Honeywell inaugurates sustainability CoE in Madurai for partners

US-headquartered technology and engineering conglomerate, Honeywell, on Wednesday announced the inauguration of a sustainability centre of excellence (CoE) in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The CoE will be focused on developing engineering and technology-driven solutions for achieving sustainability goals, and the same will be accessible for Honeywell’s clients and partners.

In a press statement, Honeywell said that the CoE will be used in achieving the company’s internal goal of being carbon-neutral by 2035 — and also support its partners’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and targets.

Gavin Towler, vice-president and chief technology officer (CTO) of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT), said upon the inauguration that the CoE will focus on “development of capabilities to reduce carbon emissions and drive positive environmental impact through monitoring and reporting.”

Kunal Ruvala, global president of Honeywell Technology Solutions, added that “over 60% of 2021 sales, and 60% of research and development spends, were directed towards ESG-oriented outcomes” in the past two years.

The move comes as FY23 marks the first mandatory year of sustainability reporting initiatives for the top 1,000 publicly listed companies in India by market capitalization value. In May 2021, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), India’s regulatory body for securities and commodity markets, passed a circular that made it mandatory for companies of the above-mentioned stature to compulsorily publish a ‘Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report’ (BRSR), starting FY23. 

Companies with net worth of over ₹500 crore will thus be required to self-disclose their ESG risks, set sustainability related goals, and make disclosures on environmental risks — and also invest 2% of their net profit on ESG-driven corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines.

While most CSR initiatives on sustainability efforts remain in the nascency in India, investors claim that there is plenty of market incentive for startups and companies to invest in sustainability initiatives. Data from United Nations-backed sustainability body, Principles of Responsible Investment (UN-PRI) from its 2022 annual report said that its signatories have over $120 trillion in assets under management (AUM), offering a vast pool to seek investments for.

In India, industry body, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) also has an established sustainability CoE to support cross-industry initiatives in promoting such ventures.