Six steps towards a sustainable future

Across campuses in India, large and small changes are driving sustainability as Capgemini heads towards being carbon neutral by no later than 2025.

From solar power to recycling food waste to grow vegetables, a host of initiatives support Capgemini’s plans for a sustainable future. Here are just six:

1. Switching to renewable power

In India, solar panels have been installed across Capgemini’s campuses. They can be seen on roofs, gazebos, pedestrian walkways and car ports. There’s even a solar-powered amphitheatre and solar-powered ‘trees’. In future, it’s planned that solar plants on campuses will help power a switch to electric vehicles – reducing carbon emissions during the commute to work.

2. Giving back surplus energy

Every day, Capgemini campuses in Bengaluru and Hyderabad return surplus energy generated from their in-house solar plants to the state electricity boards. The amount of surplus energy has increased with so many employees currently working from home because of the COVID-19 pandemic and, by the end of 2020, Capgemini expects to have exported enough surplus solar energy to power 100 households by end of 2020. These two campuses have exported 1.46 lakh kWh of electricity to the state electricity grid, enough to power 60 households for a full year.

3. Cutting down on water waste

To stop the valuable resource of water being wasted, every drop used on the campuses goes through a membrane-based treatment system. This means waste water generated within the facilities can be re-used for garden watering and toilet flushing, so no waste water is discharged outside of the campus.

4. Recycling organic waste

On-site converters turn organic waste – from food and plant materials – into compost, which is put back into the soil across the campuses’ landscape and garden areas. Employees can also take the compost home to help grow fruit and vegetables in their own gardens, or on small vegetable patches within the campus itself. Kitchen waste, too, is being converted to generate bio-gas to power kitchen appliances.

5. Getting smart about sunlight

In Chennai, Capgemini’s solar plant deploys smart light sensors to move solar panels to face the sun throughout the day, so they absorb maximum sunlight and harvest maximum energy. The plant generates around 300 kilowatts at peak power, and currently provides 20 per cent of the overall energy consumed by the campus.

6. Gifting re-usable bottles

At the start of 2020, all Capgemini colleagues in India were given the gift of a branded re-usable drinks bottle. This not only reduced the amount of single-use plastic water bottles brought onto – and disposed of – on campuses, but also greatly reduced the amount of tap water used to wash glassware. With 120,000 employees across India, it’s a small change that has made a big impact.