Celebrating Earth Month: Corporate Sustainability at WeWork India

Explore how WeWork India is integrating sustainability into its practices to build a sustainable tomorrow, aligning with the spirit of Earth Month celebrated throughout April.

Earth Month, celebrated throughout April, is a time to raise awareness about environmental issues and promote sustainable practices.

In this blog, we'll delve into the various ways WeWork India is integrating sustainability into its practices, to create a sustainable tomorrow.

Corporate Sustainability at WeWork India

Energy Efficiency:

As part of WeWork India’s sustainability goals, we have set a target to reduce energy by 20% TO 120 kWh/sqm/year by the year 2026. All WeWork India buildings have a Central Command Centre, which serves as a crucial component in the energy management strategy. Operated by Schneider Electric, this command center plays a pivotal role in identifying and addressing faults within the building's HVAC systems. The proactive monitoring and swift resolution provided by the command center leads to substantial energy and cost savings.

In tandem with this, WeWork India leverages advanced Building Management Systems, exemplified by the 75F Managed Services. These intelligent BMS systems enable automated responses to discrepancies in HVAC systems, ensuring prompt corrective actions. This approach maintains a consistently high level of efficiency, resulting in remarkable energy savings ranging from 20% to 30% of the HVAC energy consumption.

Furthermore, in light of Earth hour, all non-essential lights were switched off in the buildings pan India on the 23rd of March.

Water Conservation:

Another part of our Sustainability goals is to achieve a consumption of 20 liters of water per person per day, by 2028. The overwhelming majority of buildings across WeWork’s portfolio use various conservation methods such as:

• Low flow fixtures, automated closets and urinals.
• Efficient sewage treatment plants.
• Facility management that ensures prompt response to leaks and faulty fixtures.
• Rainwater harvesting.

Furthermore, buildings coming up for the five year refurbishment will be installed with low flow fixtures, if absent. Smart water metering will be a part of upcoming buildings and retrofitted into the present portfolio to maintain and govern water consumption. Moreover, In collaboration with consultants, WeWork India will embark on water stewardship initiatives.

We believe in creating a positive impact not just within our workspaces, therefore we have adopted Tarahunise Lake in North Bangalore (in partnership with The anonymous Indian Charitable Trust (TAICT))​​, with a long term focus on conserving biodiversity and building a robust wetland around the lake.

The Tarahunise Lake has an area of 32 acres and a holding capacity of ~187 Million liters and has been largely dry for the last 30 years.

Treated wastewater has been pumped into this lake since May 2020 and while the filled up lake has helped increase the water levels in the shallow aquifers, there is a possibility of reduction of quality in the treated water.

So far, with the help of our employees, we have installed over 25 units of floating wetlands, which are regularly maintained. This has resulted in an overall increase of water quality, with a 72.7% drop in the nitrate levels. 3227 species of organisms have been studies in a detailed biodiversity study around the lake

Furthermore, regular water quality and groundwater testing is being implemented and a lake maintenance system has been established. Using soil, boulders, and Vetiver grass plantations, 242 metres of the bund of the lake were fortified.

Waste Management:

WeWork India is committed to diverting 90% waste from landfill by the year 2028. WeWork India has initiated a tracking mechanism, accounting for waste generated in our buildings and recycled and sent to landfill in a phased manner. In a few buildings the solid waste is handled by a certified waste aggregator (Hasirudhala). Monthly reporting helps to check for the amount of waste generated at source. Moreover, WeWork India has partnered with an authorized e-waste recycler for eco-friendly management of e-waste generated across all our spaces.

Furthermore, there is no single-use plastic in our buildings and we are opting for sustainable packaging 100% up-cycled paper plates and reusable cutlery and drinkware, to minimize environmental impact.

In cooperation with TAICT, WeWork India is addressing issues of irresponsible disposal of garbage and depletion of soil and water in the Bettahalasur Panchayat in North Bangalore. Segregation at source is currently at 92% for villages and 90% for bulk generators, with a participation level is at 83%.

Furthermore, with the help of our employees, we have enhanced the visual cleanliness. So far, we have carried out 73 clean up drives in this area and collected a total of 2776 kgs of waste.