Environment Management
Overview
Our Environment Management and Social Development Group provides support in assessing the environmental and social issues and risks associated with infrastructure projects. They help us to make our investments environmentally sustainable and socially viable.
This group also assists in the monitoring and reviewing of projects throughout their term from an environmental and social perspective. In addition, it also provides evaluation and assessment services in environment management and sustainable development areas to third parties.
Sustainable Infrastructure Development
We have initiated the Inclusive Infrastructure Fund, a small corpus formed out of our own funds to support social enterprises and innovative environmental projects.
The Fund made its first equity investment in Ziqitza Healthcare Ltd., a company that provides emergency response ambulance services under an innovative business model where better-off patients cross-subsidize poorer patients. Through this fund we have also approved a second investment in a company that imparts civil construction skills to unemployed rural youth and places them directly with construction companies after training.
We are considering several other investment opportunities in areas such as rural solar lighting, municipal solid waste based biomethanation plants and innovative rural community sanitation upgradation systems.
Management of environmental and social issues
At IDFC we firmly believe that small steps go a long way in saving the environment. Our environment management systems assess and mitigate the environmental and social impacts of our investments in infrastructure projects, and minimize the environmental impact and carbon footprint of our operations through resource efficiency and conservation.
We also help investors integrate consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues into their investment decision-making and ownership practices, and thereby improve long-term returns to beneficiaries. Our active volunteering program aimed at sensitizing our employees towards environmental and social issues, is just another small step towards preserving our planet.
Environment policy framework
Under the “Go Green” initiative, we have launched an internal environment policy aimed at minimizing the environmental impact and carbon footprint of our projects. We are on course for obtaining the US Green Business Council’s LEED Gold Certification (Commercial Interiors) for our new office at Chennai and (possibly India’s first) certification for an Energy-Efficient Data Centre from TUV Rhineland, Germany.