Page 9 - CESD Annual Report 2022_Page01-46

Centre’s multistakeholder platforms help Punjab and Haryana. Out of the total 90
industry identify actionable solutions and
build resilience.
With a vision to provide cleaner air and a
better quality of life to every Indian citizen
by involving industry leaders to take
concrete steps to curb air pollution across
India, the Cleaner Air Better Life (CABL)
initiative, is being led by a dedicated
group of industry leaders named India
CEO Forum for Clean Air. With 103 CEOs as
active members, this platform is
galvanizing Indian industry to find lasting
solutions to India's deteriorating air
quality by- providing collective leadership
to industry sub-sectors for emission
reductions, enabling peer learning,
cross-fertilization of ideas, and pooling of
industry resources for high-impact
projects and undertaking proactive
engagement with government and
citizens.
Crop residue burning is a key factor
behind peak air pollution episodes across
many cities of North India. It also impacts
the rural air quality and health of farming
communities. The decades old practice of
burning, combined with the overuse of
inorganic inputs, is severely impacting soil
health, leading to lower productivity in the
long run.
The Crop Residue Management
programme under CABL has so far
reached out to 56,322 farmers in 296
villages spread across 12 districts of
CESD pioneered the Plastics-use Protocol:
thousand hectares intervened in 2021, 83%
of the farmland witnessed burning-free
sustainable agricultural practices leading
to substantial emission mitigation,
building farmers' resilience, significant
groundwater conservation, sequestration
of carbon into the soil and finally, higher
productivity with significant savings for
farmers practising in-situ rice straw
management.
The Climate Action Charter (CCAC)
facilitates businesses to lead their
sectoral climate actions and showcase
best practices to address climate risks
and has over 204 signatories from a
variety of sectors ranging from
hard-to-abate sectors to multi-sector
diversified businesses, MSMEs (180) and
the services sector.
The Centre has been working on plastics
for about 4 years now covering circular
economy aspects as well as policy and
regulatory issues. As a part of this
portfolio, the India Plastics Pact (IPP), with
a vision of a world where plastic is valued
and does not pollute the environment, is
working towards creating a unified
national framework for a circular
economy for plastics with aligned targets
and associated reporting by the plastic
businesses in India. The IPP currently
has 47 signatories (32 members
and 15 supporters) from the plastics
value chain.
Verification and Certification and works
with organisations representing different
sectors, helping them to be Single-use
Plastics (SuP) free within a decided scope
and boundary. So far, over 100 sites from
sectors like power, renewable energy,
ports & logistics, tyres, spices, aluminium,
copper, machinery etc. are certified as
SuP free.
With its vision to be a key ecosystem
player in sustainability, the Centre will
expand its portfolio through deeper
collaboration and cross-sectoral
partnerships. The Centre will continue to
forge Indian and global alliances with
relevant stakeholders, institutions and
organisations, work with a larger number
of industry partners to accelerate climate
action, mainstream ESG and integrate
sustainability into value chains.
I am sure that all stakeholders will gain
insights about the Centre's work on
sustainability, showcased in this edition of
the Annual Report, which chronicles its
journey through 2022.
Mr Chandrajit Banerjee
Director General
Confederation of Indian Industry
Commitment Towards a Sustainable Future 09