Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility spends up but still behind education, healthcare and rural projects

As per the data, in the year 2019-20, between 2014-15 and 2019-20, Rs 4,345.45 crore was spent on environmental sustainability while Rs 27,990 crore was spent on education and Rs 16,702 crore, and Rs 9,862.76 crore was spent on healthcare and rural development projects.

The data shows that the spending on environmental sustainability improved by about 70 percent from 2014-15 to 2019-20. In contrast, it increased by 145 percent for education, 134.50 percent for healthcare, and 96 percent for rural development.

“Many companies respond to needs expressed by communities and/or governments, which largely prioritise urgent needs such as health, education livelihoods while undervaluing important needs such as gender equality, environmental sustainability, etc.,” said the report.

It added that sectors such as clean energy, water conservation and agroforestry require a level of technical knowledge and domain knowledge to assess solutions that CSR may not always possess.

However, environmental sustainability stands higher compared to a minuscule amount for gender equality (0.37 percent), sports (1.25 percent), agro-forestry (0.27 percent), and technology incubators (0.14 percent).

In the top 100 companies for CSR spending in India, Infosys, Tata Chemicals, ITC, Vedanta, JSW Steel, NTPC, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, HCL Technologies and others are spending on the environment, shows a report by The CSR Journal.

CSR initiatives toward the environment predominantly include afforestation, reforestation, setting up waste-to-energy plants, recycling and river cleaning, among others.