SUNIL KUMAR

About

Founder and Principal Consultant of Chakra4 Sustainability Consulting Services, offering services in the field of Corporate Sustainability, Environmental Management, Occupational Health and Safety Management and Corporate Social Responsibility, since 2018. Offering Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) consultancy to Indian Corporates. Qualified Independent Verifier providing verification services under International EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) Systems and Auditor for Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standards. From 2005-18, I worked in ITC Limited’s Corporate Environment, Health and Safety (CEHS) Department in various capacities; joined as a Manager and then moved upto Senior Specialist in July 2008. My core focus areas were on developing sustainability strategies & policies and implementing systems & processes to meet the strategies/policies for ITC businesses, creating EHS guidelines in line with international standards/codes and best practices, establishing an IT enabled enterprise-wide performance management system to monitor the sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), reporting sustainability performance in accordance with internationally well reputed disclosure frameworks like Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, Carbon and Water footprint computation as per international standards and disclosure under CDP protocols, formulating climate change risk mitigation plans, developing water stewardship programs for water security of units, enhancing the carbon positive, water positive and solid waste recycling positive footprints of ITC, developing code of conduct for sustainable supply chain and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for improving environmental attributes of products and services. Prior to ITC, I was with Lloyd’s Register as an Engineer Surveyor from 1999-2005. As a Lead Auditor, I conducted third party audit of Environmental Management System (EMS), Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OH&SMS) and Quality Management System (QMS) as per ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and ISO 9001 standards respectively for manufacturing, design consultancy, construction and service sectors. Over 600 days of audits conducted during the period. Developed resources to deliver the conformity assessment services and systems/processes for delivering Integrated Management System audit as well as training programs. Qualified as Lead Auditor, Supervising Auditor, Technical Reviewer and Lead Tutor during this period. In 2005, I completed Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Sikkim Manipal University (‘A’ grade). In September 1994, I joined Essar Group’s Corporate Environment, Risk and Insurance Management (ERIM) Department as a Deputy Manager and moved up to Manager and then the Leader of the Environment & Risk Management function of ERIM Department of Iron & Steel and Power plants at Hazira. During my tenure in Essar (1994-99), I was responsible for environment & risk management activities of Iron & Steel and Power Plants. I was instrumental in developing Environmental Management System (EMS) in accordance with ISO 14001- 1996 and got third party certified in 1999 - the first Integrated Iron & Steel plant in India to have certified to ISO 14001. Independently handled public interest litigation filed against the company on environmental pollution and won the litigation. In April 1990, I joined National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur as a Junior Project Fellow (equivalent to Junior Research Fellow) and worked my way to Senior Project Fellow (equivalent to Senior Research Fellow) in November 1992. During my stint in NEERI (1990-1994), I was involved in Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment (EIRA) and Carrying Capacity studies and gained expertise in air quality monitoring & dispersion modelling, environmental management plans and risk management. I published three technical papers during this period and completed Master’s Degree (ME by Research) in Environmental Engineering (‘A’ grade) from Nagpur University in 1994. After graduating from National Institute of Technology (erstwhile Regional Engineering College), Calicut, in 1988 (B Tech in Civil Engineering) in First Class, I worked as an apprentice/engineer trainee for a short period in civil construction/ maintenance areas. Over the 35 years of my career, I networked with international organisations/industry associations/academic institutions such as Global Reporting Initiative, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), CDP, Confederation of Indian Industry, NITIE Mumbai, IIT Kharagpur, Jadavpur University Kolkata, XIM Bhubaneswar, TISS Mumbai and IIT Dharwad.

Experience

Qualifications

BTech (civil), ME (Environmental Engg.) and MBA

What you'll learn

On Corporate Sustainability through which Competitiveness

Recognition

Sustainability Assessor fro,m ITC CII Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development