Epson’s Global Research Reveals Indians Are The Most Optimistic About Averting A Climate Crisis In The World

* Despite ever-increasing instances of climate impact, 78.3% of Indians are optimistic that we will avert a climate disaster in their lifetime. Up from 73.4% just a year ago

* India, worryingly, has the highest level of optimism when it comes to the climate crisis, as compared to any other country in the world

Epson, a world leader in digital imaging and printing solutions, published its first Climate Reality Barometer in 2021: a survey of people from a diverse set of countries, ages and backgrounds to gauge understanding of, and attitudes towards, climate change.

Epson today released the findings of its second Climate Reality Barometer - 2022, a survey of 26,205 people across 28 countries, including India. Across the world, people are stepping up personal efforts to avert climate change, according to the latest findings. ?Research from the global technology leader suggests that while the world economy proves to be a distraction from efforts to address climate challenges, climate change remains a primary concern for many.

The survey presents fascinating insights into how attitudes are (and are not) changing as the climate crisis unfolds. Findings show that awareness is growing – but slowly and inconsistently. While the ‘climate reality deficit’ identified in the first Barometer stubbornly persists – the data also suggests that it is narrowing, and that people are doing more to tackle the crisis.

In India however, the outlook remains extremely concerning.  In recent months, India has experienced record-breaking heatwaves, which have been made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis, according to experts (source).

Despite this, over three-fourths (78.3%) of people contacted in India are optimistic that we will avert a climate disaster in their lifetime. Respondents in other countries are far less optimistic with the opposite end of the spectrum being in France (22.5%) and Japan (10.4%)

On the other hand, 10.8% were pessimistic in India that we will avert a climate disaster in their lifetime. In France, a whopping 53.5% and in Japan 67.4% were unconvinced in contrast

Over a third (39.2%) of the people surveyed in India as part of the Epson Climate Reality Barometer, believe rising prices and fixing the economy are the most urgent issues governments, companies and people around the world should be focusing on, only 21.1% see climate change as the most pressing issue. In contrast, 37.3% of respondents in China see climate change as the most pressing issue

In India younger respondents aged 25-34 (82.4%) were more optimistic than those aged 45-54 (68.1%) pointing to a possible and concerning lack of awareness among younger audiences

Reality action: Individual steps

Promisingly though, individuals across the world are already acting on certain things to mitigate the climate emergency.

In India, the top three actions people report that they are already doing, include:

Reducing plastic use (66.7%)

Walking or cycling more often (61.6%)

Improving recycling habits (60.5%)

For those who have taken up actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, there are some gaps in terms of how people have consistently committed to these actions. For example, just (20.8%) have tried reducing plastic use for longer than a year and continue to do so. The efforts to build awareness and inspire change need to be ongoing and consistent.

The individual lifestyle changes however suggest some focus on the climate emergency. In India, the key drivers for change include:

Company or community sustainability programmes (39.8%)

Government policy changes (38.9%)

Influencers (37.2%)

Reality now: What's next?

Growing optimism in India and across the globe appears to contradict climate reality. In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced that “Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world.”?

Yasunori Ogawa, global president of Epson, says: “Epson’s corporate purpose is focused on improving lives and the planet, and we will devote significant resources to achieve this. As the world gathers for COP27, our Climate Reality Barometer aims to raise awareness and empower transformational change.  We hope that the Barometer’s insights will help governments, industries, and individuals to step up their efforts to avert climate disaster. While we know there is a long way to go, we believe we can build a better future if we work together and act now.”??

The 2022 Epson Climate Reality Barometer paints a not-so-rosy picture. It also indicates that short-term economic demands are in danger of distracting governments, businesses, and individuals from imperative environmental action. The world needs to keep its focus and ensure decisive, rapid, and effective responses to the ongoing climate emergency.

While individual actions are ramping up, it’s clear that much more needs to be done. Governments need to regulate for sustainability, businesses need to develop sustainable policies and technologies, and individuals need to accelerate lifestyle changes – if the world is to meet its climate change targets and avoid irreversible change.  

Working together, Epson believes that we can all build a better future.

Research Methodology: Online survey was conducted from 29.07.2022 to 04.08.2022 among 26,205 respondents globally and 1,300 respondents in India.

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader whose philosophy of efficient, compact and precise innovation enriches lives and helps create a better world. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson will become carbon negative and eliminate the use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of more than JPY 1 trillion.  www.global.epson.com/

About Epson India

Epson India Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in the year 2000. Epson products address the needs of homes, businesses and commercial enterprises as also those of consumers with specialized needs in India. With a commitment to providing products and services that surpass people’s expectations, Epson India today has an enviable reputation for quality and value. Headquartered in Bangalore, the company markets and supports Epson Inkjet Printers, Inkjet All-in-Ones, Point of Sale Printers, 3LCD Projectors, Scanners, Large Format Printers, Textile Printers, Robots and Dot-Matrix Printers. In all of these categories, Epson is either the No. 1 or No. 2 brand in India and growing fast. https://www.epson.co.in/

Sublime Life Takes The Lead To Host The City’s First Ever Fully Carbon Neutralized Event In Bangalore

A marquee event in the capital city of Karnataka, Sublime Life’s carefully curated pop-up, ‘TGIS! Thank God, It’s Sublime!’ goes on to become Bengaluru’s first ever fully carbon neutralized event.

Sublime Life, an e-commerce platform for clean, curated beauty that reigns supreme in building an ecosystem of sustainable, ethical, effective and cruelty-free skincare products that are not only good for the users, but for the planet too, hosted a two-day pop-up event on 8th & 9th October at The Courtyard by onboarding exquisite brands whose synergies ethically align with theirs.

Bookmarking this one of its kind event, Founder, Sublime Life - Dr. Deep Lalvani said, “With Bengaluru being one of our most important markets, we consciously picked the lush garden city to host our first ever pop-up and reciprocate the love that we receive from our growing community of buyers in the region. We envisioned building a uniquely interactive experience to meet their changing beauty requirements while focusing on conscious living through educating them about healthy and environment friendly alternatives.''

“We are overwhelmed with the positive response that TGIS has received over the past weekend. And we’re glad that our visitors enjoyed attending our pop-up as much as we did while curating it,” he added.

With their visions backed by pro-planet initiatives, an array of widely loved and popular premium brands from the world of conscious living showcased their best sellers. Ranging from Martiderm, Faith in Nature, Klairs to India Hemp Organics, Wildermart, Conscious Food and other, multiple earth friendly brands occupied the booths at the pop-up. In addition, with a host of insightful and eco-conscious workshops that focused on clean skincare, zero waste living, wellness cooking and much more, industry experts such as Komal Basith (leading skincare influencer), Sahar Mansoor & Mehul Majeshwar (leads, Bare Necessities), Shreya Gazmer (founder, Hungry Alien) among others took center stage to emphasize on ways to implement the concept of sustainability in one’s day to day lives. A variety of engaging activities also made way for the visitors to win exciting hampers to directly engage with the brand and understand its vision.

Through the aforementioned mindful mix of booths occupied by brands combined with interactive workshops, TGIS was a massive success with visitors flocking in from all over the city.

At Sublime Life, customers are of utmost priority which pushes the brand to go above and beyond to provide them with the best offerings. Therefore, with this pop-up event, Sublime Life achieved just that - made way for a uniquely interactive experience to cater to the growing needs of its customers with sustainability at its core.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited’s Technical Paper On ‘Reliability Improvement Journey’ Was Presented At Quality Symposium

Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL), a leading power utility supplying electricity to a populace of 7 million in North Delhi, presented its technical paper on ‘Reliability Improvement Journey’ at the first-ever Quality Symposium, organised by the Indian Society for Quality (ISQ) at RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru. The Quality Symposium by ISQ primarily focused on ‘Driving excellence through quality management’ presented by worldwide Academicians and Practitioners. Out of the two papers presented during the symposium, one got recognized as the Third Best Technical Paper.

The high-standard research paper on ‘Reliability Improvement Journey’ presented by Tata Power-DDL was among the top 34 papers selected by the ISQ. The discom has been consistently translating its customer needs into opportunities for business improvements through its Total Quality Management (TQM) approach. Additionally, Tata Power-DDL has adopted sustainable technology solutions to improve its operational performance and aims at further enhancing its experience.

The event was graced by the presence of Dr. K.N. Subramanya (Principal- RV College of Engineering), Dr. Pankaj Kumar (Chief Total Quality Management & Corporate Quality Assurance, Tata Steel- Jamshedpur), Mr. Kunal Pareek  (Head of Department- Business Excellence &Total Quality  Management), Mr. Prabhakar Shettigar (Executive Director - ISQ), Mr. N. Ramanathan (Quality Guru), Dr. A.K. Chakraborty (Professor-ISI) and Prof. N.S. Narahari (Professor-RV College of Engineering).

The discom has been remarkable in business excellence by ensuring customer satisfaction and adding better stakeholder value.

PUMA Unveils Special Race Day Tee With Mary Kom For Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon

Sportswear brand, PUMA will be celebrating the success and dedication of runners at Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon with specially designed tees for the race day.

Star boxer and PUMA athlete MC Mary Kom launched the PUMA Race Day Tee which will be given to all registered runners, including men and women, for the showpiece event, to be held on October 16.

Considered as one of India’s largest sporting philanthropy platforms, the half marathon has inspired and impacted millions of lives. This year, in order to motivate the runners, all the registered participants will be given ‘yellow’ tees.

And, further, PUMA will also give ‘blue’ coloured tees to the first 500 men and women runners, who will successfully complete the race.  

Commenting on the occasion, PUMA athlete Mary Kom said the tees are designed to make the runners comfortable during the race.

“It makes me proud to unveil the PUMA Race Day Tee for the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon. The high-performance jersey is comfortable and will effectively support the runners during the race. I see a lot of positive change towards sports and fitness, especially running as a trend. It is wonderful to see PUMA rallying for sports and fitness culture across disciplines such as boxing, cricket, table tennis, hockey and running. I wish the runners of Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon all the best. Enjoy this race with passion and fun,” Mary Kom said.

Besides close association with star India cricketer Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, PUMA has been supporting many athletes in their journeys, across different sporting disciplines.

Project SANAM, A Student Team From MIT-MAHE Wins The 2nd Runner-Up Prize In DVCon India Hackathon 2022

* The problem statement of the hackathon was to Accelerate AI algorithms on an FPGA

* The students were awarded with certificates, plaques and a cash prize of 30,000/-

Project SANAM, student team from Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE, has won the 2nd runner up prize in the DVCon India 2022 Hackathon. The team comprising of   Tushar Upadhyay, Yellur Vishal Rao and Ayush Kumar of MIT, participated in the event which was held online in September and the results were declared recently.  The students were awarded with certificates, plaques and a cash prize of 30,000/- for their efforts.

The problem statement of the hackathon was to Accelerate AI algorithms on an FPGA. It was conducted in two stages. In stage 1 of the hackathon, the MIT team created a Hand gesture recognition model, which used a region-of-interest detection algorithm and a CNN to classify gestures on the HaGRID Dataset. In addition to that, they had to research and document the techniques used to accelerate an AI model on an FPGA.

In the second stage, the team was provided with three days to accelerate a pre-trained object detection model and deploy it on the cloud-hosted FPGA accelerator. The model's acceleration was successfully done by using the Vitis AI tool flow. The final model was deployed on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 F1 server instance (Amazon EC2 F1 instances use FPGAs to deliver custom hardware accelerations). 

Speaking about the achievement of Project SANAM Cdr. (Dr.) Anil Rana, Director, Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE said, "We are extremely proud and delighted for team Project SANAM’s accomplishment. The hackathon consisted of participants from reputed technology institutes from across the country. With their win, the students from MIT have kept the Manipal flag flying high at such a competitive forum. We congratulate them with all our hearts and wish them all the luck for such future events as well”

Brookfield Properties Plants Over 3000 Trees Under The ‘Forest of Hope’ Initiative

* The campaign was implemented in Bengaluru and Delhi NCR via a strategic partnership with SankalpTaru Foundation

Brookfield Properties, a leading global developer and operator of high-quality real estate assets, planted over 3000 trees under their ‘Forest of Hope’ initiative in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR. The initiative witnessed an overwhelming response from the employees and tenants. This initiative was carried out in partnership with SankalpTaru Foundation, one of India’s prominent IT-enabled NGOs working pan India on afforestation and reforestation programs, to address climate change, reduce pollution, recharge groundwater, offset carbon footprint and enhance biodiversity.

The drive was executed on September 23 and 30 in Bengaluru and Delhi NCR respectively. More than 700 trees were planted in the North University region in Bengaluru which was followed by a coaching session for teachers and students to help them tackle environmental challenges. Under this initiative, the focus was on planting rapidly disappearing tree species like Mahogany, Badam, Teak, Honne etc. Likewise, at Tawdu in Haryana – Delhi NCR, the primary objective was to conserve Aravallis and the area's natural environment. More than 2300 Peepal, Shisham, Neem, Gulmohar, Amrud and Amla trees were planted among others. This will result in recharging the natural groundwater propelling a significant carbon offset and biodiversity restoration in one of the world's oldest hills.

These 3000+ trees will provide more than 2700 tonnes of oxygen and sequester approximately 1500 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in their lifetime. Moreover, these native trees will increase the green footprint across six acres benefiting both the flora and fauna in these regions while enhancing the biodiversity index. Each tree was photographed and geotagged with a QR code. The initiative has a unique tracking mechanism, with the aid of which one can locate the tree planted by themselves from anywhere in the world through an app by SankalpTaru

Expressing his views, Mr. Alok Aggarwal, MD & CEO, Brookfield Properties said, “With an aim to create a greener future for the planet, we are extremely pleased with our “Forest of Hope” initiative which planted over 3000 trees in India. A simple act such as planting a tree and inspiring others to do the same can make a huge difference in tackling climate change in the long run. As a socially responsible organization, Brookfield Properties ensures 30% of green cover, integrating biophilia into the design process and plan for native trees, water bodies and seasonal plants across our assets. Excellence in our Environmental, Social and Governance goals is at the core of our business and this initiative reinforces our commitment to build a better world for people, business and the community. Our partnership with an organization like SankalpTaru for this initiative is a step in that direction.”

Adding to it, Mr. Apurva Bhandari, Founder SankalpTaru Foundation said, “The most critical issue for the present and future generations is the increasing environmental concern. Our foundation has successfully planted 3.5M+ trees since its inception. I believe, through ‘Forest of Hope’ our partnership with Brookfield Properties will change the landscape of our communities in expanding the green territories for the better.”

The 'Forest of Hope' is a result of Brookfield Properties' 'Trees of Hope' campaign, which was rolled out in 2021. The company held an exhibition of ‘Trees of Hope’ across seven marquee campuses in five cities from December 15, 2021 – January 10, 2022, with installations made from recycled wood and discarded flex. Brookfield Properties promised to plant a tree for every photograph that was uploaded on social media with the “Trees of Hope’, sparking a movement that led to the ‘Forest of Hope’ initiative.

About Brookfield Properties:

Brookfield Properties is a leading global developer and operator of high-quality real estate assets. The company is active in nearly all real estate sectors, including office, retail, multifamily, hospitality and logistics, operating more than 800 properties and over 390 million sq. ft. of real estate in gateway markets on behalf of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest asset managers in the world. With a focus on sustainability, a commitment to excellence and the drive for relentless innovation in the planning, development and management of buildings and their surroundings, Brookfield Properties is reimagining real estate from the ground up.

In India, Brookfield Properties manages over 50 million sq. ft. of high-quality assets across 8 key gateway cities of which 38.3 million sq. ft. is already operational. Some of the marquee assets in its portfolio include Candor TechSpace in Gurugram, Noida and Kolkata; Worldmark in Delhi and Gurugram; Downtown Powai and Equinox in Mumbai; Ecoworld and Ecospace in Bengaluru and CoWrks, a leading co-working and flexi office business across India. 

India’s Leading HRTech Startup HROne Raises $4 Million In Series A Round From Insitor Partners & Prudent Investment Managers

HROne, India's Leading HRTech SaaS Startup, has raised $4 million in a Series A round led by Insitor Partners and participation from Prudent Investment Managers. Mumbai-based investment bank Radix Capital Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisors to the company. 

Founded in 2016 by Karan Jain, HROne is on a mission to use HRTech to improve the quality of professional lives of employees and help them accomplish more at their workplaces. HROne is a cloud-based HR automation platform that helps companies eliminate mundane and repetitive HR tasks. By automating 80+ processes, HROne has simplified HR operations and driven a top-notch user experience for HRs and employees. 

In the HRTech market, low product adoption and poor user experience leave most organizations dissatisfied with their investments. To overcome this challenge, HROne has built a collaborative interface InboxForHRTM , that enables HRs close 125+ unique tasks in less than three clicks. The startup has seen a tremendous upsurge in product adoption and user experience with this innovation. Karan and the team are bullish on delivering more innovations to meet the emerging needs of digital workplaces. 

Powered by its strong HR domain expertise and digital technologies capabilities, the startup has established a firm footing in the HRTech market. The company has successfully bootstrapped its way since inception and has scaled its revenues to 8x in a mere span of three years, catering to 900+ customers. With the fundraising, HROne will focus on building a comprehensive platform that becomes the go-to solution for every possible HR need in the modern-day workplace. Further, the company will use the funds to drive expansion into newer and existing markets. With this inflow, the company intends to 10x its revenue growth in the next three years. 

Talking about the funding, Karan Jain reflects, "We are excited and supercharged with this series A funding from Insitor Partners and Prudent Investment Managers. These are exciting times for HR digital transformation globally. We aim to use this capital to grow our product capabilities, expand into newer markets, invest in our talent pool and drive a superior customer experience. We are in the hyper-growth phase in the Indian HRTech market, and we will expand into international markets in the near future. Grateful to our funding partners for recognizing the potential and backing our intent." Karan further affirms, "We thank our customers and employees who have believed in our vision and supported us in crucial times."

“HROne is leveraging technology to drive a transformational impact on the formalization of the Indian blue-collar economy. HROne, a comprehensive cloud-based HR automation platform, improves the well-being, loyalty, and productivity of the workforce in the most capital-efficient, scalable, and sustainable way while helping organizations in their productivity and efficiency improvements. Karan and his team combine world-class product capabilities with a unique understanding of HR practices in India to provide a compelling value proposition to its clients. We are incredibly excited to partner with the team to solve for inefficiencies in the livelihood space", said Nicholas Lazos of Insitor Partners, an impact investment firm. 

"Companies need to make HR processes and systems less cumbersome and easy so that they can implement their organizational policies. We think HROne, with its unique interface, will help companies achieve this. Moreover, the scalability demonstrated by HROne over the last couple of years clearly indicates that it empowers companies to create a better HR environment. We were very impressed by the engagement of the HROne platform across 900+ customers. Further, it opens multiple future monetization possibilities like embedded finance, integration with insure-techs and workplace commerce players, and much more.", said Prashasta Seth of, Prudent Investment Managers