105: Sustainability in practice: In conversation with Serbjeet Kohli, Sustainability Practice Lead, Steer

ShownotesWhat does it mean for a business to be Carbon Neutral? Did you know that the buildings businesses inhabit can sometimes have the highest impact on their carbon footprint? When businesses set ambitions to be Net Zero, what are the steps they take to get there? Does taking positive climate action mean sacrificing growth?According to @Serbjeet Kohli Sustainability Practice Lead at Steer a global infrastructure consulting firm - it means decoupling growth with a businesses carbon impact. It is about reducing the impact of carbon generated per dollar, per pound, per INR that a company earns. As is obvious sustainability was the focus of our conversation in this episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast.We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 👉🏾 ESG backlash - Serbjeet Kohli’s view that ESG or however you frame it is here to stay, that our communities and key stakeholders have set the direction of travel. The backlash is to be expected considering the huge ask, a fundamental shift in how we think, and evaluate the choices we make 👉🏾 The importance of embedding equity right at the concept state on how we design our cities, urban spaces or transportation and not start thinking about it post facto. Donor and investor imperatives👉🏾 Moving from supply side world to demand side world - taking into consideration consumer based thinking to generate more value from assets👉🏾 Addressing the Elephant in the room - the deep lack of diversity in the industry👉🏾 The ability to swiftly adapt and thriving in change has be to the motto of sustainability transition👉🏾 Future opportunities from a fast evolving sustainability landscape. And it never profitability vs sustainability, it is about doing both If you would like to listen to the podcast - head to the links in the commentsEpisode TranscriptSudha: Good morning, Serbjeet. Wonderful to have you on The Elephant in the Room Podcast today. Serbjeet: Good morning Sudha. Lovely to be here. Thank you for having me. Sudha: Okay, let's start with a quick introduction. So who are you and what do you do? Serbjeet: I'm Serbjeet Kohli. I'm the sustainability practice lead at Steer Group. I've been in the business for 15 years, been in the industry for 20 years, but the sustainability role is a new role.Serbjeet: So I'm looking to expand and establish our offer in all the markets that Steer Group operates. We are an infrastructure consulting firm who's been in this practice for over 40 years. And we supported clients, both public and private sector around the globe, essentially helping them invest in infrastructure, transport infrastructure specifically. But as we move forward in the world, the challenges that are being faced by our clients, by our economies, by our communities are getting even more complex and what we are realising is that it isn't just an infrastructure solution that can answer the questions and the challenges that are being posed on its own.Serbjeet: We need to think more widely, more sustainably and linking up different aspects of not just transport, but transport and energy, transport and energy and finance and all these solutions require fresh thinking. So that's what really our offer is, it's to bring our existing expertise, and...