Chairman's Message

Dear friends,

As I pen the message, I pleasantly realize that, 2009 is going to be a watershed year in the annals of the Centre. We will be completing five years as one of CII's centres of excellence, committed to offer advisory services for a sustainable tomorrow.

As we look back, our hearts brim with gratitude and are humbled at the excellent support & participation of all our stakeholders. I appreciate all the Councils and thank the Council Chairmen - Dr Prem C Jain, Mr Pradeep Dhobale, Mr N K Ranganath, Mr Ramesh Kymal, Mr Pradeep Mallick and Mr Vijay Chandok for all their cooperation.

Over the past five years, CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, in a significant way has been playing a catalytic role in underlining the need and importance of ecologically sustainable business pursuits and demonstrating that going green makes business sense.

Fostering and promoting green building movement in India is one of the key areas of the Centre. The green building movement spearheaded by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) offers optimism, as green buildings can play a key role towards environmentalsustainability.

I am optimistic that the day is not far, when embracing green buildings will be the order of the day and green buildings would emerge as a mainstream construction activity.

The launch of the IGBC-Green Home Rating System & the Indian versions of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building ratings ushered a change in the growth of the green building movement in India. I am glad to mention that, as on date, 322 green building projects have been registered with a total builtup area of 17.66 Million square meters (190 Million sq.ft.) and 32 green building projects certified with the LEED rating.

I am confident that the other new rating systems to be launched by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) will add greater impetus towards accelerating the green building movement in India.

It is encouraging that the path-breaking initiative titled-Mission on Sustainable Growth (MSG), aiming to take onboard the captains of Indian industry to pursue ecologically sustainable business growth models, is evoking positive response from all sectors of Indian industry.

I am delighted to mention that 220 companies in India have signed the CII-Code for Ecologically Sustainable Business Growth and have committed to reduce the consumption of energy, water and other natural resources and promote ecologically sustainable growth in their companies and I hope many more will join the initiative. We aspire to transform this initiative into a national movement and stand in the forefront of promoting ecologically sustainable business growth models in India.

In line with the MSG initiative, we have released the 'India's Ecological Footprint - A Business Perspective', an in-depth report focusing India's Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, and the implications of current and future trends for Indian industry.

The report is the first of its kind in India, prepared jointly by Global Footprint Network, USA & CII with the support of World Wide Fund for Nature- India (WWF-India). I hope the report will create awareness and accelerate action towards ecologically sustainable growth in the country.

New Ventures India (NVI) is another promising initiative of the centre, offering hope to promising sustainable SMEs and nurturing them into a viable business proposition. New Ventures initiative has facilitated investments in nine sustainable enterprises to the tune of USD 20 Million and is bound to substantially increase its activities in the days to come.

An international project on Capacity Building on Cleaner Production in Hyderabad region, Andhra Pradesh is another key initiative of the Centre. We have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute for capacity building on cleaner production in the Hyderabad region. This project isexpected to go a long way towards fostering and promoting cleaner technologies in industry.

The energy efficiency initiatives deserve a special mention. CII-Godrej GBC, till date, has conducted 1000 energy audits resulting in annual recurring savings of Rs 2000 Million and the World Class Energy Efficiency activities in cement, power, & pulp & paper sectors is progressing well.

I am delighted to announce that the Centre has received the prestigious 2009 Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Award under the NGO category. This Award was created by the Aspen Institute Global Leadership Network, aiming to recognize and reward excellence for those making significant contributions to innovation, implementation, and communication of energy and environmental solutions.

We are also the recipient of the Certificate of Appreciation for Achievement in promoting International Trade from the United States Department of Commerce.realizing the vision of the Centre to facilitate India become one of the global leaders in green businesses by 2015.

Best regards

Jamshyd N Godrej