Green HR Practices & ESG Audit- Going Green

                                                       * BIRENDRA K JHA

Most of the ESG Auditors,  have no idea, how  carbon emission is audited, which is  accounted from the human resources. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are the potent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They have large impacts on Earth's radiative forcing and climate. The role of human metabolic emissions has received zero attention throughout the world by the ESG Auditors as well as in the carbon emission control policy.    

However, in standard laboratory experiments conducted at Europe, this has widely been demonstrated that in a controlled environmental conditions in a climate chamber, the metabolic emissions from humans play an increasing role in regional and global warming. The average human exhales about 2.3 pounds of carbon dioxide on an average day. This is 840 pound per year or  0.42 ton per year of carbon dioxide. 

In this way, any company with total human force of 5000 employees,  shall  exhales 2100 ton of carbon dioxide in a year. This vital carbon emission measurement is missing in standard carbon emission policy as carbon footprint measurement. If this carbon emission is also accounted, then the company with a manpower of 5000 employees shall have to reduce by 45 % current carbon emission rate which is reduction required from current  2100 ton to 1155 ton. By 2030,  that is a complete reduction of 945 ton is required to be achieved. This reduction is required to be performed in seven years. Where each year the company is required to reduce equal manpower generating  135 Ton of carbon emission. This comes to 321 people. 

For reducing carbon emission annually, lean human resource deployment and accounting is required. In Indian or American plan, there is no concept of the lean human resource planning. The HR Department,  who has no lean experience background, deploys blindly people on the line.  In this way the department is  not only increasing the rate of carbon emission but also increasing the wage bill foolishly of the company. The same lean culture tool is required now to reduce the overflatter  manpower people for efficient carbon emission compliance. How lean HR culture is helpful in achieving responsible carbon emission is demonstrated in below figure where ten people jobs are only performed by three people.  

I can share here one more example. As HR Head, I never use to deploy unnecessary manpower. Whenever some department was asking for manpower, I use to audit the line through Visual Management. Instances are there, rather than increasing the manpower I have reduced aggressively the manpower by just changing the position design. 

The lean culture,  requires long years of experience. This can only be found in South Korean or Japanese company.  The traditional Indians or Americans have no idea of this system, that how carbon emission efficient,  green manpower can be deployed at the place of work to achieve green human resource management. Just look at the below diagram: 

 

There is also one alternative idea that rather than reducing manpower, company can develop healthy green pockets, where 845 tons of carbon can be absorbed by green specified plants. Trees also store carbon dioxide in their fibers helping to clean the air and reduce the negative effects that this CO2 could have had on our environment. According to the Arbor Day Foundation study, in one year a mature tree will absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen in exchange. In this rate company can plan for developing "green pockets" for discharging the responsibility of the carbon emission.  

This is advisory to the ESG Auditor, that while auditing the Environment factor in the  ESG Audit, after auditing scope one, scope two and scope three carbon emissions, the ESG Auditor shall also add one voluntary disclosure sheet on the carbon emission from the Human Resource manpower. The auditor may  put advisory note for reducing the manpower from the line. This shall be the first priority. If manpower is not reduced due to force-majeure reasons, then alternative vibrant "green pockets" can be owned and developed for developing responsible green human resource. 

 ( Birendra K Jha,  is a Pan India Practitioner on the "Social Impact Assessment Audit" & "ESG Audit".  He is a Qualified & Certified  Social Auditor from the ISAI (ICAI). He is Director of HR Lab, a Social  Audit firm.  He is based at Delhi-NCR. He overlooked at senior position as General Manager and Deputy General Manager in the previous South Korean MNC Company in India handling human resource and social audit of ESG practices for more than a decade. He may be approached at: birendrajha03@yahoo.com )