Sustainability Summit 2023

Introduction

Sustainability is no longer a distant concern; it has become an urgent necessity of our time. The recent report by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, released in March of this year, unequivocally highlights the need for immediate action to avert irreversible risks. Human-induced global warming has already caused significant disruptions to our climate, and we stand at the precipice of crossing a dangerous tipping point. It is imperative that we swiftly transition away from fossil fuels and embrace a system-wide transformation to build climate resilience. The report emphasizes the importance of scaling up both mitigation and adaptation efforts, calling for a substantial increase, at least six-fold by 2030, from current levels. While the report outlines the grave consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions, it also offers hope by presenting cost-effective pathways to reduce these emissions. Achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions is crucial to limit further temperature rise. G7 countries, accounting for 40% of the global economy and 26% of emissions, have committed to achieving net zero by 2050, with China and Russia targeting 2060. India has set its sights on becoming net zero by 2070. However, the path to net zero must be navigated carefully to avoid exacerbating social inequalities.

The Mint Sustainability Summit - Charting the Most Optimal Path to a Green Economy - will convene the brightest minds in sustainability to address these critical questions. Together, we will explore the investments needed, funding mechanisms, and strategies to ensure a just transition as we chart a cost-efficient and seamless path towards a green economy.

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Agenda

1:00 PM onwards

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Guest Registrations & Lunch

2:00 PM – 2:05 PM

Welcome address

Alokesh Bhattacharyya, Deputy Managing Editor, Mint

2:05 PM – 2:30 PM

Keynote address

by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti

2:30 PM – 3:15 PM

Panel Discussion - India's new sustainability playbook

India has committed that by year 2070, it would go net zero. In other words, it will be capable of absorbing as much greenhouse gases as it emits. On paper, this sounds improbable, given the country's current dependence on coal and gas for electricity generation. Is it possible for India to meet this target? What will it take - from the government and from citizens and corporates? Plus, what policies do we need to ensure that even as we make our economy greener, we do not widen inequality? This panel will discuss India's roadmap towards Net Zero by 2070, the challenges therein, and possible pathways we can take to achieve that goal.

Panelists:

R.P. Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, Solar Energy Corporation of India

Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO, ReNew

Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW

Kanika Pal, South Asia Sustainability Director, Hindustan Unilever

Moderator: Goutam Das, Editor Long Story, Mint Primer

3:15 PM – 3:25 PM

Fireside Chat: Towards a Fossil-Free World

Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO, ReNew

Moderator: Goutam Das, Editor Long Story, Mint Primer

3:25 PM – 4:10 PM

Panel Discussion - The Future of Clean Energy in India: A 500GW Vision

Renewable energy is key to India achieving its net zero emissions goals. The country has set an ambitious target of 500 GW of renewable energy installed capacity by 2030. As of February 2023, the capacity stood at 169 GW. But interestingly, more than 90% of electricity capacity added in recent times has been of the renewable kind. While there is still time to reach the target, deep challenges need to be overcome. The primary challenge is keeping renewable power both affordable to the consumer and profitable for the generation and distribution companies. Integrating renewable energy safely and securely into the grid is another challenge, a technological one. Reliability and storage of renewable energy is also an issue that needs to be overcome. India has already spent substantial amounts of money towards this objective. What more can it do? How can the extant challenges be overcome? What are the solutions?

Panelists:

Mohit Bhargava, CEO NTPC Green Energy

Dr. Rambabu Paravastu, Chief Sustainability Officer, Greenko

Neeraj Menon, Partner, Trilegal

Sanjay Aggarwal, Managing Director, Fortum India

Moderator: Utpal Bhaskar, Associate Editor, Mint

4:10 PM – 4:50 PM

Panel Discussion: India's Green Mobility Pathway

Fossil fuel-based transportation is exacerbating the greenhouse emissions problem that India faces. While several new modes are being adopted, including electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and ethanol mixing with petrol, the adoption of such solutions in the country is still short of what it needs to be. Subsidies announced by the government for commercial transport under the FAME scheme has run into trouble. Ethanol mixing has not been as widespread, and even CNG adoption has really not become as widely adopted as needed. What is the way forward to achieve greater adoption of clean technologies in the automotive sector? Is electric here to stay? What about the charging infrastructure? When will Hydrogen come and is it a safe and feasible technology? Will ethanol 25 or higher levels of mixing help ease the situation at all?

Panelists:

Vikram Pawah, President, BMW India

Dr Aanchal Jain, CEO, PMI Electro Mobility Solutions

Pankaj Sharma, Co-Founder & Director, Log9 Materials

Shamsher Dewan, Senior Vice President & Group Head Corporate Ratings, ICRA Limited

Moderator: Alokesh Bhattacharyya, Deputy Managing Editor, Mint

4:50 PM – 5:05 PM

Tea Break

5:05 PM – 5:50 PM

Panel Discussion - Financing the Green Transition

In March this year, the Inter-governmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) submitted a damming report where it warned of severe consequences if the world does not act fast enough to control greenhouse gas emissions. One of the biggest challenges it highlighted was financing. It has been pointed out that climate finance for both mitigation and adaptation must increase by 6x. Developing nations alone need $127 billion per year by 2030 to adapt to climate change. The funds available to them now is $46 billion. How can we ensure that adequate funding is available in India? What should be the role of the World Bank and IMF? At the ground level, what is the funding scenario? How can it be improved?

Panelists:

Vivek Kumar Dewangan, Chairman and Managing Director, REC Ltd

Ritu Arora, CEO & CIO Asia, Allianz Investment Management Singapore

Kamran Khan, Managing Director and Head of ESG for Asia Pacific, Deutsche Bank

Nawal Saini, MD, Brookfield Renewable Power & Transition Group

Gauri Jauhar, Executive Director, Energy Transitions and Clean Tech Consulting, Commodity Insights, S&P Global

Moderator: Gulveen Aulakh, Senior Assistant Editor, Mint

5:50 PM – 6:00 PM

Chhattisgarh: The Sustainability Journey

Gaurav Kumar Singh, IAS Joint Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development & State Nodal Officer, RIPA, Govt. of Chhattisgarh

Moderator: Alokesh Bhattacharyya, Deputy Managing Editor, Mint

6:00 PM – 6:45 PM

Panel Discussion: Has India Inc. got its environmental, social and governance (ESG) quotient right?

India Inc has been slow initially to embrace ESG norms. With the market regulator—Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)—making Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) mandatory from the financial year 2022-23 for India’s top 1,000 listed firms, has the pace picked up? Have the companies come to understand the inherent benefits of ESG focus? There are also growing concerns about few gaming their ESG quotient to raise cheaper funds. What is the ground situation?

Panelists:

Madhulika Sharma, Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer, ITC

Sanjay Khajuria, Director, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Nestlé India

Dr. Sanjeev Panchal, Country President and MD, AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd

Dr. Pradeep Panigrahi, Head - Corporate Sustainability, Larsen & Toubro

Hetal Gandhi, Director-Research, CRISIL

Moderator: N. Madhavan, Senior Editor, Mint

6:45 PM – 7:15 PM

Keynote address

by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways

7:15 PM – Onwards

Vote of Thanks followed by Cocktails and Dinner

Guests of Honour

Shri Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways

Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Minister of Jal Shakti

Eminent Speakers

R.P. Gupta

Chairman & Managing Directo, Solar Energy Corporation of India

Mohit Bhargava

CEO NTPC, Green Energy

Neeraj Menon

Partner, Trilegal

Dr. Rambabu Paravastu

Chief Sustainability Officer, Greenko

Sanjay Khajuria

Director, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Nestle India

Sanjay Khajuria brings with him a rich and diverse experience of working with Nestlé in various leadership roles. Currently he serves as the Director - Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Nestlé India.

His role includes leading CSR, stakeholder engagement, government relations, regulatory advocacy, media relations, brand PR, issues and crisis communications.

He has steered impactful community initiatives focused on nutrition awareness, rural development, water and sanitation facilities, that has touched the lives of over 10 million beneficiaries.

Committed to working towards a Creating Shared Value, which is an intersection of Nestlé’s business and society, that integrates sustainable development into business activities. A firm believer that the health of the planet is a shared responsibility, he with his colleague are working across 4 pillars - Climate, packaging, sourcing and water, that will help accelerate Nestlé sustainability journey. Mr.Khajuria, has spearheaded behaviour change campaigns on plastic waste management and firmly believes that business can be a ‘Force for Good’.

A seasoned professional with over 31 years of exhaustive experience in the food industry, he has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in Legal and Corporate Affairs. He has also worked with DCM, Pepsi and Nestec S.A., Switzerland. He is the President of CIFTI-FICCI (Confederation of Indian Food Trade & Industry - Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), that provides institutional support for the development of Indian food processing industry.

Sanjay holds a bachelor’s degree in Science and a Degree in Law, from the University of Jammu.

Shamsher Dewan

Senior Vice President & Group Head Corporate Ratings, ICRA Limited

Vivek Kumar Dewangan

Chairman and Managing Director, REC Ltd

Sumant Sinha

Founder, Chairman and CEO, ReNew

Gauri Jauhar

Executive Director, Energy Transitions and Clean Tech Consulting, Commodity Insights, S&P Global

Ritu Arora

CEO & CIO Asia, Allianz Investment Management Singapore

Hetal Gandhi

Director-Research, CRISIL

Kanika Pal

South Asia Sustainability Director, Hindustan Unilever

Dr. Sanjeev Panchal

Country President and MD, AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd

Sanjay Aggarwal

Managing Director, Fortum India

Nawal Saini

MD, Brookfield Renewable Power & Transition Group

Arunabha Ghosh

CEO, CEEW

Gaurav Kumar Singh

IAS Joint Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development & State Nodal Officer, RIPA, Govt. of Chhattisgarh

Madhulika Sharma

Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer, ITC

Dr. Pradeep Panigrahi

Head - Corporate Sustainability, Larsen & Toubro

Dr Aanchal Jain

CEO, PMI Electro Mobility Solutions

Vikram Pawah

President, BMW India

Pankaj Sharma

Co-Founder & Director, Log9 Materials

Kamran Khan

Managing Director and Head of ESG for Asia Pacific, Deutsche Bank

Kamran Khan is Deutsche Bank’s Group-level Head of ESG in Asia Pacific. He established and heads Deutsche Bank’s ESG Centre of Excellence (COE) in Singapore. The COE works with coverage and product teams to engage clients and execute ESG transactions which meet global ESG standards while addressing the unique challenges in APAC. The COE houses cross-divisional expertise covering all areas of sustainable finance, including ESG-linked and aligned bonds, loans and derivatives as well as ESG due diligence for M&A transactions. Mr. Khan is a member of Deutsche Bank Group’s Global Sustainability Steering Committee.

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Khan established Infra-Tech Capital, an impact fund investing in companies utilizing technology to provide infrastructure services and achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals. He was previously appointed by the Obama White House to serve as the head
of global investments and operations at the US Millennium Challenge Corporation, where he led a USD 1.5-2bn annual investment program globally with responsibility for returns as well as impact.

Mr. Khan previously held senior executive roles at the World Bank and helped establish the World Bank Group regional hub in Singapore, comprising the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Insurance & Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Prior to his time at the World Bank, Mr. Khan worked on M&A transactions and advisory mandates at JP Morgan and LEK. He also served as a US Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), where he led operations for the project finance and guarantees facility.

Mr. Khan served as an Advisor on Infrastructure Finance to APEC, ASEAN, and the G-20. He has also served on the Board of Advisors at a variety of market-leading companies using technology to achieve ESG goals. He is a frequent speaker at events such as World Economic Forum, UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP), APEC Summits, and in major international media.

Mr. Khan holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business at University of Chicago, and an MS in Applied Economics and Master of Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his BS in Economics from George Mason University.