Ather Energy’s first impact report out, aims to improve overall sustainability

Bangalore-based smart EV maker Ather Energy has released its first Impact report, making it the first OEM in India to measure its overall social, environmental and economic impact.

The FY2019-2020 report provides a detailed analysis of the company’s efforts to create a change in the ecosystem around it. The impact assessment was done by Aspire Impact, a social enterprise focused on impact leadership and impact ecosystem development.

Ather Energy underwent a comprehensive assessment using Aspire Impact’s proprietary 4P framework across over 250 impact metrics and was awarded Aspire Impact’s Gold Leaf accreditation for its overall Impact Management. Ather Energy claims it is the first Indian and second automotive company globally, besides Tesla, to publish an Impact report.

According to the company, the global sustainability reporting landscape has been mainly dominated by large, public-listed companies in many countries including India, as regulations mandate that each company report on sustainability metrics. While progressive companies treat ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting as a critical part of their strategy, sustainability reporting is also evolving, and Impact reporting is currently the most comprehensive reporting system available.

Ather says it has a two-pronged approach to build a sustainable ecosystem. The company has built a vehicle and charging infrastructure platform from scratch and has also focused on helping develop a local supply chain. As a result, Ather Energy has managed to achieve 99% localisation (except cells) in the vehicle. In parallel, sustainability has been a core driving force in Ather Energy’s endeavors and operations.

Ather scooters slash 30 metric tones of CO2 emissions
In FY2019-2020, Ather Energy says its vehicles reduced 7.5 metric tons of CO2 emissions (equivalent to 15 years of riding a 125cc scooter). Till date, 40 million green kilometres have been travelled on Ather scooters have saved 30 metric tonnes of CO2.

Ather Energy says as part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion, which has been broadened to include the diversity of thought, experience, gender, leadership, language and culture. The company has approximately 30 percent women employed in the manufacturing facility, which it claims is the highest in the Indian automotive sector.

Furthermore, Ather Energy says it is on track to expand its presence to 100 cities with a new product portfolio by FY2023 and add more safety features on the product like crash detection & SOS, tow detection, tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) and remote diagnostics among others. By FY2022, Ather Energy plans to install 500 charging points across the country. Ather Energy is also aiming to use 80% of their energy consumption using solar energy and increase the ratio of recycled water to total water consumption by 84%.

Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO, Ather Energy, said: "The impact of our work through our products for the EV market is clear but building a long-term impact focused organisation is about more than a few founding product decisions. Just like financial metrics, measuring impact has to be made an institutional process, expanding far beyond just the product and covering people, planet, and policy too. Measuring and publicly sharing the same will help us create a system where long-term we will be able to hold ourselves accountable to a public standard and hence constantly improve on the same. While this is just the first report, we are already seeing big leaps in the WIP report for FY2021 bringing out the advantage of pushing impact as a companywide metric.”

Amit Bhatia, founder and CEO, Aspire Impact: “Ather Energy has proved to be a pioneer not just in reimagining green, sustainable mobility but also in structured, transparent impact reporting. We at Aspire Impact, India’s first Impact-Rating initiative, are delighted to award them a ‘Gold Leaf’, our second highest Impact Rating.”

ALSO READ: Swapnil Jain & Tarun Mehta: ‘Ather scooters are built to change the perception of EVs.’