Hyderabad, November 29, 2024: Many consumers are conscious of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and sustainability and are willing to pay more for sustainable products. A McKinsey survey said over 60% expressed their willingness to pay more for a product with sustainable packaging. In the same McKinsey Survey, 75% of millennials responded that they consider sustainability when they make a purchase. In another PwC survey, it was found that consumers were willing to pay an average of 9.7% more for sustainably produced or sourced goods.

31% of consumers revealed that their last purchase was made up of primarily “sustainable” or “environmentally responsible” items. Consumers are willing to change their buying behaviours to decrease the impact they have on the environment. Consumers are even willing to pay sustainability premiums. However, the government has not yet realised its gravity and need opined many speakers at the Road Show on Sustainability Impact Matters held at T-Hub, Madhapur

The four-city road show was organised by The Aspire Impact, a social enterprise focused on leadership and ecosystem development in social and environmental impact, in partnership with British Council, Social Alpha, NSE and T-Hub.

The roadshow which travelled to New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru reached Hyderabad today and concluded with a half-day session.

The objectives of the show were to make the Sustainability Impact and related matters such as ESG, sustainability and Impact Investing; Social Innovation; Impact Innovation, Acceleration and Entrepreneurship; Climate Ventures and ESG, Sustainability and Impact Measurement become mainstream discussions in our day-to-day conversations.

Ajit Rangnekar, the Director General of Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) and former Dean of ISB said Telangana state was strongly committed to the overall development of the society. He spoke about innovation in every sphere of life and cited ‘Intinta Innovator”(innovator in every house). Innovators from all walks of life, particularly those residing in rural Telangana, are encouraged to submit their ingenious ideas and projects, says Telangana State Innovation Cell.

The cell acts as the government’s first response to innovators, start-ups, entrepreneurs and facilitators, Ajit Rangnekar added. The programme fosters an inclusive innovation ecosystem across the state of Telangana. The main aim of this program was to cultivate a culture of innovation from a young age, including within the government itself and to propel the State forward through homegrown innovation and entrepreneurship, he added.

Sujit Jagirdar, CEO of T-Hub graced the closing of the Roadshow and gave his closing address. Yes, Sustainability Impact Matters. The area of your focus matters the most to us at T-Hub, he said. As most of the attendees of the Roadshow were first-time visitors to T-Hub, he gave an overview of the same and told them that in its 9-year journey, it incubated over 2500 startups. The impact is measured in many ways and as far as startups are concerned. Valuation is one of the ways to measure the impact of a startup. But we are not in that race now as most of the 500 startups being incubated currently at T-Hub are early-stage startups.

The world’s social and environmental challenges are causing significant global disquiet, and protests against inaction are mounting. Governments, markets, corporations and individuals are responding by embracing Impact, embedding it in every business, investment, policy and consumption decision. The impact is very important. But it is largely ignored may be due to lack of any comprehensive and standard methodology to measure it, and due to failure of markets to value it said Amit Bhatia, Founder & CEO of Aspire Impact.

But, off late things are changing. There is a growing recognition that we must value organisational performance not just on financial metrics but also on its social and environmental impact, he added

Many experts such as Vivek Subramanian, Co-founder and ED of Fourth Partner Energy; two overseas speakers Mauricio Samper, CEO, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds(SEAF), Columbia; Kieron Boyle, CEO, 100x Social Impact Accelerator and Chair, Impact Investing Institute, UK and others addressed the 40 plus gathering.

Kieron’s presence helped buttress our roadshow’s purpose to help Indian organizations accelerate their journey towards “Total Impact Performance”, learn from UK counterparts on how to design, build, scale and manage impact, and build better bridges for impact financing and impact entrepreneurship with the UK said Amit Bhatia.

Bhatia further added that we will need to change the sustainable consumer movement to encourage them to buy only sustainable goods.

New start-ups and large corporations are now increasingly embracing Impact. However, despite a strong startup ecosystem, with over 112,718 DPIIT(Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade)-recognized startups across 763 districts, 920+ incubators and accelerators, India is not among the top 10 hotspots for social innovations observed some of the speakers

India must enhance its solid foundation and build greater bridges with world leaders in social innovation. The UK is one such leader and is home to the world’s first impact wholesaler (Big Society Capital), the world’s first impact bond (Peterborough SIB), the world’s only impact investment multilateral (GSG Impact with Impact Investing Institute as the UK National Advisory Board), and home to a pioneering accelerator (LSE’s 100x Impact Accelerator). Kieron Boyle, OBE, represents all these institutions & trends, as a Board Member of BSC, NAB CEO for III and future CEO of 100x Impact Accelerator, added other speakers.

I believe the future lies in behavioural changes which are driven internally coming from Purpose and long-term sustainability rather than externally like regulations etc. This can be achieved when we can translate complex terms and concepts in a manner that a common person and child can understand. These roadshows are our attempt to help break those myths and make them commonplace, Viiveck Verma said.

A panel discussion was held on ESG, Sustainability and Impact. It was moderated by Viiveck Verma, Chief Incubation Warrior, Global Carbon Warrior.