Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Over 100 corporate heads pledge to adopt green policies and enhance quality of work life

CHENNAI: Students of Bharathiar School of Management and Entrepreneur Development released a green pledge at their annual conference ‘Axis ‘08’ organised here in association with the Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday. The pledge was endorsed by over 100 corporate heads, including those from Murugappa Group, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, TVS Group, Larsen & Toubro. Murugappa Group Vice-Chairman A.Vellayan released the copy of the pledge which was received by R.Annamalai, Director of the Department of Environment.

The declaration said that companies would adopt green policies, enhance quality of work life by nurturing occupational health and safety, shift to renewable energy and ensure ecological balance and sustainable development.

BSMED students said they would hand over the original copies of the declaration to President Pratibha Patil when she visits the Institute in Coimbatore in January.

After inaugurating the conference, Jawahar Vadivelu, Chairman of Cameo Corporate Services, observed that the onus to cut down carbon emissions to reduce the impact of global warming and climate change is on western economies today. He said this was not reason for corporates in India to wait to go green.

“Many industrialists feel that sustainable development and maximising shareholder wealth are mutually exclusive goals, but it need not be so. Sustainable development is good business as it creates opportunities for environment-friendly technology,” he said.

Mr.Jawahar added that emerging economies like China and India have to commit themselves to build an economic model for sustainable development. BSMED Vice-Chancellor G.Thiruvasagam touched upon the issue as well. He said, “By 2040, India will become one of the most populous countries in the world and poverty is likely to increase. Keeping this in mind, we have to work towards building a model to protect the environment.”

The inaugural session was followed by sessions on enhancing quality of work life by nurturing occupational health and safety.

P.K.N.Panicker, member of the Special Task Force for Industrial Development, Government of Tamil Nadu, requested corporate leaders to be transparent and forthcoming about the environmental problems they face. He also urged them to implement environment-friendly policies instead of merely talking about it. Mr.Annamalai urged companies to subscribe to reuse, reduce, and recycle policy in their offices.

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