#CelebrateDifferently Urges Citizens ToTake Action Against Climate Change
- Launches #CelebrateDifferently, a citizens’ movement to empower them to take action
India, Chennai, June 4th, 2019: On World Environment Day, the Mahindra Group reinforced its long-term
commitment toward the environment with the announcement of its ‘citizens’
movement’ initiative- #CelebrateDifferently. Part of the larger theme of
#RiseAgainstClimateChange, Mahindra’s new initiative aims to motivate citizens
to plant a tree to celebrate the joyous milestones in their lives. Alternately,
individuals who are not able to do so, can simply like, share or comment on
#CelebrateDifferently and Mahindra will plant a tree on their behalf as a part
of the Mahindra Hariyali initiative.
 |
(L-R) Bittu
Sahgal, Editor Sanctuary Asia and Founder, Sanctuary Nature Foundation, Soha
Ali Khan, Ruzbeh Irani, President Group Communications and Ethics & Chief
Brand Officer, Mahindra Group, Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer,
Mahindra Group
|
Planting trees,
including improving forest management, conservation, and regeneration, will
help offset India's annual greenhouse gas emissions, as well as providing a
host of wider environmental and socio-economic benefits.
Reiterating his
thoughts on environment preservation, Anirban
Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group, stated, “We will truly
overcome the challenges posed byclimate change only if we engage every citizen
of India to join the movement. We are delighted o provide a platform for fellow
Indians, particularly millennials, to contribute towards building a greener
India. This would also enable the nation to meet its commitment to create a
carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons as promised inthe Paris Climate Change Agreement.
We are all in it together to #CelebrateDifferently by giving back more than we
take from our planet!”
 |
(L-R) Ruzbeh Irani, President Group Communications
and Ethics & Chief Brand Officer, Mahindra Group, Soha Ali Khan and Anirban
Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group
|
“The World will
always need people who think differently – what better way to celebrate a
birthday than by planting a tree? Our commitment is to support them, for the
benefit of everyone,” said Ruzbeh Irani,
President Group Communications and Ethics & Chief Brand Officer, Mahindra
Group
Under the Mahindra Hariyali
project, the group hasplanted more than 16 million trees in the past 12 years
with an annual commitment to plant 1 million trees every year. With this
campaign, Mahindra group aims to motivate every citizen to be a part of this action,
which will lead to realizing the aspiration i.e. ‘A Tree for Every Indian.’
Bittu Sahgal, Editor Sanctuary Asia and Founder, Sanctuary Nature
Foundation, added, “Our climate crisis is real,
and India is on track to be one of the most affected nations in the world on
account of our large population that is cramped into a finite
subcontinent. But within our cultures and our values lies the power to
unite and fix what must be recognized as an existential problem. The
opportunity lies in naturally regenerating India's ecological systems -
mountains, coasts, forests, grasslands, rivers, wetlands and lakes - that gave
rise to our ancient civilization and making it a part of our celebration is a
good starting point.”
The biggest challenge
from a climate perspective is to become net carbon neutral or net carbon
positive by the second half of the century and all of Mahindra’s commitments
are a step towards this goal. Mahindra Group is committed to be 100% carbon
neutral by 2040. Twenty companies of the Mahindra Group have committed to
science-based targets that are in line with the decarbonization required to keep
global temperature increase below 2°C.
The Mahindra Group is a USD 20.7 billion federation of companies that
enables people to rise through innovative mobility solutions, driving rural
prosperity, enhancing urban living, nurturing new businesses and fostering
communities. It enjoys a leadership position in utility vehicles, information
technology, financial services and vacation ownership in India and is the
world’s largest tractor company, by volume. It also enjoys a strong presence in
agribusiness, aerospace, commercial vehicles, components, defense, logistics,
real estate, renewable energy, speedboats and steel, amongst other businesses.
Headquartered in India, Mahindra employs over 2,40,000 people across 100
countries.
