By Badri Pillapakkam, Sushant Kumar, Anish Sood, Roopa Kudva
At Omidyar Network India, our purpose is to invest in bold entrepreneurs who help create a meaningful life for every Indian, particularly the Next Half Billion (NHB). The current climate related challenges pose an escalating threat. While some areas such as renewable energy, mobility, and circular economy are receiving greater attention from investors, we felt a need to establish a “test portfolio” of investments which focuses on the relatively underserved areas under “Sustainable Living”.
A Sustainable Living lens expands attention beyond the current focus on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and spotlights additional challenges that are crucial in building NHB resilience to deal with climate change. Using this lens, the agenda becomes more wide-ranging and includes the following:
1. Mitigation: Reducing GHG emissions to minimise / mitigate climate impact for the NHB
2. Adaptation: Building resilience to extreme weather events and developing a survival toolkit for a warmer planet
3. Biodiversity Loss: Preserving natural assets such as forests, water bodies, wildlife, oceans, etc., that are sources of critical livelihood for the NHB
4. Ambient Environment: Environmental concerns not related to GHG emissions/global warming e.g., PM 2.5 pollution, acidification of ground-water, soil fertility reduction, etc.
This document lays out our initial investment thesis for SustainableLiving - we will refine and update it as we understand and invest in this space more.
To download the thesis, click here
