Mint Sustainability Summit: Net zero’s next phase demands deeper changes across supply chains

With the "low-hanging fruit" of decarbonization largely exhausted, companies will need to embed sustainability deeper into supply chains, product design and business strategy if net zero is to deliver lasting competitive advantage, industry experts said at the Mint Sustainability Summit 2026.

The discussion, titled The ROI of Net Zero: From Cost Centre to Competitive Edge, focused on how sustainability has evolved beyond compliance to become a strategic business priority. Panellists argued that the next phase of value creation will come from circularity, partnerships, customer trust and long-term resilience rather than quick operational fixes.

Beyond compliance

Circularity refers to designing products and materials so they can be reused, repaired, recycled or remanufactured instead of being discarded, keeping resources in use for as long as possible.

"We consume about 100 billion tonnes per annum as a global economy. About 93 billion tonnes out of that is extracted. 7% of that is circular, which means that it goes back into the economy. In 2028, this number was 9%, we were more circular globally in 2018 than we are today," said Masood Mallick, managing director and group chief executive officer (CEO) at Re Sustainability Ltd.

Mallick added that sustainability is no longer merely an environmental issue but one of business continuity.

"Your ability to continue doing what you are doing- you cannot do that now if you do not control the supply chain. If your economic boundaries are broad enough in your supply chain and broad enough from a time standpoint, sustainability makes sense today. Not doing it does not make economic sense," he said.

Value creation

Amit Kumar Sinha, managing director and CEO of Mahindra Lifespace Developers, said while sustainability could lower the cost of capital, the gains were modest.

"There are companies who are able to get this benefit… but it is in 10s of basis points and not 100 bps," he said. The bigger prize, he added, lay in "overall lifetime economics with the customer" and the trust built by being a responsible business.

However, the next big step for sustainability is moving beyond existing decarbonization targets.

"I have seen what sustainability means in Europe because it costs. In India, it is still not costing us. Because it costs (in Europe), the number of things people do there is far more mature than what we see in our country," said Sreedhar N., senior VP and CEO, APAC and India, Saint-Gobain.

He added that one model India could replicate from Europe is building insulation. Such insulation could reduce electricity bills by up to 40% in India, compared with savings of about 70% in Europe.

Future playbook

"The shift that needs to happen at a faster pace is three-fold- one is beginning to look at partnership rather than looking at some of these things as transactional. If we start looking at it as a partnership, that changes the paradigm," said Sudhanshu Vats, Managing Director, Pidilite Industries.

"Then you also start looking at total cost- total cost of ownership and running a place is a phenomenon that if you bring in then the initial cost which may be a little higher can be compensated," he added.

For BMW Group India, sustainability has required rethinking products as well as business models.

"The customer does not want to compromise on performance," said Hardeep S. Brar, president and CEO, adding that electric vehicles had to outperform conventional internal combustion engine models on key parameters.

He also pointed to changing after-sales economics, saying the rise of EVs meant companies were reassessing the need for large service networks as maintenance requirements declined.