COVID-19's silver lining! Carbon emission by India's tech outsourcing industry dips 85%

Indian IT outsourcing industry's carbon emission dropped by about 85 per cent to around 0.3 million tonnes due to reduced travelling.

New Delhi: The carbon emission by Indian IT outsourcing industry has dropped by about 85 per cent to around 0.3 million tonnes due to reduced travelling, work from home and online hiring process, according to a report of market research firm UnearthInsight released on Friday.

The travel expense of top five IT services companies TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Tech Mahindra) reduced by around 75 per cent to USD 370 million in the financial year 2021 compared to USD 1.4 billion in the financial year 2020, thereby leading to dip in carbon emission, according to the report.

"The study reveals and estimates an 85 per cent drop in carbon emissions during the year at about 0.3 million tonnes of carbon emission from a pre-pandemic level of around 2 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. The study observes that today only 4 to 5 per cent of around 4.4 million workforce in the outsourcing industry is traveling to work," Unearthinsight said in a statement.

UnearthInsight benchmarking analysis estimates that the Indian IT outsourcing spent only about USD 750 million on travel costs in FY 2020-21 compared to USD 2.9 billion in FY 2019-20.

Further, the plan of Indian outsourcing industry to use electric vehicles for their workforce will take them towards carbon neutrality.

"The outsourcing industry was on track for the adoption of hybrid working models, electric mobility even before Covid. However, the pandemic and quick adoption of digital tools and technology has dramatically changed the scenario and today carbon emission reduction looks sustainable over a longer period of time," UnearthInsight founder and CEO Gaurav Vasu said.

He said COVID-19 disruption has made outsourcing organizations, clients' and employees' environment friendly, helping them accelerate their journey towards Carbon neutrality.

Even before the pandemic, tech companies and captives like TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Unisys, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle captives were already reducing carbon emissions with the adoption of digital employee transportation apps clubbed with electric vehicle fleet providers.

UnearthInsight study estimates over 20 to 25 per cent employees to return back to work by early next year as global and domestic IT firms' complete vaccination of employees and families.

"This is when pre-pandemic pilots and investments of larger technology and captives who deployed disruptive electric vehicle startups will pay off as companies aim to move from around 5 per cent employee travel on EV to over 25 to 30 per cent by 2025 helping achieve carbon Neutrality targets," the statement said.