New sustainability initiative encourages Indian companies to become a Green Yodha and take concrete climate action

India has a robust industrial infrastructure with a huge energy requirement. According to IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, the country is the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases and is still largely dependent on coal and oil. During COP26 Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will reduce projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes (Gt) between 2021 and 2030. With these developments, Schneider Electric – which deals in digital transformation of energy management and automation – launched the sustainability engagement initiative Green Yodha in India.

The Group was also present at COP26 invited to speak at different key panels on its views and solutions necessary to meet the 1.5 degree trajectory set by the Paris Agreement, during which it distilled insights from it global decarbonization report entitled ‘Back to 2050, 1.5 is more feasible that we think’.

What is Green Yodha about?

Green Yodha will encourage and support businesses, industries and individuals to come together and take concrete climate action. This urgent call to action intends to back the increased commitment of the Indian government made at COP26. It urges energy intensive sectors – cement, iron and steel, commercial & industrial buildings, non-metallic minerals and chemical – to join forces to achieve the common goal.

Companies joining the pledge

Top companies JK Cement and UST have already become Green Yodhas. On taking the pledge to be a Green Yodha, Madhav Singhania, Deputy Managing Director & CEO, JK Cement Limited said, “To protect our planet we have set strong targets of 75% Green Power and controlling CO2 emissions in cementous product to 465kg /tonne by 2030. To enable this vision we are partnering with Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Solution to optimize Energy & Fuel Consumption, seamless integration of all energy measurement tools, adoption of digitization solutions and an integrated one stop solution for Electrical Distribution, Control & Automation. We are proud to be a Green Yodha for the planet.”

“I believe that the climate crisis demands committed leadership and universal action. It is our collective responsibility to lead by example and enact change. We congratulate Schneider Electric on the launch of the Green Yodha program. At UST, we are committed to transforming the lives and communities through technology. I am proud to say that UST is also a Green Yodha,” said Alexander Varghese, Chief Operating Officer and Country Head-India, UST.

Talking about what being a Green Yodha implies, Anil Chaudhry, M.D & CEO- Schneider Electric India Pvt Ltd. & Zone President, Greater India, said, “We welcome the commitments already made by Prime Minister Modi in COP26 towards making India Net Zero. We believe that the private sector is key in this race to a greener and fairer economy. That’s why we continue to lead the change, as a practitioner and an enabler. With Green Yodha programme, we invite all the like-minded conscious organizations to join the good fight and wish to facilitate collaboration in accelerating a positive energy transition and successfully preserve our planet. We congratulate JK Cements and UST on becoming Green Yodhas with us.”

Said Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, “I am glad that Schneider Electric has built a programme like Green Yodha that aims to provide designed energy solutions to enable industries to use innovative technologies to become energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint. We as a country need to unite to make a greener future reality and meet the SDG targets by 2030.”

Schneider Electric itself has taken strong global and local commitments to sustainability, including that of saving and avoiding 800M metric tonnes of CO2 for customers by 2025 and helping 1000 of its suppliers halve their carbon emissions by 2025. More recently, the company has announced reinforcing its sustainability consulting arm to support an increasing number of customers eager to tap into its unique expertise in energy and sustainability, including climate change and supply chain engagement advisory services.