Companies that use cleaner and smarter energy are more profitable than their peers, a new report said on Tuesday, underlining the business case for putting sustainability at the heart of corporate growth strategies.
The RE100 report with Capgemini Invent, which draws on 2016-17 data from a sample of 3,500 companies, shows RE100 businesses, committed to 100 per cent renewable electricity, consistently perform better than non-members on two key financial indicators: net profit margin and EBIT (Earnings Before Interests and Taxes) margin.
The difference is significant -- up to 7.7 percentage points -- and is true across all sectors, most prominently for information technology, telecommunications, construction and real estate.
In India, Dalmia Cement, Tata Motors, Infosys, Hatsun Agro Products and more recently Mahindra Holidays and Resorts committed to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy, by joining The Climate Group's RE100 campaign.
The report comes from Climate Week NYC, where for the 10th year running The Climate Group is convening business and government leaders from around the world to advance climate action.
For the first time, companies from Latin America and Turkey have joined RE100, The Climate Group's global initiative with CDP for businesses committed to 100 per cent renewable electricity.
They are the world's leading bakery company Grupo Bimbo and leading Turkish menswear retailer and manufacturer GArmen Group.
Global hospitality leader Hilton has joined EP100, The Climate Group's initiative with the Alliance to Save Energy to cut out energy waste.
RE100 member Bank of America has joined EV100, committed to additional charging infrastructure installations.
Other new RE100 joiners include Decathlon (France), Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India (India), Fuyo General Lease Co Ltd (Japan), Lyft (US) and Taiwanese skincare products company TRIDL, which also joined EP100.
"Being energy-smart and being business-smart goes hand in hand and this has to be norm, sooner rather than later to keep warming well below two degrees Celsius," The Climate Group CEO Helen Clarkson said
With the addition of new members and of PVH Corp. (Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Speedo) last week, RE100 now brings together 152 leading companies from a wide range of sectors, representing over $3.8 trillion in revenue.
Committed to sourcing 100 per cent renewable electricity for their global operations in more than 120 countries, they are creating demand for over 184 TWh of renewable energy per year -- more than enough to power New York State and Connecticut combined.
Climate Week NYC is the time and place where the world gathers to showcase amazing climate action and discusses how to do more.
Taking place from September 24-30 in New York, this is the 10th annual Climate Week NYC, run by The Climate Group in coordination with the United Nations and the City of New York.
--IANS
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