Contact us
    Contact us
    Previous search terms

      KPMG ESG Conclave and Awards: Powered by The Economic Times

      Thought | Action | Impact

      India has clearly set its agenda for a sustainable future through its commitment to achieve SDG goals by 2030 and Net Zero by 2070, the resolve is clearly visible through the recent green budget. Similarly, corporate strategy is now closely linked to the priorities on climate change, decarbonisation, ethical supply chain, circular economy, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), on a strong foundation of good governance, and supported by robust ESG measurement, reporting and assurance.

      In this context – towards enabling greater dialogue and action, KPMG in India hosted its flagship event – KPMG ESG Conclave and Awards ’23, Powered by The Economic Times.

      The theme for this year’s event was Thought|Action|Impact which denotes strategic thought, sustainable action, and stakeholder impact. The conclave featured thought leaders from the industry and various stakeholder groups and was aimed to facilitate discussion and debate and sharing of views and emerging practices on India’s journey in E, S and G transformation.

      esg-changing-landscape-1

      Curtain raiser – 21 February 2023

      The curtain raiser was organised on 21 February in New Delhi. Mr. Amarjeet Singh, Executive Director, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) delivered the keynote address at the event. The curtain raiser was attended by several leaders from industry and other stakeholder groups, and included Aditi Haldar-Global Reporting Initiative; JB Mohapatra- Ex CBDT; Sean Kidney- Climate Bonds Initiative; to name a few. Read further in The Economic Times.

      ET_KPMG_Printable_R_06March2023

      Conclave & Awards – 13 April 2023

      ESG-event-highlights

      Winners 2023

      In all, 15 awards were given to companies across seven key sectors. The winners are:

      Hindustan Unilever Limited

      ESG Champion
      Consumer & Retail

      Cipla Limited

      ESG Champion
      Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare

      Tata Power Company Limited

      Social & Governance Initiatives
      Energy, Natural Resources & Chemicals

      UPL Limited

      Environmental Initiatives
      Energy, Natural Resources & Chemicals

      HDFC Bank Limited

      Social & Governance Initiatives
      Financial Services

      Hindalco Industries Limited

      Environmental & Social Initiatives
      Industrial Manufacturing & Automotive

      Mahindra & Mahindra Limited

      Governance Initiatives
      Industrial Manufacturing & Automotive

      Godrej Properties Limited

      Environmental & Social Initiatives
      Infrastructure & Real Estate

      Tata Consultancy Services Limited

      Environmental Initiatives
      Technology, Media & Telecom

      Wipro Limited

      Social Initiatives
      Technology, Media & Telecom

      Infosys Limited

      Governance Initiatives
      Technology, Media & Telecom
      esg-all-winners

      Winners speak

      Umang Vohra, Cipla

      The robust initiatives implemented by the Government towards ensuring a sustainable future have been commendable. Collective action by private sector companies, Government, multi-lateral agencies, and citizens of the nation will accelerate India's ESG prowess towards building a healthier, greener and a sustainable planet.”

      Alok Kumar, Tata Consultancy Services Limited

      “ The leaders of the industries should come together frequently to deliberate on ESG-related topics and discuss the best practices, sharing knowledge and learnings from each other to take the ESG effort to the next level. Now, climate clock is ticking fast, and we are running out of time.”

      Jatin Dalal, Wipro Ltd

      “ Our EGS initiative denotes strategic thought, sustainable action, and creating value for stakeholders. We think that it is critical to engage with the social challenges that face humanity. It is our conviction that the engagement with social issues must be deep, meaningful, and formed on the bedrock of long-term commitment.”
       

      Infosys

      “ The litmus of good governance is ensuring stakeholders are at the heart of creating value from inception to planning, through execution and results. At Infosys, our vision for good governance has always been to serve the interests of all our stakeholders by leading through our core values.” 

       

      Ritesh Tiwari, Hindustan Unilever Limited

      “ ESG is not a zero-sum game. All of us need to come together as an industry to make the world and society a better place. We need to put our resources together to crack technology and move ahead. Collaboration and participation across industries will genuinely take us multiple steps ahead in the area of ESG.”

      Anubhav Gupta, Godrej Properties Limited

      “ We believe that the real estate sector requires a sustainability framework across People, Process, Partnerships, Product, Profit and Planet for a comprehensive approach towards ESG parameters. A strong focus on ESG goals has the potential to translate into nationwide positive impact.”
       

      Jai Shroff, UPL

      “ Addressing climate change is one of the most urgent challenges of our times. We are reimagining sustainability by transforming agriculture into a climate positive industry – and that includes our own company. We are committed to continue to explore, learn and implement steps that would further accelerate our ESG performance.”
       

      Satish Pai, Hindalco Industries

      “When it comes to ESG, there is no competition. It is a noble work in which everyone should learn from each other and contribute. It is all about giving back to nature. Hence learning from each other is something that we all should be doing to propagate our footprint under each dimensions of ESG.”

       

      Dr. Praveer Sinha, Tata Power Company Limited

      “ For us, this is not just a necessity, but a commitment to the society and people of this country on how we can have leadership, both in thought and in action, to bring about the transition to clean energy. I think businesses, policymakers, and society at large have the responsibility to make ESG the way of life.”

       

      Ashima Bhat, HDFC Bank

      “ There can be so much learning collectively for India Inc as it is a common agenda. India Inc also has huge collective financial power to be able to bring change to deal with environment and social aspects, and if we do it jointly with the government and policy makers, there is no looking back for our country.” 


       

      Abanti Sankaranarayanan, Mahindra and Mahindra

      “ Businesses and policymakers have a very synergistic, mutually reinforcing role. Business and private sector have to take the lead because as it is their investments and initiatives that could really move the dial. But a supportive policy environment and government recognition of the need for financial and other forms of support is also important.”

      Leaders speak

      “As the pace of ESG accelerates the world over, it is time to move from the headlines to developing a roadmap for change across each of the sub-dimensions within Environment, Social and Governance. Through this Conclave, we, at KPMG in India have planned to get some of the best minds together to contribute to India’s ESG journey. The awards aim to recognise organisations who are committed to this agenda and partner with stakeholders across the ESG ecosystem to effect real change.”

      Yezdi Nagporewalla

      CEO

      KPMG in India

      “Many companies have approached ESG through reporting, while others approach ESG with a strategy and transformation lens. Through better governance, companies should bring greater convergence in strategy and reporting, and also take an integrated view to corporate reporting, rather than the current siloed financial reporting and ESG reporting, while also gearing up for mandatory assurance”

      Sai Venkateshwaran

      Partner

      KPMG in India

      “Some of the big wins in the past few years have been the dropping of renewable energy costs, increasing green finance – about $3.5 trillion of green social sustainable bonds and the opportunity narrative and the transition flowing out of these three wins.”

      Sean Kidney

      Co-Founder and CEO

      Climate Bonds Initiative

      “The downstream aspect in relation to Scope III is very important in your product design not just in its ability to reduce the carbon impact directly but how much of it is easily repairable and replaceable so that they have long-term lives, pointed out”

      Nawshir Mirza

      Independent Director

      “The biggest challenge lies in Scope 3, which is also where the large MSMEs and the bunch of Agri sector resides. They require support in terms of technology and finance – large corporates along with the government can support them to help them achieve their net zero in Scope 3.”

      Shivananda Shetty

      Partner and Head, ESG Advisory

      KPMG in India

      "With tax transparency reporting coming in within the ESG framework, we will have a better and a stronger view of how the tax behaviour of a company whether it is transparently done, whether the approach is right, whether the tax litigation strategy is right and who is taking the call on the final tax strategy, will become very clear.”

      JB Mohapatra

      Former Chairman,

      CBDT

      "We can’t think of ESG as CSR. You can put CSR for $100-200 but you can’t put $10 trillion for CSR. That is the code that needs to change. Today, proving renewables being subgrid and saving money is a core value of why it will grow and that’s where you need policy intervention, budget support, and economic analysis.”

      Tanya Singhal

      Founder

      Mynzo Carbon

      "This award is a great opportunity whereby we can encourage companies, regulators, and governments to see that this is not just technology and capital flow through investors which are important but equally important is life because businesses exist for life”

      Aditi Halder

      Director of South Asia

      Global Reporting Initiative

      Please write to us at esg@kpmg.com for more information.