How the United Nation’s Global Compact Will Guide Volta’s ESG Stance

On today’s episode of the Volta Knowledge podcast, host Tyler Kern chats with Gursaran Singh, the VP of Energy Alliances with Volta Energy, about the upcoming UN global compact and how their decisions will impact and inform Volta’s ESG stance. 

The global temperature is rising at an unprecedented rate. As such, discussions on the issue of climate change are held more and more frequently, with some companies leading the charge. Under the United Nation’s global compact, a corporate sustainability initiative, companies like Volta Energy are aligning their missions to help mitigate climate change. But how exactly will the global compact guide Volta Energy?

Kern and Singh focus on the following:  

• How Volta Energy formed over the years from inspired, energized minds 
• What emphasis Volta Energy places on sustainability and ESG solutions 
• How Volta is incorporating sustainability without compromising its mission and efficiencies by joining the UN global compact group

“So sustainability, even tangentially, has been a part of what Volta does but now, what we have done is made it a conscious hold that now whatever we do going forward…will have a sustainable component to it,” said Singh. 

Back in 2009, the launch of Tesla was one of the innovations that inspired Volta Energy. The company started as a group of like-minded individuals and grew into what it is today. Three of them came together to build a prototype of an AV charging station which they completed in one week. They then traveled several hours to attend a conference to seek funding. However, it was the period of smartphone apps, as iPhone recently hit the market. Unfortunately, what they had built was not appreciated, which made it impossible to get funding at that time. As a result, Singh had to go back to his former employment. But after a while, Singh returned to the company. 

Volta Energy focuses on “rethinking the obvious” Singh explained this concept as understanding “the box” and exhausting all the possibilities before seeking alternate solutions. For example, in an attempt to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, many experts are thinking in terms of green fuels. However, Volta Energy is thinking in terms of how to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

The key to sustainability is not to do things that will cause a decrease in quality. Instead, it is doing everything better to minimize waste. Therefore, Volta Energy aims to make things more efficient, such as by reducing waste in electricity.

As a result, sustainability requires a conscious effort, one of which is participating in the UN’s global compact. The global compact is a base point for a sustainable future, as agreed upon by the UN.  

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