World Environment Day: Embassy Group leads sustainability vision, data shows impact of green initiatives undertaken
National: Embassy Group, one of India’s leading real estate conglomerates, on the occasion of World Environment Day, has shared its best practices that are helping the company reduce carbon emissions. Embassy Services, the facility management arm of the Embassy group, shared data on the impact of sustainable steps taken by the company. Initiatives such as Ecogram, EcoShakti, Urban Green, and Green Riders are creating the benchmark for eco-friendly operations.
The data shared by the company reveals that, since 2017, the Embassy Group has reused over 16,20,800 KL of treated water for flushing, gardening and ancillary purposes, resulting in approximately 45% reduction in raw water consumption.
Apart from water conservation, the company is equally inclined towards systemic waste management. The company recycles over 100 tons of wet waste that is generated every month and converted to over 30 tons of compost through vermicomposting and OWCs. Recently, Embassy Group funded a dry and wet waste collection center in North Bengaluru that benefits over 18 villages under its Ecogram Initiative. For this project, the group has invested Rs. 2.25 Cr. over the last 4 years. The initiative is also bolstered by the ‘Ecogram Shakti Program’ which empowers over 50 women from these villages to drive environmental sustainability in their communities.
Thoughtful of the need to keep the surroundings green and clean, Embassy Group has introduced a unique model of engaging employees in developing a sustainable ecosystem. Under its Urban Green initiative, the company is promoting farming at the workplace. The company has over 1200 dedicated plots of land which can be adopted for a period of 6 months to grow organic vegetables. A team of experts provides necessary training and support to the employees to foster their zeal to learn sustainable farming. The Urban Green initiative yields up to 6,000 kg of vegetables annually.
Taking a step further into green practices and generating green energy, Embassy Group set up a solar power plant in Bellary that supplies close to 100MW to their three business parks across Bangalore.
Additionally, Embassy Group understands its responsibility towards its community and actively promotes carpooling to reduce traffic, noise and pollution generated from vehicles on roads. The carpooling initiative, Green Rider promotes business park users to carpool to the workplace. Through this initiative, the company has managed to reduce 544 tonnes of CO2 emissions with 22,00,000 km carpooled.
In line with this, Mr. Aditya Virwani, Chief Operating Officer, Embassy Group said- “Our aim is to create an eco-friendly environment that is driven by innovation and is the foundation to our business. While we work towards developing the country, we believe that our focus should continue in reducing carbon emissions and improving sustainability. At Embassy Group, we have always believed in creating environment friendly buildings. Most of our buildings hold Platinum certifications from LEED, British Safety Council, IGBC, etc. We are poised at continuing our endeavors to reduce carbon footprints and embrace greener communities.”
Talking about the implementation of green practices at facilities, Mr. Pradeep Lala, MD & CEO, Embassy Services said, “As custodians of facilities since 1995, we bring forth deep technical expertise to implement sustainable measures for facilities and their assets. We support and execute the operations required to maintain environmentally certified and energy efficient facilities. Compliance to these standards help us further our goals and implement scientific practices that build sustainable ecosystems.”