Tech Mahindra's Sandeep Chandna on sustainable profitability

What makes a company sustainable? This is a question that perhaps all sustainability leaders are referring back to at the moment as they witness data and insights in abundance that suggests businesses are taking part in much-needed climate action. Among consumers and organisations, there is an emphasis on the environmental impacts of enterprise, but fewer social and economic cases are made than those of climate disruption. 

Sandeep Chandna, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tech Mahindra, takes this into great consideration as he delves into the current sustainability landscape and explains the importance of social aspects and profitability for creating a sustainable world. 

Chandna shows viewers some important insights on the gender pay gap, CO2 emissions, and human rights data to set the scene for the current social issues that plague countries across the globe. He explains that it will take women around 100 years to be paid equal—when looking at current wage increases—and says that it will take more than the Earth’s resources to find everyone on the planet. 

Sustainability can be profitable or cost-saving

Profitability also comes from sustainability, according to Chandna, as he talks about the current global benefits of shifting to low-or-no-carbon fuels and the financial returns that businesses have seen as a result. 

“Something very important is that we are looking at how to bring technology across to solve all the key issues right now,” Chandna says. 

“Whether it is through 5G, cloud, AI, IoT technologies. So, we are looking at the best ways to meet these sustainability transformations. We are using emerging technologies than could be the game-changers of a sustainable future.”

What are the main issues with sustainable business?

After discussing some of the effects that sustainability has on profit and non-profit organisations, Chandna tells us why companies face these challenges. 

Some businesses are reluctant to implement sustainability strategies due to the perceived costs involved in doing so. Firms also believe that their profits would be forced to take a back seat for sustainable business to take place, but Chandna explains this is merely a misconception. 

Shortly after this, he says that sustainability should be seen as a form of value creation as opposed to valuation.