Purva Chhabra, CFA, ESG Data Analyst [email protected]
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
― William Shakespeare
My ESG journey began with Welton about two years ago, but sustainability is deeply rooted in me by virtue of my unique upbringing. My father is a true visionary, and I recognized that at a very young age. I like to think that behind all my micro-decisions was this intention to take a page out of his book. Although I come from a conventional Indian family based in a small town, my parents have always been standouts.
When I was about 10, my father bought a plot of land in the outskirts of our town, which felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. What everyone else saw as uninhabitable, he saw it as an opportunity to make “green” happen. Since then, he has put more than 100,000 plants in the ground, donated thousands of plants to various organizations to promote reforestation, and initiated city cleaning programs long before “Swachh Bharath Mission” – India’s country-wide pledge to cleanliness commenced in 2014. He has transformed that empty plot of land into a land rich in biodiversity. He has been a true Green Champion, putting effort every day to build a greener world. His ambition and ideas have only grown bigger and better, and I can now not just admire but fully appreciate them.
Community plantation, developed by my father.
While my father is a man on an environmental mission, my mother is also a sustainability hero. Water conservation, recycling, composting were standard practices for me growing up. She instilled in my sister and me the sense of circularity and resource consciousness, which still operates in my home life. But I could entirely grasp the impact of her teachings when I entered adulthood and faced the realities of climate change and how most of the world viewed it. It was surprising to me that recycling the packaging material properly from the numerous Amazon boxes we receive every week is not an established practice. Or even keeping the taps running while brushing teeth and seeing liters of water go to waste is not preposterous! Tiny things but impactful, and that’s how I am wired. I have many other contentious observations, but I hope this covers my sentiment for now.
In the last five years, ESG issues have become mainstream, at last. I’m all aboard, following in my family’s footsteps, passionate about my role in this movement towards a sustainable future. My roots are strong, and I’m fully committed to learning and improving with everyone on this path in earnest. It is an opportunistic time in my career as an ESG Data Analyst. I’m especially excited about Welton’s innovations in multi-asset ESG and actively being part of the solution.
