Walk into the ‘SRR 4’ building at Intel’s sprawling 40-acre Sarjapur Ring Road campus in Bengaluru, and you will spot a welcome board. But that’s not the only purpose it serves. The board, unlike others, displays a live feed of the sustainability metrics of the building — carbon dioxide reduction, water conservation, alternative energy usage, etc.
On the day ET visited the campus where 8,000 employees work, the display board said that the smart lighting had saved 2,750 MWh till date (since the building became operational in 2019) – ‘enough to run 573K computers for 10 days’. Further, 131 mega litres of water had been recycled, which is ‘enough water for 188K homes per day’, it said. Intel is not alone. Several tech companies with a presence in India are getting increasingly conscious, of not just their top line and bottom lines, but also the green line — their environmental impact.
Companies like Intel, SAP Labs and Coforge have been leaning into the idea of a green campus, which has become part of their sustainability goals. And technology plays a key role here. Take for instance Intel India, which uses more than 10,000 sensors to track and optimise temperature, lighting, energy consumption and occupancy in its buildings, the company told ET.
The 24×7 data is analysed to improve building performance and conserve resources. For SAP Labs India, technology not only provides for smart building management systems, energy efficient equipment and digital solutions for waste management, but is also crucial to enable data-driven decision-making for sustainable outcomes, Sindhu Gangadharan, senior vice-president and managing director, SAP Labs India, told ET.
SUSTAINABLE MINDSET
Intel India has been a net water positive site for the past two years, and about five million gallons of water are recycled every year on its campuses, the company said. Water from rainwater harvesting and in-house sewage treatment facilities are used for landscape irrigation, flushing toilets and industrial purposes. Alternative energy is another focus area.
“We started out with a 75:25 ratio, where we drew 75 per cent of our power needs from the grid electricity and 25 per cent from alternative energy sources. We’re now at 35:65, using the grid to meet less than 35 per cent of our campus’s power needs and generating 65 per cent from alternative energy sources like solar panels and fuel cells,” Intel said.
The Bengaluru campus has a solid oxide fuel cell installation to meet the power needs of the buildings, labs and data centres. Food and landscaping waste are recycled into organic manure and used in gardening. Food waste is converted into biogas — 20 kg per day — which partially meets kitchen gas requirements. “Intel has a long history of leadership in corporate responsibility and sustainability.
Through our RISE (responsible, inclusion, sustainable and enabling) strategy, we strive to create a more responsible, inclusive, and sustainable future, enabled through our technology and employees,” said Gokul Subramaniam, Intel India president and vice president, client computing group.
By 2030, Intel aims to achieve net positive water use by conserving 60 billion gallons of water and funding external water restoration projects, 100 per cent renewable energy use across global manufacturing operations and conserve 4 billion kWh of energy, a 10 per cent reduction in scope 1 and scope 2 (direct and indirect) carbon emissions and zero total waste to landfills and circular economy strategies for 60 per cent of manufacturing waste streams.
MORE THAN COMPLIANCE
The buildings in Coforge’s Greater Noida campus and SAP Labs India’s facilities are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified as per US Green Building Council standards, which lay down the framework for sustainable design, construction and operation and aligned with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Coforge’s 25-acre campus, which has around 60 per cent green cover, can accommodate up to 15,000 employees.
It has 15 rainwater harvesting pits to recharge ground water, decomposers and effluent plants for waste management, high efficiency air conditioning chillers for low greenhouse gas emissions and sensor-based low-energy consuming LED lighting systems and water fixtures. Waste from the cafeterias and food court are recycled, making it a zero food-waste campus. On-campus compost plants make manure for the lawns.
“Sustainability is everybody’s job,” said Gautam Samanta, president and chief sustainability officer, Coforge. “It is our endeavour not to just take action but also create a culture and set in place systems to protect and maintain our natural resources, prevent global warming, improve environmental systems that support life on earth and drive equality in the society we live in.”
Samanta said the company reduced scope-1 greenhouse gas emissions by 19 per cent in FY23 and converted their entire fleet service to run on CNG.
It replaced lights with low energy LED units and installed double-glazed high-efficiency reflective glass to reduce heat. “All our e-waste, like computers, laptops, printers, servers, batteries, etc, is being disposed through authorised recyclers or given as charity to local accredited establishments,” Samanta said.
CORPORATE AGENDA
Both Intel and Sap Labs campuses have electric vehicle charging in frastr uctu re insta l led to facilitate and encourage employees to adopt green mobility. “We recog nise the impact businesses have on the environment and society and we aim to lead by example. We aim to reduce our ecological footprint, minimise resource consumption and inspire others to follow suit,” Gangadharan said.
A green campus is therefore important to embody the value SAP places in sustainability. Located in Whitefield, Bengaluru’s tech hub, what stands out in the sprawling campus is the ample green and open space. The campus has 60 per cent green cover and is free of single-use plastic. Home to 9,400 employees, it operates with 98 per cent green energy sources.
SAP Labs’s new campus, to come up by 2025 in Devanahalli, is being designed to be water positive and carbon positive. Solar panels installed in the campus contribute 11 per cent of energy requirements and have reduced about 680 tonne of carbon dioxide emissions every year, SAP Labs said. The buildings have heating, ventilation and airconditioning ( H VAC ) systems in place to minimise energy and water consumption, apart from lighting systems powered by ethernet for energy efficiency. SAP Labs said its carbon neutrality targets are on track, “marking a significant milestone in our sustainability journey, Gangadharan said.
This has been driven by innovations on campus to go green in everyday activities, like transitioning away from paper food coupons to an app based system, a digital printing and stationery request system, sourcing food from local farmers and communities and putting an internal carbon price on business flights. A larger goal is to achieve net-zero emissions along the value chain by 2030, in alignment with global goals of keeping temperatures within 1.5° Celsius of pre-industrial levels.
The green campus initiatives are funded from the company’s operational budget, capital investments and strategic sustainability planning, rather than from the corporate social responsibility budget. “We believe in integrating sustainability into our core business operations rather than viewing it as a charitable endeavour,” Gangadharan said.
IMPRESSIVE BENEFITS
But is creating a green campus economical? “While the initial costs of some sustainability projects may be significant, the long-term benefits in terms of reduced operational costs, improved environmental performance and positive stakeholder engagement make these initiatives economically viable,” said Gangadharan. It has also become a significant factor in attracting talent.
As people become increasingly conscious of environmental and social causes, they seek out employers with whom their personal values align.
“While we do not consciously work towards it [campus sustainability] to enhance brand reputation, but we have noticed that it makes SAP Labs India an attractive workplace for individuals who want to make a meaningful impact through their work,” Gangadharan said. Intel has a sustainability-focused employee resource group with over 50 employees.
They lead and run different programs and contests, and volunteer for energy and environment conservation activities, the company said. Last year, employees planted 3,000 saplings on the outskirts of Bengaluru. “Sustainability requires collective action, and we support our passionate employees and ecosystem partners to achieve our shared goals,” said Intel’s Subramaniam.
