In the mails, the consumers have urged him to come out clean on Airtel’s energy policy and commit to a timeline for the disclosure of its carbon emission and clean energy roadmap now.
Instead of responding positively to the mails and making these announcements, the company chose to block the mails, the organization said in a statement on Monday.
In his latest letter addressed to the Bharti Airtel chairman, Greenpeace India executive director Samit Aich reminded Mittal of his responsibility as a market leader in critical times of runaway climate change, and the significant influence he has in creating a massive shift towards clean energy pathway.
It is an opportunity for Bharti Airtel to set an example for others to follow. Such initiatives will create a win-win situation both in favour of business and the environment at large, said Greenpeace.
“It is unfortunate that Bharti Airtel backtracked from its promise thereby resulting in a roadblock in creating a level of trust between Bharti Airtel and Greenpeace towards finding a solution to the reeling climate crisis,” said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Campaigner, Greenpeace India.
For the last two months, Greenpeace has been urging Airtel to publicly disclose the carbon emissions of its entire business operation and establish progressive emission reduction targets and also commit to shift the sourcing of 50 per cent of its energy requirements towards renewable energy sources and phase out diesel use in its business operations by 2015.
The organization wants Airtel to catalyze a low-carbon economy wide growth, by using its brand power to advocate for strong policies that promote renewable energy.