Kathari Water has invested in one large HAM project and two retail business. There are considerable projects and retail businesses under review for firm investment decision.

Projects:

Ganga STP Project Private Limited

Kathari Water in partnership with VA Tech Wabag Ltd., as well GoI’s National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) is implementing, three sewage treatment plants in Kolkata with a total capacity of 187 MLD. The project also involves renovation and modernisation of 13 Sewage Pumping Stations and associated network. The project is expected to become operational by June 2023.

Presently, the sewage generated in Howrah and part of Kolkata area is either treated using a WASTE STABILIZATION POND system or being discharge to the river Hooghly without adequate treatment. This increases the pollution load in the river Ganges affecting the livelihood of the people residing the river basin and the ecosystem.

Through these new three STPs, lots of interception and diversion points directly connected to Ganges will now be routed to the new network system for effective treatment and discharge to Ganges. This project also ensures the existing network system is desilted, so that the sewage can be effectively collected and transferred to STPs.

These STPs employ technologies which ensure that the treated sewage meets the discharge standards for river water The Project’s total catchment area is around 70 km2.

These three STPs will also generate biogas from the anaerobic digestors. The biogas will be used for internal power consumption, thus avoiding the methane emission let out to the atmosphere (otherwise causing increase in greenhouse gas emission) and minimising the usage of the grid power.

In addition to implementing the project, the Company would be responsible for long term operation of the assets for a period of 15 years thereafter. We would be able to earn a return on investment only if we operate and maintain the project to standards as specified in the contracts. This ensures long term sustainability of the river clean-up program. The cost of the project is around INR 4000 million.

Urban Building Water Management:

SmarterHomes Technologies Private Limited
SmarterHomes is a pioneer of sub-metering of water in residential/commercial buildings. SmarterHomes developed a low-cost data logger, thereby enabling a real-time water metering system that could not only enable water metering in all types of high rise building but also double up as a leakage detection and prevention system. Starting in February 2014, the company has installed ~40,000 meters. Kathari Water acquired majority stake in May 2022. More details about this company can be viewed in their website Smarter Homes

Kathari endeavours to become a leading water platform company by implementing environmentally sound, socially acceptable, and innovative solutions. Kathari has approved ESG policy in place with the commitment to integrate environmental, social and governance aspects in its business processes and committed to apply these ESG principles to its investee companies.

Kathari Water acknowledges that its investments in the water sector although provide environmental and social (E&S) benefits, some of these investments may lead to adverse E&S impacts. These impacts may include issues related to ecological sensitive project location, land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation, sludge disposal, loss of biodiversity, odour nuisance, severances due to construction, pollution release, wastewater discharge and waste generation from activities including product manufacturing etc. If these impacts are not mitigated, then there could be risks leading to irreversible environmental damages.

To address these adverse impacts, the Environment Social Governance Management System (ESGMS) has been developed for Kathari Water and its investee companies. The ESGMS was developed using Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and as per framework suggested in the IFC Performance Standard and the key ESG indicators are developed in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

ESG Framework developed as per IFC Performance Standards

The following UN Sustainable Development Goals SDGs will be applicable for Kathari Water operations:

Core SDG’s Allied SDG’s
SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being
SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption
and Production 		SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
SDG 13 - Climate Action
SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being
Relevant Goals & Targets Indicators Kathari Water Contribution towards SDGs
6.3
By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally. 		6.3.1
Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated. 		Kathari Water through its industrial wastewater treatment plant projects will decrease water pollution, minimizes release of hazardous wastes by adopting zero liquid discharge technology (as appropriate) and resource efficient strategies. This increases volume of water which can be reused, reduces consumption of freshwater, and leads to conservation of existing water bodies.
6.4
By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity. 		6.3.2
Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality.
6.6
By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers, and lakes 		6.4.1
Change in water-use efficiency over time.
6.4.2
Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources.
6.6.1
Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time.
SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
12.2
By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources 		12.2.1
Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP 		Kathari Water through its operations provides environmental benefits of waste management or waste treatment services capturing immediate reductions in carbon dioxide and other long term greenhouse gases. Also, reusing of wastewater leads to reduction in consumption of freshwater. Recovery of biogas as another example that promotes and contributes to sustainable consumption.
12.2
By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources 		12.2.2
Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP
12.5.1
National recycling rate, tons of material recycled

Governance: Good corporate governance leads to strong business performance and long-term prosperity to the benefit of shareholders and stakeholders. Kathari’s Governance related requirements are aligned to the below mentioned Governance Aspects of Framework.

Kathari Water Governance Aspects of Reference Framework

Kathari has developed Policies to each of the above-mentioned Governance aspects.

Eversource Capital (Kathari Water is one of the portfolio companies under Eversource Capital) was founded with a vision to catalyse investments in climate-focused businesses across the decarbonisation value chain. The maiden fund, Green Growth Equity Fund (‘GGEF’) had a fund closure at US$ 741 million (in the last financial year 2021 - 2022), making it one of the largest single country funds focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation in the emerging markets.

The investment in the combat climate change contributes to India’s climate action goals. Eversource Capital, adopt a private equity led approach to investing in climate change. The fund has invested in a digital ESG solution to strengthen the investment monitoring systems. Kathari Water report on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to People, Planet, Prosperity & Governance.

Since October 2018, fund has invested in seven businesses and scaled these businesses through buildouts and bolt-on acquisitions. The investments have the potential to generate 450+ billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy, avoid 450+ million tons of CO2 emissions, create tens of thousands of jobs, and add over US$ 5 billion to the Indian economy over the next decade.

Please refer the below link to view the sustainability report of all the portfolio companies under Eversource capital including Kathari Water.

Solving For Net Zero

For each proposed investment, discloses relevant project information, environmental and social implications, and expected development impact are detailed in this section. As part of the review of environmental and social risks and impacts of a proposed investment, environmental and social categorization as per IFC Performance Standards are followed to reflect the magnitude of risks and impacts. The various category details are mentioned below.

  • Category A: Business activities with potential significant adverse environmental or social risks and/or impacts that are diverse, irreversible, or unprecedented.
  • Category B: Business activities with potential limited adverse environmental or social risks and/or impacts that are few in number, generally site-specific, largely reversible, and readily addressed through mitigation measures.
  • Category C: Business activities with minimal or no adverse environmental or social risks and/or impacts.

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