International Events

Business Sustainability in India and the UK

O.P. Jindal Global University’s Jindal School of Banking and Finance (JSBF) jointly co-hosted a week long virtual study programme with Nottingham Trent University (NTU) from 18^th January’2021 to 22^nd January’2021. This has been the first internationally funded collaborative virtual event that the JSBF Office of ‘International Strategy & Mobility’ successfully co-hosted with one of the partner universities. The grant was received under the UK-India Education & Research Initiative (UKIERI). The virtual event had 6 academic lectures, 5 industry expert talks, 6 virtual visits, 8 student group workshops leading up to final presentations, and numerous social activities.

A glimpse of the virtual event

At the heart of “Agenda 2030” are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which clearly define the world we want — applying to all nations and leaving no one behind. Thus, the SDG’s paved the way with the mission of ending extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and protect our planet earth by 2030. The SDGs’ has been more inclusive than ever and there is an agreement upon where the world should be going. Fulfilling these ambitions will take an unprecedented effort by all the sectors in society — and business has to play a very important role in the process. Numerous companies have been actively integrating the SDGs into their operations as a mandate, and they are doing so by pursuing goals that go far beyond earlier concern for reputation management—for example, saving energy, developing green products, and retaining and motivating employees, all of which help companies capture short as well as long term value through growth and return on capital. With this backdrop, the theme of the study tour was decided upon “Business Sustainability in India and UK”.

The lectures were subsumed grossly into the energy sector recognising that energy is an essential commodity connecting economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability. Energy is fundamental to almost all the major challenges faced globally, such as, climate change, jobs or food production. Therefore, there are noticeable benefits of having electricity access, and an obvious upgrading in welfare. Accessibility and affordability to clean energy for all is the 7th sustainable development goal (SDG). Thus, SDG 7 aims to bring balance to this huge imbalance by ensuring substantial increase in reliable clean energy (renewable) services by the year 2030 all across the globe. The renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass energy), is inexhaustible and causes relatively lesser pollution. Keeping up with the global debate on sustainable development, the United Kingdom has been predominantly increasing its power generation from renewable sources. This could reduce UK’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 54% in the last decade. However, despite of increased challenge and awareness, electricity sector in India is predominantly dependent on thermal power, thereby accounting for almost 60% of the environmental pollution. The primary deliberations driving India towards renewable technologies relate to the need for reduction of local air pollution, attain energy security for mass, lowering dependence on traditional age old means of energy, and accelerating employment generation. India has been recognised as the fourth largest market for renewable technologies in future. The lectures during the event emphasized upon the SDG’s and the global economy, economics, financial and political facets of the growing energy sector in both the nations.  The key speakers were Dr Armin Rosencranz (Dean of Environental Sustainability school at JGU); Dr. DV Ramana (Professor, XIMB); and Mr. Bimlendra Jha (ex-CEO of Tata Steel).

20 students participated in the events from 8 schools of O.P. Jindal Global University, and 20 students participated from NTU. The students were divided into total 5 groups (each comprising of 8 students equally from both the institutes). Each group was given a company. The companies were- E.ON, Sofies Group, Cheesecake Energy, Torrent Power, and Jindal Power. The five companies chosen operate for the most part in the UK and India. It started with a briefing section with a top-level representative from the company, setting out an overview of the company and their current products and markets. Each of the company projects takes a slightly different focus, but they all hinge upon sustainability and aim to support fulfilment of the SDG targets. At the end of these briefings two or three questions were posed to the students for conducting research and generate some ideas to provide feedback to the company in a group presentation.

All the students attended the lecture series and briefing insights from the 3 UK companies and 2 Indian companies chosen. In addition, they were given an opportunity to clarify their doubts and pose questions to their respective Academic Mentors in a series of preparation workshops. These workshops enabled the groups to use the information gained through the lecture series and briefing sessions to produce the presentation at the end of the event. The aim of this assessment was to provide the students with an opportunity to research upon the operations, sustainability initiatives, and consider the opportunities that energy companies face in the UK and India.

The four day long program has been immensely insightful and a great learning experience for the students, as summarized by one of the students of our university.

An Ode to the Week that was…

Kaainat Pundir
One, an architectural marvel- a floating mandala of glass and steel

In the midst of vast lands of green,

And the other- a hub of education in the center

Of the hustle and bustle of Nottingham.

Two institutes of education, learning and excellence.

Separated by seas, these centers

Came together to learn, grow and experience.

It was a match made and supported by UKIERI.

Fueled by enthusiastic students,

Who dialed in from across UK

and the subcontinent,

Some in the middle of the day.

Others opened their laptops and eyes to grey winter mornings.

A slow and shy start to week with some whispered introductions

But, time and team-work blossomed into long term friendships.

Differences in sports, eating and travel preferences paved way for common grounds.

Conflicting time zones could do little to hamper their progress.

Long brainstorming sessions, shared workloads and amped up spirits,

Turned an academic program into a cultural extravaganza.

Days started with traveling the world from the comforts of our beds;

It ended with fun and games, enjoyed with a mutual humor.

Much can be said of the week that was.

But that left unsaid, speaks volumes of the time it was.

Speakers

Radha Daniel

Sophies Group

Radha has a background in advertising and design but for the last 10 years has applied her communication and engagement skills to facilitating businesses of all sizes to embrace the resource and cost saving opportunities available from using circular economy business models.

Radha has previously delivered industrial symbiosis projects in the UK as well as in Brazil, Hungary, Belgium and South Africa for the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme.  Since then, she has worked as a senior consultant and business advisor, working with clients in facilities management, corporate banking, food and drink manufacture, the Third Sector and waste management brokerage. 

Radha collaborates with Sofies as an expert on projects by sharing her experience on the identification of practical innovative solutions to resource challenges.  She also delivers workshops and training sessions for Sofies to share knowledge through real-world case studies. 

Aldilla Dharmasasmita

NTU

 Aldilla Dharmasasmita focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) competencies in the Business School curriculum, ensuring that future leaders have the appropriate skills in positively impacting societies and the natural environment in their business practices. Her focus areas include developing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) courses to be embedded in the curriculum. A project Al has developed and managed with the Green Academy team at NTU for the past seven years, the Sustainability in Practice Certificate (SiP), has currently been integrated across the whole nine (9) Schools at NTU, and it was a Finalist in the UK Green Gown Award for 2014 and 2017. Al is also currently doing her NTU-sponsored PhD whilst developing the SAIL course from scratch. She obtained her MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (MSc in CSR) after gaining a full-tuition scholarship from the University of Nottingham, following achieving her BA(Hons) in Business (Operations and Data Analysis) from Nottingham Trent University. Al believes in the importance of looking at things systemically, as we are all connected, we are all part of a whole.

Dr. Armin Rosencranz

Dean, JSES

Prof. (Dr.) Armin Rosencranz is a lawyer and political scientist (AB, Princeton; JD, MA, PhD Stanford). He has taught at Berkeley(1987-94) and Stanford (1994-2012). He founded and led an international environmental NGO, Pacific Environment (1987-96). At Stanford, his courses were listed in ten departments, from history to biology, and he received three teaching awards. He is the co-author of Environmental Law and Policy in India (3d ed. forthcoming) and Climate Change Science and Policy( 2010). He has had five Fulbright grants, a program record.

Mr. Bimlendra Jha

Ex-CEO, Tata Steel

Mr. Bimlendra Jha is a corporate leader, turnaround specialist and now an entrepreneur with nearly 3 decades spent with the Tata Group. Most recently, he served as MD/CEO of Ambuja Cement. Prior to which he was CEO of Tata Steel UK. During the course of his tenure in Europe, Bimlendra was responsible for re-structuring several under-performing assets using his expertise in Theory of Constraints to turn them to profitability and eventually sell them off.

Dr DV Ramana

Professor, XIMB

Dr. Ramana is Professor of Accounting at Xavier Institute of Management. His research areas include Financial Reporting Practices in India, Financial and Regulatory Aspects of Power Sector and Capital flows & the Local economy. He has published various articles and books in these areas.

Students Groups

Academic Mentors

Kaainat Pundir
B.A. LLB (2016-21)
Jindal Global Law School

“The program was a unique chance at not only learning from the top academics but also, to gain practical exposure to the problems faced by companies, through direct interactions with industry experts. The constant learning and problem-solving kept us as academic mentors on our toes. Stimulating excited brainstorming was a challenge made easier by the efficient planning by the organizers coupled with the students’ enthusiasm. I was very proud of the final presentations which were enriched with innovative and thoroughly reality-checked ideas. The daily game nights and virtual tours were the cherry on top which allowed for cross-cultural bonding outside class-timings. I am happy to have forged strong friendships through this program!”

Mitrajit Biswas

PhD Student

Jindal Global Business School

The experience professionally and academically was amazing. It was nice to work across cultures and listen to different perspectives and manage them giving respect to the opinion of all of them. A thoroughly learning and immersive experience to be cherished for a lifetime

Participants

Divyanshu Jindal

Masters in International Relations (2019-21)

Jindal School of International Affairs 

The COVID pandemic has changed the way we connect and nowhere is this more visible than in the education sector. However, as we need to continuously move ahead and find new ways to learn and engage, coordinating and encouraging students to come together becomes an important task. The NTU-JGU Virtual program has been a great opportunity for students like me to engage with other students not just from different schools of JGU, but also with students from Nottingham. Throughout the program we received many valuable insights in the field of climate change, sustainability, energy as well as socio-economic and political factors related to these fields. I personally enjoyed learning about an upcoming technology to store energy through a greener and sustainable way and presenting the case study with my insights and ideas to the representative of the company Cheesecake Energy Limited for the market opportunities of their storage technology in India. I also enjoyed various activities like the pub quiz as well as the team interaction sessions which helped me in understanding different aspects of student life in UK. Many thanks to all the coordinators especially Prof. Soumyadip, Rachel and Chris for making this program possible. 

Parvej

Masters in Public Policy (2019-21)

Jindal School of Government and Public Policy

JGU-NTU Programme on “Comparative study of energy markets in India and UK” provided me the exposure in emerging energy scenario especially renewables in India and UK. It was an insightful journey with team-working, social activities, and lectures making it a true-learning experience. The much needed exposure with the industry and working on business case was a crucial ingredient to the program. It helped me to work in a team setting to work for a business/policy issue with people of diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Yuvraj Singh

B.Com (2019-22)

Jindal School of Banking and Finance

Being a part of a program like “Business Sustainability in India and the UK within the Energy Sector” program organized in collaboration between Nottingham Trent University, UK and OP Jindal University, India, and funded by UKIERI, I feel really privileged to have this excellent opportunity. I really enjoyed the curriculum and got the chance to work closely with Jindal Steel Power limited. It also gave me a chance to know about the importance of sustainability goals and understand the importance of business from a sustainability point. I will cherish all the memories forever and would thank JSBF for this opportunity.

Sanjeev Ramakrishnan

BA/BBA LLB (Hons.) (2018-23)

Jindal Global Law School

The JGU-NTU Virtual Program was an extremely insightful experience. It helped me develop a better understanding of the relevance of sustainability in conducting business operations effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, since the teams consisted of members from different cultural backgrounds, it gave me an opportunity to appreciate the multiple approaches, perspectives and ideas to achieve corporate sustainability.