Business leaders highlighted the role of robust policies and frameworks in sustainable practices

In a drive towards sustainable practices, the focus shifts to “Governance for Sustainability.” The emphasis lies on fortifying policy and institutional frameworks to establish enduring foundations for environmentally conscious and socially responsible business practices. This strategic approach aims to integrate sustainability principles into governance structures, fostering a resilient and responsible business environment.

Efforts are being made to make businesses more eco-friendly and socially responsible. The idea is to strengthen rules and organisations to build a strong foundation for sustainable practices. This approach wants to include green and responsible principles in how these rules and organisations work, creating a strong and responsible business world.

Sandeep Chandna, Chief Sustainability Officer, Tech Mahindra, underscored the often-overlooked importance of ESG in conversations. He emphasized the impact of corporate governance on society and the economy, citing carbon footprints as a major concern. He added that the ESG process plays a crucial role in changing mindsets and lives.

Anjalee Tarapore, Head of ESG at HDFC Bank, said, “Most of the time we analyse the company’s performance based on the financial parameters. Increasingly, more companies are going to be measured based on their financial parameters and non-financial parameters as well, which is sustainability, and ESG, which are going to weigh equally to the financial parameters. ESG is very important in a merger to ensure that the company is going to complete the tasks according to the plans of the board. ESG is all about process, functions, and decisions.”

CA (Dr) Sanjeev Singhal, Chair of UNCTAD 39th and 40th sessions ISAR, “A company meeting its CSR work can only be done through good governance. In good governance, sustainable governance goals achievement will not be a challenge at all. We need to monitor the money, where it is going and whether it is making the right impact on society or not.”

Ramnath Vaidyanathan, Associate Vice President at Godrej Good & Green said, “Transparency in governance structure must be robust and should have an internal analysis mechanism.”

He further added, “The more transparent, the more disclosure, the more parties would participate in it. Board-level committees are a good measure of this. Link incentives with performance based on the ethics and other ESG parameters.”

Pratyush Panda, Head of ESG at LTI Mindtree, “Unless you measure ESG, you can’t handle it. You must measure from the top body of the company to have the best of the governance practices. People handling it should be well-learned so that they manage it with the best mechanism.”

The discussions collectively aimed to elevate the role of governance in fostering sustainable business practices.