Sustainable growth: We are nowhere near our goals

To get a sense of where the world stands in terms of sustainable development, Bose Varghese, head of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, pointed to a date that has passed us by barely a month ago. July 24. The day was also observed as the 'Earth Overshoot Day'.

The Earth Overshoot Day is the day when the earth had consumed what the planet can provide in a year. "By July 24 we have consumed what this planet can give us for an entire year. So today, on August 22, we are running a deficit programme, and we have been doing this for half a century," Bose said. He was speaking on the topic 'ESG: The Sustainability Imperative' at Manorama News Conclave 2025 held at the Lulu Bolgatty International Convention Centre in Kochi on Friday.

"This cannot go on. This is self-destructive. This is why sustainability and sustainable development is imperative," Bose said. He said unsustainable development was manifesting as air, water and land pollution. He said by 2015 itself, global plastic production had reached 440 million tonnes annually. "We are wrapping ourselves in plastic waste," Bose said.

He said that through deforestation, the world has lost a landmass equivalent to New Zealand. "At the current rate of fishing and consumption of marine products, we will fish the oceans out by 2048. We are drilling so deep that we might pull out lava," he said. On top of it, climate change is making life unbearable. "The last 10 years have been the hottest in history, and 2024 was the worst," Bose said. "If sustainable development is not seen as an imperative, we are digging our own graves,” he said.

The United Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, both launched in 2015, are the two platforms around which the world is going about its sustainable development activities. The UN SDG aims for peace and prosperity for the planet by 2030. The Paris Agreement wants global warming to be reduced well below 2 degree Celsius, and if possible to 1.5 degree C.

"We are nowhere near the goals," Bose said but added that there were indeed certain gains. "The Paris Agreement helped the world to get into the transition pathway to renewable and sustainable energy and electric mobility. Under the UN SDG, the world could tackle a lot of common tropical diseases and could achieve universal electrification in many countries. But still it is a work in progress," Bose said.

India, too, is showing the way. He said India's food consumption was rated as the most sustainable among the G-20 countries. "If others adopt our food system, by 2050, we will need less than one planet to satisfy our food needs. But if we adopt the food system of a developed nation like the US, we would require five-and-a-half planets to just feed ourselves," Bose said.