Indian companies on net zero path, says survey

Indian companies are increasingly investing in energy efficient technologies to achieve net-zero targets. A new survey by ABB highlights that a whopping 98% of respondents are either already investing or planning to invest in energy efficiency, while one-third of them plan to make improvements this year. Nearly two-thirds (63%) plan to achieve their respective Net Zero targets within five years. 

The major driving factors for energy efficiency investment were cost savings, corporate sustainability commitments, and increased competitiveness. Just under a third plan to make energy efficiency improvements this year (32%), with a further 63% planning to make them within the next 2 to 3 years, said the survey that was conducted online by Sapio Research, targeting over 2,000 companies in 13 countries including India. 

The study that interviewed companies across sectors including, manufacturing, transportation and heavy industries, comes in the wake of an April 2022 UN report calling for concerted action from countries to cut greenhouse emissions at a faster rate. 

India announced its commitments to fight climate change at the Glasgow COP26 conference in November, last year, pledging to cut its emissions to net-zero by 2070 while targeting to meet 50% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030. In alignment with this, one of the key findings of the survey reveals that Indian industries are increasing investments in energy efficiency in the next five years, as the crucial race towards Net Zero intensifies. 

“The results show that a large percentage of companies are confident of investing in energy-efficient technologies, setting India on the right track to fulfill its key commitments to fight climate change,” said Sanjeev Arora, President, Motion Business Area, ABB India. 

According to a May 2022 report by Gartner, unlike in the past, CEOs placed environmental sustainability in their top 10 strategic business priorities for 2022-23, over 74% of CEOs agreed that increasing environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts attracts investors toward their companies. 

“Sustainability, they believe, can drive business efficiency and revenue growth and also appears as a competitive differentiator for CEOs. It is on the same level as brand trust among respondents,” said Mark Raskino, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. 

An EY report published in February 2022, mentioned that a large proportion of top companies in India — especially in IT and manufacturing and many conglomerates are already on the pathway to a Net Zero future, citing over 64 companies are well on their way to achieving Net Zero carbon emissions and 28 of them have had their Net Zero targets validated.