Allcargo Greens: A Sustainability initiative

Green is good for business too! Allcargo Greens sustainability initiative plans to cut down waste, yield ecological dividends and create a culture of eco-friendliness

Global warming has reached our doorstep and climate change is a genuine threat to Planet Earth; expanding carbon footprint, shrinking water resources and loss of bio-diversity are real issues that impact our lives. When discussions about environment move out of NGO conferences and take centre-stage at the world’s biggest economic forum — the Davos Meet — it’s time for businesses to stand up for a cause and be counted among the corporates that care about the world we live in.

Birth of a movement

Committed to the cause of the environment for more than two decades, Allcargo Chairman Shashi Kiran Shetty, who was part of the Indian delegation in Davos, gathered deep insight from leading luminaries and noted environmentalists about the damage to the environment, the challenges and the roadmap for the future. The nuanced understanding of the need to preserve the environment sowed the seed of a green movement at Allcargo; the Allcargo Greens, was conceived as a dedicated initiative for green sustainability with definitive goals, which will be driven by internal as well as external stakeholders. Growing from the management’s conviction and commitment to support environmental causes under the CSR objectives of Avvashya Foundation, Allcargo Greens will now expand its wingspan into a robust initiative across group businesses and beyond to the external audience.

Contributing to a cause

At the core of Allcargo Green’s existence is the determination to make a contribution to take the global response to a critical mass and lend strength to the effort to push the tide of destruction backwards. There are the obvious challenges. Just like interests of all nations have to be taken into account when they come together, even when large and small businesses join hands for a cause, their commercial realities must be taken into account. Established industry and commerce cannot be decimated to accommodate environmental initiatives and yet saving the environment should not be derailed because of the effort it would involve.

On Allcargo’s part, clarity begins at home, and Allcargo Greens has set the ball rolling with clearly defined short-term and long-term goals. Woven into the fabric of the group’s robust CSR programme, the challenge for Allcargo Green will be to capitalise on the momentum to scale up the activities and create the desired impact.

First things first

True to the spirit of the initiative to go green as a group, the Allcargo headquarters is the first to roll out the green measures. Among the first initiatives to be implemented is making the Allcargo headquarters a no-plastic building. A concerted awareness campaign has been created to totally do away with plastic on the premises.

Steps like cutting the usage of paper significantly, switching to solar energy in an aggressive way, installing sensors and maximising energy efficiency, switching off lights and air-conditioners when offices are unoccupied have given a solid start to the conservation movement. The savings are being measured and there is a clear plan to document the impact in terms of costs and computations. Allcargo is prepared to make the investments, and more than prepared to count the returns on the investments in purely green terms. The intention is to streamline the implementation of the green measures for incremental benefits in the months and years to come.

The way ahead

As a trailblazer in the logistics industry in creating a sustainable environment, Allcargo has adopted a three-dimensional approach to the green movement — through administrative operations, through business operations and through communication. The immediate goal is to reduce the group’s carbon footprint significantly, year after year. These will serve as benchmarks for the kind of change Allcargo needs to make to its administrative and business operations in the short and long term. Anticipating challenges and resistance from internal as well as external stakeholders, Allcargo Greens has planned a strong communication campaign that will educate associates about the benefits of going green and encourage them to adopt the green measures.