Namrata’s work focuses on preparing companies for the sustainability and Net Zero transition. She works at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and brand experiences.
Books
SHIFT – Decisions for the Net Zero world.
BALANCE – Responsible business for the digital age.
Excerpts From The Vision Board Interview With Namrata Rana
Two Megatrends Post Pandemic?
I’d like to just talk about what’s happened in the last two years. If we were to just look at the last two years and the era before the previous two years things are dramatically different. So there were some trends that were still there but in the last two years and for whatever reason they have accelerated. So two of the most important things that have accelerated, one is digital transformation and the second most important thing is the conversation around climate and the need for urgency around climate. So before the pandemic there were murmurs about the climate, people were talking about okay you know things are difficult they might things might get worse and you know the IPCC report was still being read and debated, corporate strategies were being discussed but there was very little action on the ground, there was also very little action in the political circles, there was also very little agreement on what exactly needed to be done. Also conversations pre-pandemic were largely around compliance okay we need to now generate an XYZ report for whatever reason for exporters for, you know our investors. But now people are saying that report is just not enough yeah what is it that you are doing to intrinsically transform the nature of your business. And a similar conversation is happening around digital transformation where people are saying that your entire business model is under question is up for grabs because of various things that are happening and these two converging Trends are really the biggest transformative shift of our times.
Transformative Shift and the role of policy makers?
Transformation at scale cannot be done without the government and without policy changers because the shift towards sustainability means that the way we grow our food needs to change, right. What does that mean, it means that every bit of product that is grown needs to use less water, it certainly needs to be more localized than what it is at the moment and that needs intervention, it also needs renewable energy. The second thing is the way we make everything needs to change, so if we talk about the way we grow food and if we talk about the way we manufacture things that’s a big transformative shift. At the same time people have made investments in a lot of traditional energy sources and machinery and equipment that runs on those sources. so the transformative shift from older forms of energy which is which is coal and oil and cannot necessarily be made overnight and cannot be done without incentives. The other part is that we the way we actually transport everything needs to change, if we change our entire transportation system again for people who have made investments in that we can’t really change that without government support and without incentives for new forms of energy new forms of transportation systems based around electricity and other new energy formats that are going to emerge.