Urban biodiversity conservation at TCS
Preserving nature and biodiversity
TCS recognises that environmental impact and climate change are among the key sustainability risks to businesses and society, affecting economic stability, ecology, and vulnerable communities. As one of the largest IT service providers globally, with business operations spanning multiple continents, its approach to longer-term sustainable growth and stakeholder value creation integrates environmental stewardship into its business strategy.
In 1992, JRD Tata outlined the need for a greater focus on sustainability within the Tata group: “I believe that the social responsibility of our industrial enterprises should now extend, even beyond serving people, to the environment. This need is now fairly well recognised, but there is still considerable scope for most industrial ventures to extend their support not only to human beings but also to the land, to the forests, to the waters and to the creatures that inhabit them.”
TCS conducts biodiversity assessments through scientific methods at its campuses. Our approach encompasses biodiversity mapping, planning initiatives, and disclosures. Biodiversity mapping includes the identification, restoration, and enhancement of habitats; conducting surveys of flora and fauna, and identification of RET species, migratory species, feeding guilds, and the like; and adhering to the laws dealing with biodiversity protection. Our planning Initiatives include defining the scope and location for mapping, determining requirements based on mapping, identifying implementation requirements, and finding the right implementation partners. Our disclosures include business responsibility and sustainability reports and an integrated annual report.
Committing to its vision, TCS has previously and continues to develop biologically diversified landscapes. Key highlights include:
Through the biodiversity initiatives undertaken within TCS, it focuses on the protection of native plant species and the transplantation of trees during the construction phase; the creation, restoration, and protection of habitats; the establishment of medicinal gardens; the provision of a greenhouse, a nursery, or indoor plants; the greening the office program, or the plantation drive; the protection and plantation of native flowering, or of fruit trees; the protection of rare, endangered, and threatened (RET) species; the conservation of a bat colony; the creation of a butterfly zone; a bird habitat improvement program; a care for nature program; the vaccination and sterilization of street dogs (within the campus); and wildlife rescue and release.
TCS has drafted a nature and biodiversity policy, which broadly outlines its commitment towards nature and biodiversity conservation. A model biodiversity action plan is being developed to provide guidelines for assessing, monitoring, measuring, and reporting biodiversity aspects in line with international frameworks, such as the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
The Aalingana Working Group (AWG) has proposed four projects to be executed by groups of Tata companies based on interest. These include: