Our planet has enough to cater to all our needs, but not enough to cater to our greed - these words by Mahatma Gandhi seem to encapsulate the very ethos of sustainability.
There is a distinct and definite connection between sustainability, and resource constraints and the global economy. At the start of the first industrial revolution, the world had one billion people and abundant resources, so the focus of businesses was on economic growth by improving labor productivity via machines. Since then, businesses have rapidly and extensively altered the ecosystems and their capacity to sustain life, and have mindlessly depleted the natural resources. It is important to note that if this trajectory is to continue, the planet will reach 9 billion people by year 2050 and will need resources equivalent to 2.3 planets to sustain life. This phenomenon will have a potentially catastrophic impact on the global economy. Hence, there is a palpable urgency for businesses to take responsibility for their actions and start focusing on resource productivity.
According to the WBCSD report Vision 2050, a sustainable world is defined as one in which the global population is living well and within the limits of the planet, that is a world where people have access to the basic needs of food, water, shelter, education, healthcare, mobility, energy, consumer goods, and so on, in a fashion that causes no further harm to biodiversity, climate or other ecosystems.

The pathways to this sustainable world will throw up huge opportunities in three areas which have the maximum impact on the ecological footprint, namely buildings, transport and food. To capitalize on these opportunities, business will have to think differently. They will require innovations in designs, improvement in operational efficiencies, and changes in behavior and consumption patterns. Sustainability will be the key driver for innovation, helping create new business models, opening up new markets, creating competitive advantage, and improving profitability. In this context, businesses should endeavor to find solutions by changing the conversation from cost, burden, and sacrifice to profits, jobs, and competitive advantage.

The first step towards addressing this issue is to articulate ambitious goals and not merely incremental ones. Recognizing that energy saved is energy gained, Infosys has decided to reduce its per capita energy consumption by a factor of 2X from 2007 levels. The organization has taken up a target to become carbon neutral and is working with regulators at all levels to make open access a reality, so that entrepreneurs can set up green utilities and consumers can have a choice to buy green power. On the water side, aiming to design campuses which can survive only on rainwater and recycled water has seen some early success in a couple of our new campuses. The goal of converting each of our campuses into biodiversity parks has begun. Infosys is already working with vendors to green its supply chain.
Lastly, no corporate actions can be successful unless there is employee participation, so the challenge has been taken up for spreading awareness amongst all employees on their need to reduce their ecological footprint. A system has been set up to capture and report the energy, water, paper and travel footprint of every individual.
In an IT company like Infosys, 75% of the carbon footprint comes from electricity consumption, hence all our future buildings will be high performance and intelligent buildings powered by cutting edge technology. These climate responsive buildings will have insulated walls and high performance windows with light shelves and shading devices. They will use natural daylight and ventilation. The buildings will be powered by new technologies like LED lights and radiant cooling systems using only 50% of the current energy. The building operations will be optimized using smart sensors and the occupants will be educated to tolerate slightly higher set points to reduce energy consumption. Intelligent power strips will enable users to switch off their plug loads over SMS, in case they forget to do so before leaving the office for the day.
What started off as a drive to contain our ecological footprint has now morphed into a viable business offering in providing smart solutions to our clients. Many other companies will start seeing similar translation of internal initiatives into larger business opportunities.
Besides the environmental aspects of this rather multi-dimensional issue, another driver for sustainable business development in the world will be social inequity. At the World Economic Forum in 2008, Bill Gates called for creative capitalism - "an approach where governments, businesses and non-profits work together to stretch the reach of market forces, so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world's inequities".
Businesses will have to come up with new models and technology to effectively tap into the four billion people at the 'bottom of the Pyramid'. Business will have to treat them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs as well as value-demanding consumers, as the poor of the today become the middle class of tomorrow. Corporate social responsibility, rather than being a cost, a constraint or a charitable deed, will become a source of opportunity, innovation, and competitive advantage.
A WWF and CII report "for a living planet" sums up, that corporations can derive sustainability value and increase business value at the same time, if they have a strong leadership team that can identify opportunities within the array of risks and challenges that are radically different from those prevailing in current times.
In conclusion, it is safe to assert that there is not an iota of doubt that sustainability is one of the most pressing issues at hand these days for all business leaders; and it is about time we commit ourselves to action.