Earth Day to Every Day: ZEISS employees contribute with various activities

At ZEISS, sustainability initiatives are plenty and fueled by dedicated employees. In celebration of Earth Day, we are showcasing a range of projects aimed at promoting environmental consciousness. Among these efforts is a notable project dedicated to providing students with proper seating instead of learning on the floor. Additionally, ZEISS employees in India are actively engaged in a project to contribute to local food security.

Manoj Sharma, who usually navigates corporate corridors, finds himself often now in a different setting. He weaves through rows and rows of crops amidst sprawling fields. Here, the ZEISS Head of Supply Chain & Business Processes is working on multiple sustainable community projects in India, the world’s most populous country that has a landmass only a third the size of China’s.

The school bench project is just one of several community engagement solutions that are currently ongoing at ZEISS. Sharma says projects like these are built into ZEISS’ DNA, with countless other employees around the world who make a difference throughout the year. In India alone, an estimated 200 employee volunteers have been involved in environmental initiatives over the years.

One of them is a community garden at the ZEISS headquarters in Bangalore. From the get-go, the impact of this garden has been tangible. Including all different crops, the average annual yield is around 15,000 kgs of harvest. This harvest is sufficient to provide around 36,500 nutritious meals each year.

Employee engagement for these community service opportunities has since only been growing. Individuals are eager to engage because they resonate with these inclusive campaigns, having experienced firsthand or having seen their elderly populace who have navigated through some of these challenges themselves in getting quality education or facilities. As Radia puts it, the need to conserve our limited natural resources “we are bestowed with on this earth is very real and urgent. It transcends all man-made boundaries and has the potential to unify us all to work towards building an equitable society.” Radia says he finds it truly inspiring how naturally driven a lot of the teams are in their volunteering initiatives to rewrite the narrative and innovate on sustainable projects.

Radia and Sharma will continue to push sustainable solutions internally. To them, sustainability is a core part of their strategy. That’s why they formed a CSR & Sustainability Committee at the end of last year with an aim to put a robust mechanism to evaluate, implement and monitor all CSR and sustainability initiatives across ZEISS India. Here, social impact organizations who have good ideas are given an initial round of funding to explore opportunities from the CSR budget. Over several stages, these organizations will be given advisory and other resources as well as further financial support when they continuously show results. This approach not only empowers employees but creates the opportunity they need to contribute to social good. “There is poverty. There are people suffering. And we aim to address these issues. We will invest our time, energy, and finances toward caring for education, healthcare, and contributing value to society,” says Sharma while he kneels to plant another seed for the next harvest.