By 2050 the world’s population will be 9 billion plus and considering that we are already feeling rise in temperature, and experiencing scarcity of resources like fuel and water, the catastrophe we are inching towards is a certainty. What then is the solution? Should we keep on living our lives in exactly the same fashion, wasting resources, polluting the environment, encroaching forests, cutting trees, abusing electricity and energy use and then blaming the government for the price hikes or should we re-learn to preserve and prevent a future disaster?
At the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, ‘Business Forum on Climate Change’ on March 19 2012, New Delhi, eminent industry minds and government representatives came together to devise effective long-term low carbon transformation strategies and share ideas that could be adopted by big and small industries and even homes, so as to reduce the pressure we are all putting on Mother earth.
The Key speakers at the forum included JM Mauskar, Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment; Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power; Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Advisor & Head, Climate Change Programme, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India; SK Sarangi, Executive Director, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.; AB Chakraborty, Executive Director &Chief, Carbon Management Group & Sustainability Group, ONGC Ltd. ; Sudipta Das, Partner & Leader, Climate Change & Sustainability Services ; Arabinda Mishra, Director, Earth Sciences & Climate Change Division, TERI.
Climate change is a reality. It is a global phenomenon that is changing the way our world operates. Glaciers are melting and Polar bears can’t find a suitable place to live anymore. Fishes of world oceans are dying in huge numbers and it is assumed that even 4 degree of temperature increase may lead to mass extinction. The Western Ghats, our very own treasure trove of fantastic flora and fauna may not survive at all if the Earth continues to warm. And responsible for all these calamities are humans who have been filling Earth’s atmosphere with green house gases that are suffocating the planet.
While the problems are known to everyone, solutions are hard to find. The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) through its Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CESD) though has taken a step to enable Indian businesses become sustainable, without demeaning India’s role as a growing economical giant.
In the Business forum for Climate Change, solutions were in plenty spanning many Industry sectors. Like ITC Hotels shared how through afforestation, empowering farmers and adopting simple changes like changing office timings for maximum natural light utility, the company was working towards low energy usage and low carbon footprint. Even traditional carbon abusers like Oil companies, Fertilizer companies, etc. were evolving new patterns to make sure that the company as a whole reduced its energy usage.
In India it is a common enough practice for people to demolish old buildings and built new ones on the same ground. What many don’t realize is that this act wastes huge amount of energy..in fact more than any other activity. But because general public knowledge about sustainable solutions is zero, building rubble continue to pile up. Again, green solutions are available if only people are willing to change their mindset. the website www.igbc.in provides wonderful green building solutions for existing as well as new buildings, homes and factories. The action is the same, but the approach is such that the new structure is more in tune with nature.
May Indian industries are ready to go the extra mile and change the way they use energy resources. Few people from the public too invest in smarter and energy efficient options like buying CFL for lighting or energy efficient devices. But for the movement to actually make a difference, it is not few but everyone who has to stop taking things for granted. With rising problems in the natural world, it is certainly everyone’s responsibility to make amends so that plants, animals and humans can exist for a bit longer on this planet.
Learn more about CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development.
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