How to Create a Custom Net-Zero Strategy for Your Business

In a conversation with Industry Outlook, Sindhu Jannareddy, Director at Zenith Energy, explains how Indian businesses are rethinking net-zero through science-based targets, sector-specific decarbonisation, and integrated carbon strategies. With over 20 years of experience in sustainability consulting, carbon markets, and corporate climate action, Sindhu brings a sharp focus on aligning business goals with environmental impact. Zenith Energy is a specialized climate advisory firm supporting end-to-end net-zero journeys for businesses across sectors. From industrial retrofits to carbon-aligned capital planning, the firm focuses on delivering measurable, future-ready impact.

How are Indian businesses adapting net-zero strategies to address sector-specific emission hotspots like process heat in manufacturing and cold-chain energy use in retail?

Process heat leads to heavy usage of industrial energy where it amounts to 45-60 per cent of energy consumption in industries such as cement, steel and chemicals. To ease this burden, firms are spending more to install waste heat recovery systems that would usually cost 10-15 crore per megawatt capacity, as well as install electrified boilers. The government is helping to promote such projects through various incentives with payments of 10-15 lakhs of subsidy per plant by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE).
 

Cold-chain operations in retail and pharmaceutical industry consume a lot of energy—up to 50 per cent of the total energy. Some businesses are responding to this by adopting low-GWP refrigerants such as R-290 and R-600a, and thermal storage systems of integration. Big Basket and ITC are two companies that have already passed 20-30 per cent energy savings. The impact of interventions is already quantifiable on the emissions front— for instance, at low-carbon refrigeration line produced by Godrej Appliances, which saves about 120 kg CO2 on an annual basis per unit. The bigger picture in the industry is evident companies have seen areas of high emissions such as heating and cooling and implementing cleans, energy efficient mechanisms to reduce use of energy and reducing carbon footprint.

Also Read: Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) in India's Industrial Sector: Benefits & Adoption Guide

How are Indian corporates using internal carbon pricing to drive accountability and embed net-zero strategies into business decision-making and capital allocation?

More than 80 Indian firms, including Infosys, Tata Steel, and Mahindra had implemented Internal Carbon Pricing (ICP), with internal rates that are between 500 and 1,400 rupees per ton of CO 2. Infosys uses the rate of 1400 rupees per ton whereas the ICP of Tata steel lies in the range of 500 to 1000 rupees per ton. The mechanism has become part and parcel of the capital allocation process and considerations such that projects must meet standards of return-on-investment (ROI), which considers a shadow carbon price, e.g. a project must achieve 12 per cent or greater internal rate of return (IRR) at a price of 1000 rupees per ton of CO 2.

Other companies such as Godrej & Boyce are utilizing ICP to make strategic investments, which have made this corporation invest approximately 60 crores per year to develop more green R&D activities to cut on 25 percent of lifecycle emissions. Outside direct financial options, ICP can also be described as a future-readiness system, assisting organizations in predictions of the increase in the external costs of carbon like the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) with a value of 75 euros per ton, and the projected introduction of local carbon markets within 2026. The designation of a price to each ton of carbon makes companies consider more green projects and neglect high-emission investment in line with long-term growth and climate ambitions.

How should companies prioritize among multiple net-zero pathways: electrification, carbon offsets, circularity, and renewables?

Each business has its own individualized emissions profile as well as operation context. Zenith Energy (ZE) is a 360 rounds customized roadmap that assists businesses to find loopholes and apply real- time solutions. These are energy efficiency ESCO models, renewable energy RESCO and PPA structures and community-based offset projects or verification credit purchases. It is also true that ZE introduces new types of financing that significantly prioritize introductory expenses and cut down on business expenses. It is preceded by electrification of processes and logistics, where offsets are considered as a last-mile solution. The idea of circularity is deeply rooted all around particularly in the manufacturing and retail where material reuse and waste valorization can be transformative.

Also Read: Industrial India Turns to Solar for Cost Cuts and ESG Compliance

What are the most common mistakes businesses make while implementing net-zero strategies?

There are a few pitfalls ranging in net-zero strategies that revolve around focusing on Scope 1 and 2 emissions as opposed to taking into consideration Scope 3 along with looking at net-zero as an individual CSR program as opposed to having a business strategy involving multiple functions and looking at carbon offsets as a standalone solution rather than putting greater emphasis on actual emissions cuts. Moreover, several companies underperform because of the absence of basic data or rather improper systems to track the progress. At Zenith, we work around these issues by taking a methodical way to approach these issues, starting with making sure the data diagnostics standing is healthy and well-thought-out, followed by stakeholder workshops and a clear conclusion of KPI tracking systems, to make sure that nothing like this is disconnected.