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Good Morning on June 5, 2009, was replaced with Go Green. IT companies
were going out of the bush and exhorting their employees to wear the green
coloron shirts, in spirit, and in action.
There was a gift a plant day at one company, while at another you could see
a come on bike day. At some other glass facade of a swanky multi-storey
building you could catch a CFL sale instead of a regular Scrum meet. The
purpose was to celebrate World Environment Day.
Call it CSR or scrambling to-be-seen-there, or a real awareness towards
environmental duties, June 5 throws up many images of how IT corporates are
going green.
There is a lot of talk and walk happening on green pastures.
Bellwethers and the Green Bells
On June 5, Philips employees were dressed in green. The company organized a
gift a plant and also a plant sale in order to facilitate employees to take
home little saplings. A CFL sale was also put up to commemorate the day.
Earlier, on May 14, 2009, Philips organized bike to work day, informed a
company spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Infosys Technologies organized an awareness drive by the Infosys
Voice of Youth team and the Infy Eco Club as part of WED celebration. It also
kicked off a polythene bag free commitment across all Infosys campuses
globally. This initiative seeks to ban the use of polythene bags by Infosys
employees in an effort to reduce the consumption of non-biodegradable plastics,
said a company statement.
Wipro rolled out activities across all Wipro development centers that
included creative competitions, programs on rainwater harvesting, how to reduce
individual carbon footprint, how to make recycled paper and paper bags, case
study and discussion on cleaning up of lakes, plastic collective drive,
spreading awareness about seed ball technology, planting saplings, case study on
green initiatives adopted by one of the offshore development centers at Wipro
and ecological awareness program by WWF students.
Numbers Talk
Companies like Cisco offer some beans to count too. Ciscos environment
sustainability target is to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 2012
and 25% of its emissions in 2007. It also talks about its 2006 Clinton Global
Initiative Carbon-to-Collaboration commitment for reducing emissions from
business air travel by 10% of the emissions in
FY 06. It is using its own network-based collaboration products to cut down on
business travel.
Even though Ciscos headcount and revenue have increased by at least 40%
since 2006, year-to-year GHG emissions from air travel have decreased from 4% in
2007 to less than 1% in 2008, claims the company.
Cisco has 480 TelePresence rooms across the world. So far there have been
3,04,037 meetings, of which 56,896 meetings avoided travel, saving Cisco $224 mn.
It also claims that its global supply chain management realized over $3 mn in
annual cost savings through manufacturing efficiency.
A statement released by the company says, By regrinding the excess plastic
produced during the manufacturing process, we recycle approximately 13% of the
plastic used in our IP phones, conserving materials and saving $880,000 a year.
Converting product documentation from paper manuals to CDs saves 2.7 mn sheets
of paper a year, and at least $1.2 mn. By changing the format and reducing the
font size in the printed materials, that accompany our products, we saved
approximately $1 mn in printing costs and 22 mn sheets of paper annually.
If the green calculator is out now, we have another example in form of HP
Imaging & Printing Groups ambitiously announced green targets.
HP IPG plans to reduce its carbon footprint with a clearly marked goal sheet.
On the flashback, the progress report on 2008 goals shows that it exceeded the
commitment to tripling the amount of recycled materials used in HP inkjet
printers by 2010 (relative to 2007). It is on track with its pledge that 100% of
HPs consumer photo media would be derived from certified suppliers in 2009. And
it used more than 10 mn lbs of recycled content resin in its products and
exceeded, using 10.5 mn lbs of recycled content resin in Original HP inkjet
cartridges, compared to 5 mn lbs in 2007.
As to the new goals ahead, by 2011, HP intends to use a total of 100 mn
pounds, cumulatively from 2007, of recycled plastic in printing products. As per
a company statement, By 2011, HP will utilize at least 35% recycled paper in
cardboard packaging for printers. By 2011, HP will reduce the amount of plastic
used in printer packaging by 50% (relative to 2005). There would also be new
updates to the carbon footprint calculator for printing, make it even easier for
customers to assess and reduce their environmental impact.
Critical, but Crucial
On WED, eight of ten people could be found planting saplings, but what about
the rest of 364 days? Environmental activists and enthusiasts are asking this as
they appreciate the newly-born awareness on green responsibilities. The focus
should be on maintaining this drive throughout the year, stresses Brikesh
Singh, climate campaigner, Greenpeace, Bengaluru.
Among all these, Singh picks up green buildings and energy efficiency moves
as impressive ones. These ultimately would go a long way because both the sides
of energy, be it consumption or creation, play their critical parts in
mitigating environmental damage.
Whether sincere or packaged only for WED, many of the Go Green chants are a
welcome music.
As Singh reckons, there is no lack of awarenessbe it corporate or individual
level; all that remains is that we are inactive to a large extent, as long as we
are not affected by it. Companies are coming up with smart policies, but the
good corporate citizens should be given incentives. At the same time, companies
that are harming the environment with irresponsible consumption should be
penalized, suggests Singh.
Carrot or stick, as long as the color is green, it would help. So keep going
green!
Pratima Harigunani/CMN
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
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