69% Of people In Bengaluru Ignore Early Signs Of poor nerve heath: P&G Nerve Health Survey [1] ­

* The national survey also revealed that while over 90% of respondents believe that healthy nerves are important, only 38% know that nerves are different from blood vessels.

September commemorates the National Nutrition Month, a reminder for a greater focus on diet and nutrition, and the role it plays to help improve our overall health and wellbeing. While malnutrition can lead to many ailments, the deficiency of B vitamins may lead to nerve damage[2].

Results of the ‘P&G Nerve Health Survey’ conducted among 1800 respondents across 12 cities, showed that over 60% of the respondents ignore early signs of poor nerve health. However, in Bengaluru, the survey brought out that 69% of respondentsignore early signs of poor nerve health, higher than the national average. Conducted by HEAL Health and Hansa Research, and supported by Procter & Gamble Health Limited, the national survey also highlights that while over 90% of the respondents believe that healthy nerves are important, only 38% know that nerves are different from blood vessels.

“Usually, people don’t take a balanced diet and they miss out on lots of other essential vitamins and ingredients, which are essential for holistic health. We often see that people suffer from nerve health but are unaware of the reasons behind it. They don’t take care of the intake of Vitamin B12 in their dietary regimen, and their problem remains. Therefore, it is essential to know the impact of Vitamin B12 on our health. And equally important to ensure to take the required amount of Vitamin B12 in your diet,”says Dr Ganapathi Bantwal, President, Endocrine Society of India.

The P&G Nerve Health Survey was conducted towards gauging the awareness levels and perceptions about nerve health and to understand if people can identify nerve related discomforts. Results revealed limited knowledge amongst the masses about nerve health. While people had experienced symptoms related to nerve damage only 50% related it to nerve health[1].

“A large population of the country today suffers from Vitamin B deficiencies without knowing the causes and the risks associated with this condition including nerve damage.  The P&G Nerve Health Survey, in association with Heal Health & Hansa Research, is an effort to increase awareness about nerve health, empower people to recognize the early symptoms and how it can be managedwith a balanced diet and supplementation”, said Milind Thatte, Managing Director - Procter & Gamble Health Limited.

B12 deficiency is extremely common in India - amongst other deficiencies - owing to malnutrition being extremely common. The reasons for these are many and largely related to diet and lifestyle [2].

“Besides other factors, people with Vitamin-B deficiencies have a higher probability for nerve impairments. Special nutritional habits or malnutrition can lead to deficiencies in certain essential vitamins, like the neurotropic-B vitamins, which play a very important role in keeping your nerves healthy and protected. Like most vitamins, B12 can’t be made by the body. Instead, it must be gotten from food and supplements. Therein lies the problem as while some people don’t consume enough vitamin B12 to meet their needs, others can’t absorb enough, no matter how much they take in. As a result, vitamin B12 deficiency is found to be relatively common, especially among older people”, says Dr Satish Khadilkar, Dean and HOD Neurology, Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences.

The national survey results also revealed that 73% of respondents relied upon vegetables and 69% of respondents relied upon fruits for vitamin B12, which are not a source[1].

Indian Marketers Embrace Change And Prioritise The Customer: Salesforce Research

* The State of Marketing report finds that 90% of Indian marketers have changed their digital engagement strategy since the pandemic. 

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today released the seventh edition of its ‘State of Marketing’ report based on a survey of over 8,200 marketing leaders worldwide. The report is focused on understanding the shifts in marketing strategies, priorities, challenges and the trajectory of marketing's digital transformation future with the recent economic and social changes. 

Key findings include: 

Marketers Embrace Change with Optimism: Emerging from a time of great upheaval, marketers are focused on a future of innovation and real-time engagement. Top three priorities for marketers in India are: Engaging with customers in real time; Creating a cohesive customer journey across channels and devices and Improving marketing ROI/attribution and improving collaboration. 68% of Indian marketers expect revenue growth at their organizations over the next 12 to 18 months.

As Customers Go Digital, Marketing Steps Up: After years’ worth of changes in customer behavior occurring over the course of months, marketers are accelerating their digital transformation. In India 91% marketers say their digital engagement strategy has completely changed or somewhat changed since the before pandemic. 

Collaboration Drives the Market-from-Anywhere Era: No longer tied to offices, a distributed workforce is reevaluating how they engage not only customers, but each other. 79% of marketing organizations in India have adopted new work collaboration technology due to the pandemic. 

Marketing Is Spelled D-A-T-A : Data empowers marketers to deliver the trusted, personalized engagement customers expect, but managing it is only becoming more complex. The average number of data sources used by marketers in India is expected to reach 32 by 2022. 

Budgets allocations continue to evolve: Majority of budgets in India go to advertising across B2C (25%) and B2B (20%) businesses. Events and sponsorships are deprioritized getting the least amount of budgets  across B2C (15%) B2B (13%) businesses. 

Challenges are afoot, though, with 73% of Indian marketers agreeing that customer expectations are more difficult to meet than they were a year ago. To adapt, marketers are leaning into the digital transformations they had initiated prior to the pandemic. In fact, 90% of Indian marketers say the pandemic changed their digital engagement strategy, and 88% say it changed their marketing channel mix.

Prioritizing things like technology, content, and skilling people for this digital first era will help marketers stay ahead. In India 61% of marketers rate employee training they receive as excellent, in comparison to the global average of 44%. 51% of these professionals choose to specialise in Data analytics and Content Marketing 

Comments on the news:

Yashdeep Vaishnav, RVP, Digital Experience, Salesforce India, said, “Over the course of a little more than a year, marketers in India have navigated changes in customer behavior that normally occur over years. The insights in this year’s State of Marketing report provide a good benchmark for what’s changed, what’s consistent, and where the art and science of marketing goes from here.”

The trends revealed in the State of Marketing report were collected from a survey of over 8,200 marketing leaders across 37 countries and six continents, including 300 from India. 

Study Reveals How The Pandemic Has Negatively Affected Working Women Of India

·         14% of women have given up their full-time job

·         44% report an adverse change in their income

* 50% report increased workload

A study undertaken by Economix Consulting Group (ECG), a niche consulting and analytics firm, unveiled a research report on the impact of COVID-19 on urban working women in India.

ECG conducted a Pan-India survey among urban working women of various professions ranging from Private Sector, Academic Professionals, Entrepreneurs and, Medical professionals to understand what effect the pandemic has had on their lives. The survey was conducted across all major cities in India in the target group age of 20-60 years.

The study examined the changes brought about by the pandemic in various aspects like working status, workload (professional and personal), productivity, income, job losses, place of work, and domestic support systems.

Some of the key findings of the study:

More Women Are Working Part Time Now:

▪       Between the two waves, 14% of respondents have been forced to move from full time to part time employment.

▪       60% of respondents working part-time have experienced a decrease in income, compared to 37% of full-time employees. Part-time working women appear to be affected more by the pandemic’s effects perhaps due to their temporary status.

Work Hours Have Changed Drastically For Women:

▪       In terms of working hours and days, the number of women working part-time has increased as 31% of respondents report working less than 5 hours a day.

▪       10% more respondents now work less than 4 days a week. This may be attributed to declining business activity, lack of time due to household chores.

▪       Respondents working more than 10 hours a day, or having no fixed timings, rose from 4% to 14%. There is also a 3% increase in women working all 7 days of a week.

▪       Weekly schedules have been affected as those working 5-6 days per week declined from 82% to 68%.

▪       Disruptions in routine have made typical schedules uncommon, and respondents are having a conventional workday of 7-10 hours has shrunk from 57% to 35%.

Women Now Prefer Personal Transport Or No Travel:

▪       As expected from lockdowns and social distancing, 64% of respondents have started working from home after the pandemic, compared to 14% before.

▪       A surprising 36% continue to commute outside for work, commonly using two-wheelers and cars, and eschewing public transport altogether.

▪       Of those working women who travelled on work pre-COVID19, 78% report a complete stop.

Women Are Working Harder:

▪       Of the 57% of respondents who reported a change in workload after the pandemic, a significant 73% have experienced an increase. Common reasons appear to be more significant preparation due to the adoption of digital mediums, reduced staff at work, and increased working hours.

▪       Interestingly, the survey brought out some diverse views. 35% of respondents reported an increase in productivity. Common reasons cited for the increase in productivity: Absence of commuting time and extended work hours. On the other hand, 32% of respondents report a decrease in productivity. Common reasons cited for decline in productivity: Household chores and network issues.

Women Are Earning Lesser:

▪       44% of respondents report an adverse change in income levels after the pandemic. The impact is being felt by reduction in salary or perks, no pay, or reduction in business income.

▪       The effect of a decrease in income for women since COVID19 highlights reduced household income and an increase in “unpaid” work (domestic chores).

Women Are Working More At Home As Well:

▪       Despite a significant majority employing domestic help, almost 50% of the respondents indicate an increased workload, commonly citing unavailability of domestic support and additional responsibilities towards children’s online education.

▪       Interestingly, of those women working from office before the pandemic and have since been working from home, only 17% feel that continuing to work from home is better.

Women Now Have Lesser Time for Hobbies And More Stress:

▪       While 70% of respondents pursued hobbies such as fitness, art, reading, etc., before the pandemic, almost a third report being unable to continue these pursuits.

▪       52% report worsening mental health since COVID-19, with many anecdotes of challenging experiences at home.

▪       Working women were also questioned about their well-being relative to working men as well as stay-at-home women. 60% felt they had it more challenging than stay-at-home women, and 53% felt similarly to working men.

How does the regional comparisons look like?

Work From Home (WFH)

West:

West displayed the highest indifference between WFH and office @ 40% (their preference for working only from office is also @ 40%). However, understandably, they also reported the highest decrease in working from office during the pandemic as also the highest increase in WFH @ 68% and 62% respectively.

East-South:

In contrast, Pandemic or no pandemic, “work means office” for East & South - East and South India had the highest share of respondents working from office during the pandemic @32% and 26% respectively. These are also the respondents who showed the highest preference for working from office post-pandemic, @ 44% and 49% respectively.

North:

Whereas “Home” is the happening place for those in North with the largest share of respondents WFH, both before and after the pandemic @ 27% and 73% respectively. They also showed the highest preference for continuing to WFH post-pandemic @ 32%. Interestingly, 22% of respondents from North India felt that stay-at-home women have struggled more than working women since the pandemic, compared to 60% of women across the respondent pool believing the opposite is true.

Stress and Mental Health – Linked to loss of income?

Disturbingly, all regions reported increase in stress and deterioration of mental health. The largest share of respondents suffering from a decrease in income, and a worsening of mental health are from South India, at 41% and 60% respectively.

In comparison, these figures are 35% and 49% for North, 35% and 44% for West and 25% and 30% for East.

Speaking about the study, Latha Ramanathan, Founder & CEO, Economix Consulting Group (ECG) said, “There have been multiple reports across the world of women being disproportionately affected due to the pandemic, on employment, income and mental health. Our study of urban Indian women resonates that - working hours and work load seem to have increased considerably, and some women have even cited that they are working all 7 days of the week. Furthermore, the respondents have reported a decrease in income and increase in mental health issues, possibly due to increased stress levels.”

Singapore Tourism Board, Foodhall Bring The Singapore Food Festival 2021 To India With A Stellar Line-Up Of Hybrid Events

* SFF will celebrate Singaporean cuisine all month long at Foodhall India stores in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Gurugram

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB), together with lifestyle food destination Foodhall India, is bringing the Singapore Food Festival (SFF), the highly anticipated annual celebration of Singaporean cuisine, to India this year.

Now in its 28th year, the SFF has become an established fixture on the global tourist calendar. But, with COVID-19 restricting travel, the STB has decided to take the SFF to key local markets like India, with the aim of cementing Singapore’s reputation as a leading culinary destination offering up a diversity of mouth-watering delicacies. 

Held concurrently with the SFF in Singapore from August 27 to September 12, 2021, the Indian edition of the SFF will invite food lovers to dive into Singapore’s rich culinary landscape through a hybrid line up of virtual and live events and activities at Foodhall stores across the country.

Gourmands can expect a wide range of live activations with a special menu featuring Hainanese Chicken Rice, Satay (skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce), Baos and a very unique ‘Toast Bar’ at the Café by Foodhall, as well as a unique bakery experience featuring Pandan Cakes (light, fluffy, green-coloured sponge cake flavoured with the juices of Pandan leaves), Egg Tarts, Curry buns and more, baked fresh, daily. Patrons can also indulge in a weekly-rotating Noodle Cart paying homage to the numerous hawker centres in Singapore and get hands on with the Foodhall Cookery Studio that will carry forward the celebrations with a number of master classes celebrating Singapore’s cuisine.

Indian Chef Anahita Dhondy has specially curated Singaporean recipe ingredient boxes that will delight customers. The festival brings special virtual masterclasses with Haikal Johari, Executive Chef at Singapore’s iconic Michelin-starred establishment Alma by Juan Amador.

GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East & South Asia (IMESA), Singapore Tourism Board, said, “The Indian consumer today is increasingly  experimenting with new cuisines. Exploring destinations and their cultures by sampling local culinary delights is as much a part of the Indian tourist itinerary as seeing the sights. Over the past few years, we have showcased Singapore’s culinary landscape in engaging and exciting ways to the Indian audiences. The current situation unfortunately does not allow experience of the SFF first hand. So, we are bringing the SFF to them with the help of Foodhall India. Our collaboration takes our audiences on a culinary journey through Singapore in a fun, unique, innovative and safe way."

He added, “As part of a vision to engage our Indian audiences creatively in the COVID-19 environment, the STB has been harnessing technology to reimagine its content, products and offerings. Singapore has long been among the top tourist destinations for the Indian traveller. We want to keep that engagement going by inviting them to reimagine and experience Singapore virtually and in a hybrid way.”

Ms. Avni Biyani, Concept Head, Foodhall India, said, “Foodhall has always been at the forefront of bringing a diverse, unique and exciting culinary experience to our customers. Singapore has one of the most vibrant food and drink landscapes in the world and we are excited to bring the Singapore Food Festival to our stores this month. By combining the expertise our chefs and food experts bring to the table with the vibrant food culture of Singapore, we are looking forward to providing yet another immersive experience across our stores through curated menus, masterclasses, recipe kits and an unparalleled selection of Singaporean produce.”

Chef Haikal Johari, Executive Chef at Alma by Juan Amador, said, “I am delighted to be a part of the SFF celebrations. A country's cuisine is an expression of its cultural identity and to be able to showcase my country's vibrant culinary culture through my passion for cooking to food lovers in India is an enormous privilege. The Singaporean cuisine showcases the amalgamation of various cultures and has been influenced by Indian, Chinese and Malay cuisine. The upcoming virtual masterclass with Chef Anahita Dhondy will be a great opportunity bring the flavours of Singapore to India and to connect with the Indian audience.”

In addition to the collaboration with Foodhall, foodies can also indulge in the SFF celebrations at New Delhi-based Singaporean street food restaurant Mai Bao. The chefs at Mai Bao have come up with a specially-curated menu of traditional Singaporean dishes such as named as ‘Singapore On A Plate’ which includes a huge variety of vegetarian & non-vegetarian signature dishes of Singapore offered under four different bento boxes (2 veg and 2 non-veg) at a set price. This special menu will be served for the entire month of September.

Avantika Sinha, Founder and Managing Director, Mai Bao, said “The Singapore food festival menu at Mai Bao revisits the classics with an added element of surprise. Our dishes are straightforward and simple put together in bento boxes with an emphasis on honest, clean flavours. Besides great food, there are numerous activities and experiences in store for guests thus proffering a true insight of Singapore Food Festival.”

The Indian edition of SFF celebrations will be held across Foodhall stores in Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Gurugram and the Mai Bao restaurant in New Delhi. Foodhall's specially curated Singaporean menu will be available for dine-in at all the Café by Foodhall outlets and home delivery via Zomato and Swiggy. The Singaporean recipe ingredient boxes curated by Chef Anahita will also be available on Swiggy besides the seven Foodhall stores. All developments and updates related to the SFF will be posted to the social media handles of Foodhall India and the STB.

Kindly refer to the following link for additional images: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18rzwNy3jOUSTUuJt0f-MnYcKBOldAcVT?usp=sharing

About the Singapore Tourism Board

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is the lead development agency for tourism, one of Singapore’s key economic sectors. Together with industry partners and the community, we shape a dynamic Singapore tourism landscape. We bring the Passion Made Possible brand to life by differentiating Singapore as a vibrant destination that inspires people to share and deepen their passions. 

NTT Expands Its Data Center Footprint By 20 Percent

* NTT named market leader with even more capacity as business online surges

NTT Ltd.’s Global Data Centers division, a Leader in the IDC MarketScape Worldwide Data Center Colocation and Interconnection Services 2021 Vendor Assesment1, provides a full stack of ICT services and continues to expand its global data center footprint by 20% to build a connected future that will benefit enterprise and hyperscale clients around the world.

NTT operates data centers across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia, including a major presence in India. It delivers and operates global interconnected data centers with cross regional data center networks through key markets such as London, Singapore, Tokyo, and Virginia in North America. Its expansions in data center services provide increased data center capacity and network connectivity across all geographies, including:

·       Americas:

In 2020/21, three new data center campuses were opened in Hillsboro, OR, Santa Clara, CA, and Chicago, IL, in addition to expansion in Ashburn, VA. NTT’s 47-acre (approx. 190,000m2) Hillsboro campus features five data centers with 126MW of planned IT load and Subsea Connect, a trans-pacific network connectivity service that provides connectivity between Hillsboro, Oregon and Tokyo, Japan using NTT’s Pacific Crossing (PC-1) subsea cable system. The Phoenix, AZ campus will open in early 2022 and be the seventh US data center campus. NTT Phoenix PH1 will add 36MW of IT load capacity and is the first of seven planned data centers on the 240MW campus.

·       EMEA:

In the past year, NTT has opened new data center buildings in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Munich and Frankfurt in Germany, continuing its position as the number one data center provider in the German market. In the UK, the new flagship London 1 Data Center opened in December and, when fully operational, will increase NTT’s capacity by over 200% to support the digital backbone of the UK’s financial services, media, and gaming industries. NTT has also invested in duct and fiber to interconnect all its London data centers.

Over the next two years, NTT will increase its available IT load in EMEA by over 40% as it builds 13 new data center buildings across nine markets in six countries to deliver an added 115MW of IT load across 50,000m2. NTT will launch its first data centers in Madrid and Johannesburg as well as adding buildings to Vienna, Zurich, London and across Germany, with expanded data center interconnections.

·       APAC:

Jakarta 3 in Indonesia will launch 15MW at Bekasi, approximately 30km from Central Jakarta, by the end of this year. By taking advantage of NTT’s strengths as a network operator, clients will be able to easily connect with IXs and ISPs. Additionally, Cyberjaya 5 in Malaysia started to provide 6.8MW and plan to expand another 6.8MW to the Cyberjaya campus. In Japan, a new data center with 21MW of IT load capacity has been built in Tokyo. In response to strong demand from its clients, NTT is considering further expansion in Bangkok (Thailand), Osaka Metropolitan area (Japan), and Southern Vietnam.

·       India:

With Mumbai 8 going live soon, the Chandivali campus, India’s first operational hyperscale data center park, will reach 85MW of IT load. Over the next 18 months, four new hyperscale data center parks will also become operational: two in Navi Mumbai and one each in Chennai and Delhi, adding approximately 133MW of IT load and 50,000m2 of floorspace. Interconnections for 10 data centers across India will also be rolled out in 2021 and submarine cable landing stations are planned in Mumbai and Chennai. This expansion will further consolidate NTT’s number one position in the Indian market.

In addition to the expansion of NTT’s global data center footprint, NTT is currently constructing a "MIST" large-capacity submarine cable connecting Singapore, Malaysia, and India (Mumbai and Chennai).

The MIST cable system will have a total length of 11,000km: a distance which is further than flying from New York, across the US and the Pacific Ocean to land in Tokyo. Construction will complete in mid-2023.

The infrastructure combination of such a significant increase in global data center capacity coupled with NTT’s status as a tier 1 global network service provider, will provide businesses with a secure platform for increasing full-stack ICT service needs. 

Global Data Center Interconnect (GDCI), an integrated global network fabric service that delivers a cross regional data center network and private secure connection to major cloud service providers with a single physical port supporting multiple virtual network services, increases this capability to provide a high speed interconnected digital backbone across its global markets. The increased submarine cable system will also help to provide cross-regional data center interconnections.

Masaaki Moribayashi, President and Board Director for NTT Ltd. said, “The pandemic has dramatically changed our way of life. People’s quality of life now fundamentally depends on this infrastructure. In the next 18 months, NTT plans to increase data center operations by 20% to a total of over 600,000m2 (approx. 6.5M ft2) of floorspace in over 20 countries and regions. In addition, NTT will globally expand approximately 30 connection points of GDCI service in our data centers to optimize the enterprise hybrid cloud environment over NTT’s data centers and network services. NTT has already started construction to add 300MW of IT load to its portfolio. With the completion of new data centers, expanded campuses and high capacity networks such as the MIST submarine cable, we are building a connected future that will benefit NTT's clients around the world.”

About the Global Data Centers division of NTT Ltd.

Global Data Centers is a division of NTT Ltd. Our global platform is one of the largest in the world. NTT is recognized as a Leader by IDC in the Worldwide Colocation and Interconnection Services MarketScape, spanning more than 20 countries and regions including North America, Europe, Africa, India and APAC. As a neutral operator, we offer access to multiple cloud providers, a large variety of Internet Exchanges and telecommunication network providers including our own IPv6 compliant, tier-one global IP network. Our clients benefit from tailored infrastructure and experience consistent best practices in design and operations across all of our reliable, scalable and customizable data centers.

Visit us at our new website datacenter.hello.global.ntt.

BMW Group Accelerates CO2 Reduction And Focuses Consistently On A Circular Economy With The Neue Klasse

·         Zipse: “We are committed to a clear course to achieve the 1.5 degree target”

·         50% reduction in global CO2 use-phase emissions by 2030

·         Over 40% reduction in CO2 emissions during life cycle

·         Ten million all-electric vehicles within ten years

·         Secondary first: Up to 50% use of secondary material planned – initiatives to develop the market are required

·         Cooperation with BASF and ALBA on plastic recycling

·         Resource scarcity and social responsibility: BMW Group focussed on circular economy for sustainable materials

·         RE:BMW – circular economy at the IAA Mobility in Munich

The BMW Group is increasing the pace of its efforts to combat climate change. Looking ahead to the introduction of the Neue Klasse, the company is further strengthening its self-defined objectives, announced in summer last year, to significantly reduce CO2 emissions, whilst also committing itself to a clear course that supports the 1.5 degree target for the limitation of global warming. The Neue Klasse will also see the BMW Group hugely increase its use of secondary materials with a firm focus on the principles of the circular economy, whilst also promoting better framework conditions for establishing a market for secondary materials.

To achieve a further reduction in CO2 emissions, the focus is on the utilisation phase of vehicles, which account for 70% of the BMW Group’s CO2 footprint. By 2030, the CO2 emissions per vehicle and kilometre driven will be at least halved from 2019 levels. The commitment of all manufacturers when it comes to combatting climate change can best be compared when looking at the entire life cycle of a vehicle, including production and upstream supply chain. Here, the BMW Group is planning a reduction of CO2 emission per vehicle of at least 40%.

“How companies are dealing with CO2 emissions has become a major factor when it comes to judging corporate action. The decisive factor in the fight against global warming is how strongly we can improve the carbon footprint of vehicles over their entire life span. This is why we are setting ourselves transparent and ambitious goals for the substantial reduction of CO2 emissions; these are validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative and will deliver an effective and measurable contribution,” said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, in Munich on Thursday. “With the Neue Klasse we are significantly sharpening our commitment and also committing ourselves to a clear course for achieving the 1.5 degree target.”

The BMW Group is the first German carmaker to join the Business Ambition for 1.5°C of the Science Based Targets Initiative and is committed to the goal of full climate neutrality over the entire value-added chain by 2050 at the latest. The company is convinced that this can be achieved using innovation, rather than any overall ban on individual technologies.

The most powerful driver on this path to climate neutrality is electric mobility, with the BMW Group’s Neue Klasse set to provide significant further momentum to the market. During the next ten years or so, the company will be putting around ten million all-electric vehicles on the road. As early as 2030, at least half of global BMW Group sales will be all-electric vehicles, with the MINI brand offering exclusively all-electric vehicles from 2030.

The BMW Group continues to comply with the stringent criteria of the Science Based Targets Initiative, when it comes to measuring the reduction of worldwide CO2 emissions of the company’s vehicles whilst they are being driven on the roads. For example, emissions from the production of fuel or electricity are included in the calculation and consumption is based on the WLTP cycle plus ten percent. With its current product and electrification strategy, the company is on track to meet the EU fleet target for 2030.

Beyond green electricity: Stronger focus on use of resources in future

BMW Group is clear that simply increasing the number of electric vehicles on the road does not automatically lead to climate-friendly mobility. The company understands that it is also crucial to reduce the use of primary material and the related environmentally harmful exploitation of resources and their often CO2-intensive processing – especially when it comes to car manufacturing, one of the most resource-intensive industries.

“2017 was the first time the world’s population consumed more than 100 billion tons of resources within a single year - a trend which we in the automotive industry must also counteract,” Zipse demanded. “This is a strategic issue, concerning not only ecological but also economic sustainability; the current development of commodity prices demonstrates the impact an industry that is dependent on limited resources must expect.”

With the number of battery-powered vehicles growing, there is increasing demand for many commodities such as cobalt, nickel and aluminium, which are required for the vehicles’ high-voltage batteries. However there is great potential for the reuse of materials in the sense of a circular economy and together with specialist partners, the BMW Group has already demonstrated that it’s technological feasible to achieve a recycling efficiency of over 90 percent.

The amount of secondary nickel used for the high-voltage battery in the BMW iX is already as high as 50 percent, with the battery housing containing up to 30 percent secondary aluminium. The BMW Group aims to improve these figures even further for future product generations.

In addition to the increasingly scare availability of primary materials and resulting commodity price increases, there are many sustainability reasons to use more secondary materials and move towards a circular economy.

The supply of secondary materials is considerably less CO2-intensive than is the case with primary materials and can significantly improve the CO2 footprint, especially within the supply chain. In the case of secondary aluminium, the CO2 saving compared with primary material constitutes a factor of approximately 4 to 6, whilst steel and thermoplastics lie between around 2 and 5.

The extraction of resources for primary materials – particularly through mining – has a significant impact on the basic regenerative capacity of ecosystems. This impact can be greatly reduced by increasing the use of secondary materials.

The mining and trading of conflict materials carries the possible risk of associated infringements of environmental and social standards. The BMW Group has established numerous measures to counteract this risk, including membership of the Responsible Minerals Initiative. However, the most efficient strategy for avoiding risks is to minimise the mining of such primary materials.

‘Secondary First’: Crucial vehicle materials with high secondary content

As part of its holistic approach to sustainability, the BMW Group aims to increase significantly the percentage of secondary materials in its vehicles. On average, current vehicles are manufactured using almost 30 percent recycled and reusable materials. With the ‘Secondary First’ approach, BMW Group plans to successively raise this figure to 50 percent.

Of course it’s crucial that the quality, safety and reliability of the materials comply with the same high standards as those existing for primary materials – and so it’s essential that the market availability of such high-quality materials increases considerably. In order to achieve this, cross-industry approaches and political initiatives are necessary.

Based on the four principles RE:THINK, RE:DUCE, RE:USE, RE:CYCLE, the BMW Group is boosting its activities in the field of circular economy, an area where it’s carrying out pioneering work. For instance, vehicle production now involves the increased separation and recycling of crucial material groups, so these can be reused by the industry within the framework of ‘closed loops’.

Cooperation with BASF and the ALBA Group

Within the supply chain and depending on market availability, secondary materials are increasingly being used in BMW Group vehicles. Moreover, together with its partners, the company is providing important impetus when it comes to developing secondary materials. One example is the company’s pilot project with BASF and the ALBA Group for the increased recycling of plastics used in cars.

The aim of the project is to reduce the use of primary plastics by means of a comprehensive recycling system. To this end, the ALBA Group analyses end-of-life BMW Group vehicles to establish whether a car-to-car reuse of the plastic is possible. In a second step, BASF assesses whether chemical recycling of the pre-sorted waste can be used in order to obtain pyrolysis oil. This can be then used as a basis for new products made of plastic. In the future, a new door trim or other components could be manufactured from a used instrument panel, for example.

Closed loop rather than downcycling: ‘Circular Design’ as the basis of a circular economy

In order to achieve higher recycling rates and whilst also guaranteeing the high quality of secondary materials, the materials must be extracted in their purest form as early as possibly during the recycling process. For example, the onboard wiring systems must be easy to remove, in order to avoid mixing steel with copper from the cable harnesses in the vehicles. If this mixing does take place, the secondary steel loses its essential material properties and therefore no longer meets the high safety requirements of the automotive industry. To support this early and easy extraction of materials, the interior of a car must increasingly be made of monomaterials, so that at the end of the car’s lifecycle, as much as possible can be transferred back into the usable material cycle. Basically, reducing the number of materials can help to improve the quality of recycled materials. Currently, vehicles consist of about 8,000 to 10,000 different materials.

To achieve this, the BMW Group is now focusing on a ‘Circular Design’ concept, which is designed to guarantee the economical dismantling capacity of vehicles. It is essential that disassembly of the vehicle and its individual components is fast and cost-efficient to ensure that prices of secondary materials are competitive. It all starts with the construction of the vehicle, which must be done in such a way that allows materials to be removed at the end of the vehicle’s service life without different types of material being mixed with each other. 

RE:BMW at the IAA Mobility – a visionary outlook on circular economy

The BMW Group is putting circular economy at the centre of its presence at the IAA Mobility 2021 in Munich, where the company will offer a visionary outlook on the potentials of a circular economy and sustainable mobility. The BMW i Vision Circular embodies the company’s ambitious claim to be the most sustainable manufacturer for individual premium mobility.

This visionary vehicle, designed according to the four principles of the circular economy RE:THINK, RE:DUCE, RE:USE, RE:CYCLE, shows how individual, sustainable and luxurious urban mobility could look in 2040. The BMW i Vision Circular is manufactured from 100 percent secondary materials or renewable raw materials, and is 100 percent recyclable.

This car demonstrates that climate protection and individual mobility do not necessarily contradict each other. On the contrary, it shows that using new technologies and innovation, the BMW Group can fulfill the planet’s requirements for greater sustainability without customers having to forgo individual mobility.

The BMW Group

With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises 31 production and assembly facilities in 15 countries; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2020, the BMW Group sold over 2.3 million passenger vehicles and more than 169,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2020 was € 5.222 billion on revenues amounting to € 98.990 billion. As of 31 December 2020, the BMW Group had a workforce of 120,726 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company set the course for the future at an early stage and consistently makes sustainability and efficient resource management central to its strategic direction, from the supply chain through production to the end of the use phase of all products.

Olympic Gold Medallist Abhinav Bindra To Address 20,000+ Teachers Of LEAD Powered Schools On September 5

 

*    EdTech LEAD to launch certification program to upskill teachers

Marking the celebration of Teachers’ Day on 5th September, EdTech LEAD will host a motivational session by Abhinav Bindra for more than 20,000 teachers, principals & school owners across 2,000+ partner schools.

While our country has seen many successful champions, it’s still incredibly rare to find someone who has succeeded at the highest levels globally and then gone on to create a school to coach/mentor the next generation of winners. Mr. Bindra, the first Indian to win an individual gold at the Olympic Games, often states that while he is happy that he won gold what drives him is to make sure that he is not the only one! This is the same kind of passion that was seen in the school owners across the country who managed to  run the schools despite all headwinds, empower teachers and work towards creating the next generation for our country.

Mr. Bindra will share insights into his journey from being an athlete to managing his own academy & mentoring Indian grassroot athletes. He will be talking about his life lessons and experiences both as someone who manages a non-profit academy as well as an athlete, the obstacles that came his way and what helped him stay true to his goals. LEAD will provide the audience with the opportunity to interact with Bindra to address their self-doubts and challenges in a new teaching environment.

To upskill and empower teachers & principals to continue providing excellent learning to students, LEAD is also launching a certification program under LEAD Academy. The program will help them develop a growth mind-set, learn skills to support online teaching and also gain emotional and social support.

LEAD Co-founder and CEO Sumeet Mehta said, “School owners across India have gone through tough times during the pandemic with having to hold the entire ecosystem together as an educator to students & a mentor to teachers. I am sure it will be interesting to hear Mr. Bindra on how he transitioned from being an athlete to  a mentor to athletes.

State governments and various other committees are now looking at a roadmap to reopen schools safely and there could be no better gift for our teachers on this special day than reopening schools. The integration of technology in pedagogy will further open up opportunities for young minds, making them future-ready and help them excel in life.”

Isaac Newton famously said that “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” This Teacher’s Day - LEAD celebrates these unseen giants I.e.  school owners and principals whose broad shoulders enable our future line workers to create propulsive learning. 

About LEAD

LEAD is promoted by Leadership Boulevard, one of the fastest growing EdTech companies in India. It combines technology, curriculum and pedagogy into an integrated system of teaching and learning, thus improving student learning and teacher performance in schools across the country. LEAD partners with 2000+ schools with an estimated 8 lakh+ students in more than 400 cities, including tier 2 to tier 4 cities, in 20 States.