[Case Study] ESG & CSR | Project Foot Print – HDFC Bank Limited

Table of Contents

1. Organisation Profile

2. Project Overview

3. Key Challenges Addressed

4. Impact Created

5. Way Forward

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Project Foot Print

HDFC Bank Limited

1. Organisation Profile

HDFC Bank was among the first financial institutions in India to receive an “in principle” approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a bank in the private sector. This was done as part of RBI’s policy for liberalization of the Indian banking industry in 1994. HDFC Bank was incorporated in August 1994 in the name of HDFC Bank Limited, with its registered office in Mumbai, India. The bank commenced operations as a Scheduled Commercial Bank in January 1995. As of March 31, 2022, the Bank had a nationwide distribution network of 6,342 branches and 18,130 ATM’s in 3,188 cities/towns.

Parivartan, HDFC Bank’s social initiative has been a catalyst in transforming the lives of millions of people in India. It aims to contribute towards the economic and social development of the country by sustainably empowering its communities. Its wide range of interventions spanning across different social causes, has brought about the desired change in the remotest parts of the country. Parivartan has uplifted rural lives, brought water to the desert, revolutionized education, supported social start-ups, opened pathways towards financial independence through sustainable livelihood initiatives. With a lot already done, the bank continues to bring about the change keeping with its philosophy of Sustainability and Innovation. Under Parivartan, HDFC work in the following focus areas:

1. Holistic Rural Development Program (HRDP)
2. Promotion of Education
3. Skill Training & Livelihood Enhancement
4. Healthcare and Hygiene
5. Financial Literacy and Inclusion

2. Project Overview

(a) Name of the project:

Project Foot-Print – Climate Action, Emission Reduction & Verification

(b) Geographical Location:

The project focuses interventions in 30 villages in 03 states of India i.e. Uttarakhand, Odisha, and Assam.

(c) CSR Fund utilized: The project has a budget of Rs.9.82 Crores over 3 years.

(d) Implementation Process:

The Project Foot-Print – Climate Action, Emission Reduction & Verification aims to improve quality of life in rural areas through introducing climate friendly interventions. The various climate friendly intervention options being initiated under the project by providing

(i) Improved Cook Stoves (ICS) having higher energy efficiency (ii) Biogas units (Deenabandhu Model) that replace fuel wood and reduce GHG emissions contributing to climate change (iii) Community Based Solar Powered Water Tank; Water purifiers etc.
The program initiated with a baseline survey to help determine the typical baseline fuel consumption patterns in the population targeted prior to adoption of the project technology. Further, the households having sufficient existing resources such as cattle and space to build biogas have been mapped as well to identify households targeted for biogas.

intervention, while those not having enough space and/or cattle are being provided with Improved Cook Stove (ICS). Through this project, consumption of non-renewable fuel wood is being reduced through ICS or biogas. Beside, the clean-energy interventions, the facility of solar powered drinking water and water purifiers are also being created which additionally boost up the health indicator in the project area. This is an innovative project that endeavours to address various issues in upgrading the quality of life in rural areas while also offsetting carbon emissions by integrating developmental activities with carbon emission reduction. The activities that are promoted under this project will not only  add value to the lives of the rural poor households but will also help in stabilizing the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere.

Various Steps are involved in Impact Assessment, Certification and Carbon Credits generation which include:

(i) Gold Standard Project and Activity Documentation for Registration, (ii) Project Validation which involves preliminary review and third-party assessment, (iii) Project design review and certification, (iv) Project verification and issuance of certified products and crediting

The project interventions would generate substantial carbon credits as the project is registered with Gold Standard (GS) for verified carbon emission reductions. The Gold Standard (GS) is an independent certification standard for carbon credits generated from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects or Voluntary Emissions Reduction (VER) projects. The sustainability of this project is inherent in the monetary benefits that the community would gain through carbon crediting. Farmers would feel motivated to upkeep the interventions undertaken under the projects for longer run when they are provided with the monetory gains of the interventions made. This will also promote behavioural change among the rural community towards the use of clean and renewable energy viz. solar powered drinking water, solar streetlights, solar domestic lights, biogas plants and smokeless stoves.

To complement and substantiate the project while also promoting the usage of such renewable sources of energy, an assessment on the existing structures in the other locations of the 3 states is also being done.

(e) Monitoring and Evaluation Process:

Digital monitoring solutions have been adopted for the project, wherein each individual biogas unit is geo tagged and a unique unit identification number attested every unit. Real Time updates are made available and progress of all units installed is maintained. Various steps undertaken for Monitoring & Evaluation are:

(a) In the first stage, End User Agreement is created, in which the date of dissemination/biogas operation, the name of the user, Village, Taluka, District where the user is residing are noted, to irrefutably identify the user.

(b) Each Biogas Unit has an identification number which is also noted in the End User Agreement. The information from the End User Agreement is also recorded in the monitoring database designed for  monitoring of the project activity. This is maintained by the implementing NGO, SUVIDHA throughout the crediting period.

(c) Continuous monitoring is being done to check for operation of the biogas units by village level volunteers and field workers. As soon as a biogas unit is under repair and not used, it will be reported and entered in to the monitoring solution.

(d) In case of any issues with functionality, the reporting is primarily done by the End Users/ Village Volunteers. A toll-free number is also maintained where the end users can directly connect. The same is entered in the  monitoring solution and a field worker is assigned to assess and resolve the issue. The biogas units are repaired or replaced as needed.

(e) The days lost in repair or replacement are recorded in the monitoring solution for each and every household.

Monitoring parameters

1. Biogas Units Constructed
2. Number of biogas plants operating
3. Non-usage of biogas plants
4. Time taken in resolution of issues of biogas
5. Confirmation that non-renewable biomass has been substituted.

Besides, daily field visits by field workers and village level volunteers, monthly meeting of end users and annual survey and data analysis are conducted.

Source of Data & Responsibility

• The database entries are made by the village volunteers. These entries are  supervised by the project Coordinator.
• The database records and copies of the End User Agreement are maintained by the implementing agency
• The project Coordinator checks on the End User Agreements. In case of inconsistencies, appropriate corrective actions are undertaken.

Further, the project is being substantiated with an ongoing assessment for carbon footprint reduction for the existing such infrastructure in the state but different geographies within those States that complements the initiative as well.

3. Key Challenges Addressed

The Project has the potential to address various issues to upgrade the quality of life in rural areas in Uttarakhand, Odisha and Assam while offsetting carbon emissions. In rural India, over 77% of households relies heavily on traditional biomass-based fuel (Fuel wood, crop residues and animal dung) for meeting the energy needs, while 20% household in urban areas still use firewood. The smoke from burning such fuels cause alarming household pollution and adversely affects the health of women & children causing several respiratory diseases/disorders. More than 100000 people die prematurely in India from diseases caused by inhaling smoke from fuel wood and other biomass used for cooking. The unsustainable harvest of fuel wood is major driver of forest degradation, adversely impacting  more than 30 million hectares of forests. The project introduces various measures to reduce carbon emission through specific intervention and improves the quality of life through drudgery reductions, smoke free and healthy environment at house hold level in rural India.

4. Impact Created

Currently, the project is in its implementation stage of promoting biomass and biogas digester units and impact is projected largely below:

Environmental Impact: The project endeavours to improve the local environment by reducing uncontrolled deforestation in the project area.  It avoids local environmental pollution while also providing high quality manure to the end-users as the by-product or residue of biogas units installed. It promotes carbon offsetting by switching from non-renewable biomass to renewable energy, leading to reduction of GHG emissions.

Social benefits of Project: As the project is with the rural community, it will reduce the drudgery of women who spend long hours and travel long distances to collect fuel wood and water. It will also reduce indoor  air pollution, thus eliminating the health hazards like cough and eye diseases for women and children while ensuring clean energy supply.

Economic benefits: Higher productivity of family members is expected as they have adequate cooking fuel supply. The project will provide employment to local communities through construction and maintenance of biogas units. The project also helps reduce cooking time, thus providing women to take up income generating activities.

The impact and outcomes of this project will be substantial as it will be generating substantial carbon credits as the project is registered with Gold Standard for verified carbon emission reductions.

5. Way Forward

The sustainability of this programme is inherent in the monetory benefits that the community would gain through carbon crediting as being registered with Gold Standard VER. Farmers involved will be motivated to upkeep the interventions made under the project for longer run when they are provided with the monetory gains of the interventions made while it will also promote such sources of energy in the community. This will inculcate a behavioural change among the rural community towards the use of clean and renewable energy viz. solar powered drinking water, solar streetlights, solar domestic lights, biogas plants and smokeless stoves.

The project is being complemented with assessments of existing activities in the states promoted in different locations from other projects to substantiate the outcomes and impact of such activities. The project can be scaled up to multiple states/geographies without any additional expenses once registered with Gold Standard. In this project we have registered one national level PoA (Programme of Activity). Under this national level PoA, 3 VPAs (Voluntary Programme of Activity) have been registered each in Odisha, Assam, and Uttarakhand. PoA registration is a one-time activity and there would be no additional fee charges for registering additional VPAs across the country under this PoA. Hence, the project can be scaled up to different states/geographies without any additional fee charges once registered with Gold Standard.