Recognizing the need and urgency, National Institute of Solar Energy(NISE) has launched Suryamitra Skill Development Program in collaboration with State Nodal Agencies at various locations across India. Under this scheme, Greenko has introduced a Solar Skill Development Certification Program for 280 ITI students of the local communities in Kurnool cluster at Ghani Solar Park with a vision to enhance their skills for employability. Greenko has provided employment to over 100 trainees of Suryamitra Skill Development Program.

Our objective is to bring quality and specialized healthcare to the communities close to our operating plants as well as Greenko projects across the country. To provide access to quality health care, we have organized free general medical camps and eye camps at some of our plants located across India in association with local hospitals. We have been organizing these camps at least once in a year at our operational plants. A total of 2097 people participated in these medical camps and benefited from the free diagnostic, treatment and free medicines services. A notable achievement is the Diagnostic, Screening and Treatment (DST) Eye Camps conducted at our Hydel Plants in Himachal Pradesh.
1. Health Camp at Hatkoti Site
2. Eye checkup camp at Palampur Cluster
3. DST Eye Camp

We initiate rural development programs in consultation and coordination with local panchayats. Based on the inputs received from the local stakeholders we design our interventions for rural development projects. After assessing the various short term and long term needs of the local communities, such as:

1. Clean drinking water
2. Availability of infrastructure like roads, street lighting, sanitation facilities etc.

The nature of our operations demands a strong focus on the health and safety of our employees. We aim to regularly enhance our internal safety systems through functional & behavioural training and safety awareness programs, to sensitize our employees about the criticality of safety measures. We have implemented an effective Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) governance by focusing on the core areas as described below.

1. We train our employees/workers regularly to enrich safety awareness and ensure safe working environment at all work locations.

2. We conduct relevant training programs for the executives to enhance their knowledge and skills.

3. We have made a list of Training programs to be conducted in a Calendar Year and provided relevant "Training Modules" to the Executives so as to enable them to organize the training programs in an effective manner.

4. In addition to this, we have circulated soft copies of "Animated Safety Videos" to site teams to be used as resources for the training sessions. Some of our regular in-house training programs are on:

a. GIMS policy, Procedures, code of conduct, EHS Orientation & Toolbox talks.
b. Behaviour Based Safety
c. Office Safety & Ergonomic Safety
d. Road Safety (Two / Four-Wheeler)
e. Electrical safety
f. ERP Heat Stress Management
g. Fire Safety & Housekeeping
h. Awareness on First Aid Treatment
i. EHS Aspects and Impacts
j. Conservation of Resources

Greenhouse gases contribute to the acceleration and aggravation of climate change and its impact. Thus, as responsible businesses, we monitor and make efforts to reduce the GHG emissions from business operations. The conference of parties (COP) to UNFCCC have agreed on limiting the global temperature rise to below 1.5-2°C compared to pre-industrial temperatures. Traditionally, economic development has been closely correlated to a higher energy consumption and therefore the increase in GHG emissions. Building a de-risked portfolio of wind, solar, hydropower and clean energy assets within India, Greenko intends to increase its installed capacity for integrated renewable energy by developing greenfield assets and thereby reduce the GHG emissions.

The group has till date registered 21 Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects with UNFCCC. These include 5 biomass, 13 hydro and 3 wind power projects, generating a total of 15,90,560 Certified Emission Reductions. We have estimated our CO2 emissions from our operations following the standard of Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) and using the emission factors provided by the IPCC as a reference. In addition to its contribution to CDM projects, Greenko has generated over 8.5 billion units of clean energy thereby avoiding approximately 6.9 million tonnes of CO2.

Greenko Group's management of wastes is based on its Environment and Social Management System that establishes practices to meet the legal requirements along with reducing or avoiding generation of wastes and to reuse or recycle whenever possible. The system governs identification of the waste streams, their classification, manner of collection, transport and appropriate final disposal. Greenko carries out continuous monitoring of generation, storage and allocation of wastes from its contractors and vendors alike. The group conducts an Environmental Education Program for employees and partners, which includes raising awareness about environmental issues, with a focus on reduction, reusing and recycling of waste.

Most of our plants are located and designed to use water from surface water sources. As water is critical to the environment in Indian geography, water management is very critical and material to our operations. None of our plants/projects create any significant water stress in the areas where we operate.

Water management initiatives
1. Sprinkler & dripping system has been installed and maintained in the power house and staff quarters
2. RO plant waste water is reused for gardening purpose
3. Rain Water Harvesting System - All the Rainwater is diverted through drains to rainwater collection pit and that water is reused for gardening purposes.

Greenko Group believes that the absence of absolute scientific certainty should not be a reason for postponing effective and economically viable measures to prevent the threat of serious or irreversible damage to the environment or to human health in the procedures for prior license, installation and operation. The Group is cognizant of the importance of native flora and fauna population in the areas adjoining the Greenko project. Greenko carries out Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) study prior to the commencement of any operations, in line with the requirements of ten Equator Principles; eight International Finance Corporation (IFC) Social & Environmental Sustainability Performance Standards (PS); and IFC Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines for Renewable Energy Projects.

We have been investing towards environmental conservation/ protection initiatives in the following areas:

1. IMS Certifications (EMS, OHSAS, QMS)
2. Environmental education and training
3. Green Purchases
4. Preservation of Biodiversity
5. Environmental Monitoring Equipment
6. Impact Assessment Studies

Greenko group has submitted a plan to the forest department to adopt the Rollapadu bird sanctuary and will begin the work very soon. The conservation project, besides other things, would involve:

1. Development of infrastructure for habitat & species conservation

a. Bio Fencing along Rollapadu sanctuary boundary

b. Conducting Great Indian Bustard Survey in Satellite Grassland in Kurnool & Anantapur Dist

c. Improvement of European Economic Community at Rollapadu

d. Engaging and associating with NGO's and research institution

2. Habitat improvement program

a. Unwanted weed, woody growth removal for development of grassland

b. Engaging of 5 Nos. Fire watchers from April to May and January to March every year

3. Reduction of man-animal conflict by Crop compensation

a. Adjacent private land shall be acquired to increase the sanctuary size and reducing the public intervention

4. Publicity, Education, Nature Camp program

a. Conducting awareness programs around Rollapadu villages to ensure public support for the cause of conservation

b. Filming a documentary about the great Indian bustard and screening in electronic media and local theatres to improve the awareness on bird and sensing the bird sighting every year across the corridor

5. Eco-Development

a. Providing Solar lights to the Villages adjoining to Sanctuary area

b. Providing Solar Cookers to the Villagers adjoining to Sanctuary area to reduce fuel wood dependency

c. Providing Solar based drinking water pumping system for providing water facilities in adjoining villages near Rollapadu

6. Promotion of Ecotourism

a. Providing Solar lights near accommodation for visitors

b. Semi-permanent Cottages with attached Bathroom at GIB Wildlife Sanctuary

c. Tented accommodation with attached bath

d. Reception cum Restaurant

e. Battery Operated Vehicles

f. Maintenance of Ecotourism facility including man-power support

Greenko Group has partnered with WWF-India to “Protect our Ocean Health and Biodiversity from Marine Debris”, with a focus on conservation of the Olive Ridley turtles along the coast of India. The project covers three coastal states, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Goa. The project aims to mitigate threats to marine turtles from entanglements in fishing nets with support of fisher communities & through advocacy at a government level. The fisher community is being engaged through workshops and awareness drives to adopt sustainable fishing practices. Consequently, an incentive mechanism will be established to encourage their participation in adopting better practices to reduce turtle bycatch in trawlers and handling of ghost nets.

The activities under the project will be carried out under two broad objectives:

1. To reduce impacts of ‘ghost’ fishing gears on threatened species including Olive Ridley turtles

● Surveying fishing communities, spatial mapping to identify marine debris hotspots along coastline.

● Identifying reliable change agents within fishing communities, planning a monitoring programme with best practices and data sharing, providing on ground support for participating community members.

● Analysing data from initial surveys and mapping to identify priority areas and mitigation practices.

● Conducting workshops & awareness programmes to enhance understanding for various stakeholders.

● Engaging with government agencies to help promote appropriate policies for sustainable fishing practices.

● Developing innovative partnerships to create financial incentives for fisher communities.

2. To reduce sea turtle bycatch in trawl fishery along the coast of Andhra Pradesh

● Establishing a field team, conducting training, standardising protocol and providing field logistics sorted for monitoring.

● Stakeholder workshops for the fisher community to agree for a trial run, carry out a Turtle Excluder Device (TED) trial run using established protocol, carry out awareness and training sessions on increasing the efficiency of TEDs and overcoming all misconceptions associated with it within the community.

● Engaging with government agencies for supporting TED implementation.

● Exploring incentive mechanisms to promote the uptake and use of TEDs among local communities.

Trees are a crucial part of our ecosystem, and play a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of an area. In order to facilitate the construction of Ghani Solar Park on a large scale, Greenko has adopted the latest technology to conserve trees within the project sites. The trees were taken out from project site and replanted at planned locations and along the roads within the project site. The average age of the trees replanted is above 50 years.

We have adopted the following steps during the process of transplantation.

1. Soil sampling and site selection
2. Root pruning and tree packing
3. Transplantation of trees
4. Mechanical support and root pruning
5. Post-transplantation treatment