp Global2021.

While deliberating about issues around sustainability, experts stressed the need for businesses to rapidly adopt industry best practices from across the globe. Forward-looking firms will leverage the idea of sustainability and circular economy, the panel said.

The virtual event, held from October 12-14, brought entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers on a platform to share ideas and grow together.

Rene Van Berkel, Representative, Regional Office, UNIDO India, said the long-term benefits of the circular economy has to be explained to all stakeholders in the ecosystem, especially consumers as their involvement is crucial for a broader acceptance of the idea. “The textile and apparel sector is a huge industry worth $1.5 trillion. If it was a country, it would have been the 14th largest country in the world or of the same size as that of Australia. However, the greenhouse gas emissions of the sector are about 10% of the global emissions, which exceeds those from the aviation and maritime industry clubbed together,” he said.

A circular economy focuses on reusing and recycling products and on sustainable business practices.

The Indian textile industry, traditionally a labour-intensive industry, has long been plagued by issues around sustainability. Due to a large number of informal players who are yet to join the circular economy bandwagon, the segment is often touted to be one of the major polluting industries in the country. However, industry and the government are trying to transform this.

Globally, customers are increasingly making their buying decision based on whether the raw materials in the product have been sourced sustainably or not. Being part of a circular value chain gives an added USP to products, say industry observers. The growing trend is leading to a big demand for products made by firms employing sustainability-driven practices. To address a lacuna in the market, industry bodies — including the Textile Association of India, Apparel Export Promotion Council, Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council — have taken the necessary initiatives.

India — along with Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia — is a major textile manufacturing hotspot in the APAC region. Rated as the leading foreign exchange earning sector for India, the sector is estimated to grow to $190 billion by FY26, according to IBEF research.

Another takeaway of the deliberations at Sankalp is that the nuances of a business remain critical for circular business models to be adopted at scale.

Siddharth Lulla, Lead-Corporate Strategy for the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF), emphasised the need to address perceived as well as real challenges associated with the concept. One such barrier is a lack of clear evidence of financial viability. “A circular business model that looks great on the balance sheet but does not have positive people and planned outcomes will ultimately fail to meet its potential.” Lulla said this issue is more critical in the context of manufacturing hotspots in Southeast Asia.

Freija Vermeer, Program Manager, Food Sustainability & Circular Economy, the DOEN Foundation, said stakeholders should not underestimate the effects of innovation even if it’s small. Some changes in the manufacturing processes can go a long way in achieving this goal.

Highlighting the role of business interventions, Vaishali Kulkarni, Founder & CEO, KBCols Sciences Pvt Ltd, said polyester is generally dyed at 130 degrees Celsius but with the firm’s unique technology, the required temperature has been reduced to 85 degrees. This has been beneficial for the sector. “We have seen that possibility with multiple fabrics. We now have tried almost every fabric,” she added.

For Gigi Mathews, Country Director, Enviu India, embracing circularity in the textile industry is “not an option” anymore. It has become an imperative. “There’s already pressure to consume less energy, use fewer resources and produce less waste. But it’s also important to scale and be profitable too. So, we have seen that conversation has started moving from CSR corridors to finance decision-makers,” she added.

A visual that most people cannot forget in a hurry is that of migrant workers walking back home as the coronavirus lockdown closed down cities in March 2020. The blue-collared workers had no jobs, incomes or the means to stay back in cities, and this started an exodus to their native villages.

This incident put the spotlight on a subject that had not been discussed with as much emphasis before — the need for responsible businesses and successful businesses to co-exist; the need to make worker welfare a top priority.

Nalini Shekar, Co-founder and Executive Director of Hasiru Dala, a member-based cooperative of waste pickers in Bengaluru, said the pandemic has clearly shown that businesses are not looking at sustainable human capital support. “What we need is a business with values,” she said, while speaking at the Sankalp Global Summit 2021. The virtual event, held from October 12-14, brings entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers on a platform to share ideas and grow together.

This community’s members know the nuances of sorting and grading waste and making it a tradable commodity, she says. “They are innate entrepreneurs. These are all skilled labourers who can sort and grade plastic into 74 categories, which none of us can do. We should not look at them as labour, but rather as people with skills, and we should leverage their entrepreneurial skills.”

Echoing similar sentiments, other industry experts were of the view that the system needs to work differently for informal migrant casual workers.

Rajiv Khandelwal, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Aajeevika Bureau, a non-profit organisation working with migrant communities, said if the bigger industries implement such practices, it will encourage the smaller players as well. “It is just not CSR activity, but if we do good and look after our workers and improve labour standards — not just within our factories, but also in the larger ecosystem — then our bottom line will also flourish and be healthier,” he said.

Factors such as enforcement, legal obligation, compliance, or law are simply not enough to bring equity and dignity to workers. Instead, he suggested, other standards should be set to achieve such a purpose. “These standards have to do around wages that make sure all workers have at least a living wage. There should be safety in the workplace. India has some of the most dangerous work conditions for workers, with the number of accidents and deaths at workplaces possibly being the highest anywhere in the world. Besides this, we should also make sure that there is gender parity and equality of opportunity, especially in terms of wages between men and women,” he said.

The role of corporations in ensuring that best business practices and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are implemented can bring greater dignity to workers. This has assumed even greater significance since the pandemic.

Namrata Mehra, Head of Design, Marketing & Customer Centricity Vikhroli; Lead – CSR & Sustainability, Godrej Properties Limited, said their workforce, of formal and informal migrant workers, is seen as an integral contributor to what they build. “Worker strength, in fact, is one of our proxies for company productivity across our organisation, which means that we check worker strength across each and every one of our sites at a daily level.”

She said they also check if workers can get a certification, as that would help them once they leave the site. “When we did some of these social context studies, we found that not everybody wanted to attend a course for skilling. We are now actively trying to see what we can do if they have learned on the job and if they can get a certification,” she added.

The welfare of workers is an important factor in businesses that have a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG). Even investors like to look at such companies.

Farhad Forbes, Global Chair, Family Business Network, said the investment community and large institutional investors are restricting investments in certain businesses. This is putting pressure on companies to fall in line. “As a result, many Indian companies and multinationals operating in India as well and many socially responsible Indian companies are taking this on board and feeling that they need to do something about it,” he said.

Citing the example of family businesses, which contribute significantly to India’s GDP, Forbes said getting enough family businesses on board can help to maximise the impact of this effort. “We are used to dealing with paradoxes in family businesses. We have to think about profit and purpose. And so, you can think about profit and addressing ESGs as well,” he added.

Making informal workers a part of the business chain is critical if a company wants to earn respect. Corporations can no longer treat informal workers as an “invisible” workforce, and the pandemic has driven this reality home in no uncertain terms.

Trusted operators and business ecosystems are the two major challenges that Bangladeshi startups face while attracting foreign investments, said entrepreneurship specialists.

“Most of the investors are concerned about who is operating and regulating the system, and whether it is reliable or not,” Tina Jabeen, CEO of Startup Bangladesh Limited, told a session of Sankalp Global Summit-2021 on Tuesday.

Mentioning that a new startup has to have an available market and good team, Tina said, Bangladesh is the best place to invest in a startup because the country has a very large market.

She also said since startup is not the kind of business “free to all”, entrepreneurs should know their “pros and cons” first before making the move.

Sankalp’s Global Summit is an Intellecap Initiative that brings together over 1,000 startup stakeholders from around the world to discuss, debate, and create a roadmap for development.

The session, on Tuesday, of the summit titled “Emergence & Impact of the Neo Bengal Tigers’ Startup Ecosystem” was hosted by Bangladesh Angels Network (BAN), a platform that works on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in Bangladesh by connecting local and global investors.

Ann Runnel, founder and CEO of Estonia-based Reverse Resource, said, “I have not seen a startup ecosystem in Bangladesh similar to India or Singapore. Bangladesh has a different market environment that pushes it back in attracting new foreign investments.”

On successful fundraising techniques, Sajid Rahman, founding general partner of MyAsiaVC, said an investor must know where and who needs to be approached for the funding.

Ahmed Jawad Yusuf, advisory lead at Bangladesh Angels, said Bangladesh has the third most active impact investing market in South Asia.

“Over the past five years, the startup ecosystem has been able to attract $400 million foreign direct investment. The majority of it, if not all, has an impact in solving critical social problems through technology,” he added.

Nirjhor Rahman, CEO of Bangladesh Angels, moderated the programme

Noble laureate and founder of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday emphasised on the creation of a new law for banking to help microfinance reach unbanked people and encourage the creation of social businesses. He said that currently, there is one banking law that prescribes a number of regulations for banks, most importantly of having collateral for offering loans.

“The first thing that I have been repeating for many years is that in order for microfinance to take hold in business, you have to create a new law for banking.

“Today, there is only one law for banking called banking law which defines what a bank should be. The banking law means that you have to have collateral and other requirements,” Yunus said at the 13th Sanklap Global Summit 2021.

According to him, for having a bank for the poor, there is a need for creation of a new banking structure which is not based on collateral.

“We need a complete redesign of the financial system. And within the financial system, we have to build a social business financial system-social business bank, social business investment funds, social business microcredit banks, and so on,” Yunus noted.

He also raised concerns over concentration of wealth in the hands of very few people.

Yunus said this gap can be reduced if everyone becomes an entrepreneur.

Finance is the oxygen of entrepreneurship and one cannot have entrepreneurs without having connections with the financial set-up, he said.

“Why can’t we create a new financial system, so that everyone has a connection with it. If you have a connection with it, then you change yourself and you can have a share in the wealth,” he added.

India (Maharashtra), October 11: The Sankalp Global Summit 2021, one of the world’s largest inclusive development platforms and an Intellecap initiative, will hold its 13th edition in a virtual format over the next two days.The Summit would draw 2,000+ attendees from 70+ countries, with 200+ Hours of Training, 50+ Sessions, 500+ Consultants, 200+ Investors, and over 100+ Female Founders.Over 200 speakers from around the globe will attend the summit, including two eminent Nobel Laureates, Kailash Satyarthi, Founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, and Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank.The discussions will be focused on climate resilience, ecology, circularity, financial inclusion, and sustainable development, according to Ajay Mathur, the Director General of the International Solar Alliance; Arti Ahuja, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; Parmesh Shah, Global Lead for Data Driven Digital Agriculture, World Bank; Dr. Srikanya Yathip, CEO, The Hong Kong Capital Development Fund; and Veena Reddy, Mission Director, USAIDIndia The urgency for businesses, departments, governments, and individuals to transition to an impact-driven society has never been more apparent, as demonstrated by our call to action at Sankalp this year, according to Urvashi Devidayal, Sankalp India Lead and Associate Vice President of Intellecap.

We examine the relationship between technology, capital, and women across all of our thématizing areas.The Sankalp Global Summit is at the heart of a celebration of entrepreneurship.The summit will feature deal rooms, a sleepover party, exhibition booths, literary sessions, and the Sankalp Global Awards, where top companies will be recognized.The sessions will be divided into eight high impact areas: agriculture, renewable energy and climate solutions, financial services, health and WASH, gender and livelihoods, impact investing, and blended finance, and the future of work.

The Sankalp Forum was established in India in 2009 by Intellecap, a division of the Aavishkaar Group, to develop a vibrant ecosystem for business-led inclusive growth Sankalp has built one of the world’s biggest impact enterprise-focused websites, covering three continents, that has showcased and found 1800+ entrepreneurs, in 25+ editions, and connected them to 600+ investors.Sankalp has helped businesses and entrepreneurs thrive, receiving over USD 270 million in grants and disbursing over USD 870,000 in cash grants.Governments, Corporations, influential forums like the G8 and G20, media, and civil society are collaborating with Sankalp Forum to drive a paradigm shift in inclusive development theories.Intellecap, a part of the Aavishkaar Group, is a pioneer in creating and nurturing resilient and equitable societies.Intellecap, founded in 2002, works in key sectors such as Agriculture, Livelihoods, Climate Change, Sustainable Energy, Financial Services, Gender & Inclusion, Healthcare, Water and Sanitation, and has completed more than 500 global engagements in 40+ countries.

Sankalp Forum, one of the world’s largest inclusive development forums, brings together the community to shape how markets function for achieving the SDGs 2030.The following organizations are included in Intellecap’s list of clients, which include the United States Department of Agriculture, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, Ford Foundation, The Hans Foundation, the Doen Foundation, GIZ, DFID, Hindustan Unilever, P&G, International Finance Corporation, and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

Financial institutions in India will have to integrate climate risk considerations in their investment decisions and portfolio management to mitigate impacts

Financial institutions in India will have to integrate climate risk considerations in their investment decisions and portfolio management to mitigate impacts 

India have lost over USD 80 billion in the 20 years to 2019 due to climate change and the losses could only multiply in the coming years, a recent report has said.

Businesses and investors need to be more proactive in incorporating climate risk considerations in their operations , along with the government, which needs to include climate change resilience initiatives in its policies, said the Climate Risk Mainstreaming; Approaches for Indian Financial Institutions report by the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation .

“The country has faced intense and increased events of floods, drought, cyclones, erratic rainfall, heat (and) water stress, which has impacted livelihoods, businesses, and thus the portfolio of financial institutions,” the report said. “Hence, it is important for financial institutions to rethink their financing strategies and deploy capital with careful consideration of climate risk mainstreaming strategies.”

The study carried out by Intellecap, a financial advisory, mapped the understanding of financial institutions in India on climate risk mainstreaming requirements as well as implementation strategies.

“As of now, Indian financial institutions do not have a specific strategy to manage risks induced by extreme weather events in their operations and portfolios,” said Santosh Kumar Singh, director, energy, agriculture and climate change, Intellecap. “A majority of financial institutions suggested that it will take another 3-4 years for them to develop and consider climate risk mainstreaming models for their investments.”

For instance, in its annual survey of energy transition in developing countries in Climatescope 2020, BloombergNEF found a 12% decline in clean energy investments in 2018-19 to USD 8.5 billion. The fall was as much as 32% since the peak of USD 12.6 billion in 2017.

Policy action

Realising the gravity of the situation, India’s environment ministry in December announced forming a high-level inter-ministerial Apex Committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement (AIPA).

“The purpose of the AIPA is to generate a coordinated response on climate change matters, which ensures that India is on track to meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement, including its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs),” the ministry said in a statement.

“Climate change must be fought not in silos but in an integrated, comprehensive and holistic way,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the summit of G20 nations on November 22. “The entire world can progress faster if there is greater support of technology and finance to developing nations”.

Policy can play in coming up with climate solutions when calamities strike, Singh said. “One of the most critical aspects of managing climate risk is to understand the portfolio exposure to different sectors that are vulnerable to climate hazards and have both physical and transition risks. The next step is to disclose the exposures to these risks to larger stakeholders,” he said. “Once you start understanding and disclosing climate risk, then managing them and mainstreaming them follow.”

In the absence of any government mandate or push from the central bank, financial institutions have not been proactive in reporting exposure to climate risks or their exposure to different sectors that are vulnerable to climate hazards and risks, Singh said.

Mainstreaming climate risks

Government guidelines and regulations can push financial institutions to report their exposure to climate risks and make them act to mainstream climate risks in their portfolios and operations.

Government institutions such as the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) need to set up appropriate and dedicated climate collection data mechanisms in the country and make them available to relevant stakeholders. “These will act as inputs to scenario analysis,” Singh said. “Legitimate inputs are essential for accurate predictions and will greatly aid investors to initiate climate action.”

Climate change could cost businesses and investors across the world over USD 1.2 trillion over the next 15 years, the Intellicap report said. The private sector has a role in mitigating this, Singh said.

There has to be efforts to create climate risk indicators and modes of collecting relevant data required for climate risk modelling, which could be provided for consideration of everyone, he said. Insurance companies and credit rating agencies, for instance, could share knowledge and experience in managing climate risk owing to the nature of the business they are involved in, where it is essential to factor all important risks.

In 2015, a private sector led initiative called Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was set-up in India to help develop voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies in providing information to investors, lenders, insurers, and other stakeholders.

TCFD recommendations are intended to help build considerations of the effects of climate change into routine business and financial decisions.

Responsibility and foresight

“Their adoption can help companies demonstrate responsibility and foresight. Also, better disclosure will lead to more informed and more efficient allocation of capital,” Singh said. “Overall, 1,500 organisations globally, including over 1,340 companies with a market capitalisation of USD 12.6 trillion and financial institutions responsible for assets of USD 150 trillion have expressed support for TCFD recommendations.”

Akin to the growth in the number of organisations supporting TCFD, investor demand for companies to report information in line with the TCFD recommendations has also grown dramatically, he said.

As part of Climate Action 100+, more than 500 investors with over USD 47 trillion in assets under management are engaging the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters to strengthen their climate-related disclosures by implementing the TCFD recommendations.

In addition, many large asset managers and asset owners have asked or encouraged investee companies to report in line with the TCFD recommendations and reflected this in their investment practices or policies.

Along with recommendations, the task force has issued guidance on two topics — conducting climate-related scenario analysis and integrating climate-related risks — into existing risk management processes and disclosing those processes.

Such metrics would help financial institutions understand the process of integrating climate risks along with understanding from other organizations that are part of TCFD recommendations, Singh said.

One of India’s major efforts to curb air pollution in the country has been its dedicated focus on adopting electric mobility. In the last 10 years, the Indian automobile industry has seen a high penetration of electric mobility, especially in the private vehicle sector, including electric cars and scooters. This has been a result of combined efforts of the government and private sector, including startups and existing vehicle manufacturers. On

Women make up an overwhelming majority of the microfinance borrowers in the country – 85% share – as per a report by SIDBI and PwC India in November 2019, but there is an anomaly.Most of the microfinance players disburse loans either through the Joint Liability Group (JLG) or the Self-Help Group (SHG) model. Individual micro enterprise loans for women entrepreneurs still don’t come by that easy, given a lack of access to traditional collateral

India has around 89.5 crore people living in rural areas. The number of ATMs? 5%. According to an RBI data, out of 6 lakh villages in India, less than 30,000 villages have ATMs.To ensure financial inclusion to the last-mile consumers bereft of digital payments or even ATMs at the least, the Reserve Bank of India came up with the Business Correspondents (BC) model in 2006. BCs are retail agents deployed by banks for providing banking services at

While the coming of the vaccine is being eagerly awaited as an antidote to the pandemic, infrastructural challenges surrounding last mile delivery have been raising considerable concern. Over 150 nations had earlier joined the global COVAX scheme for fair distribution of future vaccines against COVID-19, an alliance led by WHO said in September.But how can the global community be truly prepared for effective vaccine procurement and distribution?