Climate neutrality: Infosys set an example by becoming carbon neutral company in 2020, says its president Mohit Joshi

Infosys president Mohit Joshi on Tuesday said at the India Global Forum in London that the IT major became a carbon neutral company in 2020 and it has been on a journey towards climate neutrality by using data and emerging technologies like cloud computing.

On being asked how Infosys was preparing for next green industrial revolution and dominance in that space, Joshi said his company wants to set an example as a company in guiding efforts towards climate change and the IT major became carbon neutral in 2020 itself, one of the first companies to achieve the milestone.

Speaking at India Global Forum’s Climate Finance and Technology Summit, he said Infosys has been on a journey to become a carbon neutral firm since 2009 and now the company is more focused towards ensuring how it goes towards cutting down on resource intensity and using technologies to become more green energy oriented in terms of functions.

He said Infosys has 30 million square feet of office space and of that 25 million square feet space is LEED platinum (highest rating for energy efficiency). The company, he stressed, has done tremendous work on reducing energy intensity as around 46 percent of the energy Infosys consumes in India comes from renewable sources. There has been 55 percent reduction in energy consumption per head over the past 13 to 14 years.

On the role of cloud computing in fight against climate change and achieving net zero target, the Infosys president said cloud is a very important part of the digital transformation taking place. Digital is itself is green as it has helped the whole ecosystem to move from paper based functioning to electronic ways.

Cloud overall is more efficient and there is move towards making data centres greener, he said adding that Infosys has built a data centre in Norway, which is completely green and needs no cooling due to climate in that country.

The UK-India Week is organised by India Global Forum (IGF) annually as a celebration of the myriad facets of this important bilateral relationship, which is poised at a critical point this year with the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations going full steam.