Sustainable Development Goals
and Dealing with Climate Change
15th DELHI SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT
PROCEEDINGS
Supported by
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Government of India
Sustainable Development Goals
and Dealing with Climate Change
15th DELHI SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT
PROCEEDINGS
Supported by
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Government of India
CONTENTS
Message from the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India..................................................................................................... 5
Foreword.................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................................... 9
Highlights................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Agenda....................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Day 1........................................................................................................................................................................ 27
Inaugural Session....................................................................................................................................................... 29
Leadership Panel 1: From MDGs to SDGs and addressing Climate Change............................................................. 47
Special Session: Leaders’ Speak................................................................................................................................. 55
Keynote Address: Solutions For Inclusive, Green and Resilient Cities Introduction................................................. 61
Leadership Panel 2: Sustainable Production and Consumption: Policy and Practice................................................. 67
Engaging all Stakeholders for the Future we Want.................................................................................................... 73
SDGs In A World Of Wealth And Income Disparities............................................................................................... 81
Sustainability, Climate Change and Corporate Sector Initiatives............................................................................... 89
Launch of sixth edition of the Planet for Life Series: Building the Future We Want.................................................. 96
Special Address: Mr Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General, United Nations (Via Video) ............................................... 97
Cultural Performance by Junoon............................................................................................................................. 101
Day 2...................................................................................................................................................................... 103
Ministerial Session 1: The Agreement that the World Needs at COP21................................................................ 105
Presentation of the Third Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Awards............................................................................. 111
Thematic Tracks...................................................................................................................................................... 113
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation............................................................................................................. 167
Thematic Tracks ..................................................................................................................................................... 175
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 3
Keynote Address..................................................................................................................................................... 205
Special Address: Mr Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge)
for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India.................................................................. 211
Ministerial Session 2: Financing Transformational Change and Achieving SDGs in Africa....................................... 215
Climate Change Satyagraha Concert....................................................................................................................... 221
Day 3...................................................................................................................................................................... 223
In Conversation With: Professor Jeffrey D Sachs with Moderator Mr Nicholas Dawes......................................... 225
Teri–U Brain tv Partnership: Visual Communication For Sustainability................................................................... 232
Climate Change: Ethics, Equity and the Poor.......................................................................................................... 233
Thematic Tracks ..................................................................................................................................................... 241
Ministerial Session 3: Is Action on Climate Change Imperative and Urgent?.......................................................... 281
11th Sustainable Development Leadership Award................................................................................................. 287
Special Presentation: Scientific Visualization for Understanding Energy
and Climate Data as Prerequisites for Policy and Action........................................................................................ 288
Valedictory Session: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Interaction with Faith Leaders for a Sustainable Future................ 289
Presentation of Awards Young Researchers’ South Asian Symposium on Sustainable Development..................... 297
Concluding Remarks: Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI &
Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change........................................................................................ 299
4 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Message from the Hon’ble Prime Minister
of India on the occasion of the 15th DSDS
Mr Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 5
Foreword
Dr R K Pachauri
Director-General, TERI
These proceedings represent the deliberations of the
15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS)
on the theme of “Sustainable Development Goals
and Dealing with Climate Change”. Coming as it did
at the beginning of 2015, DSDS 2015 was looking
into a crystal ball of how the sustainable development
goals (SDGs) being deliberated on by the UN General
Assembly would actually emerge at the end of the
process. In addition, the 21st Conference of the Parties
(CoP) of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was scheduled to be
held at the end of 2015, wherein it was expected that
the global community would arrive at an agreement
that would move the world towards dealing effectively
with the challenge of climate change.
There is a clear synergy between the SDGs,
which at the time of writing of this foreword have been
adopted by the UN General Assembly, and actions to
deal with climate change. The 17 SDGs which have
been finalized are directed at achieving the broad
objectives of sustainable development, popularised by
the Brundtland Commission as: “Development which
meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.” It is no coincidence that dealing with climate
change, in respect of appropriate and adequate
adaptation and mitigation activities, serves to meet the
objectives of sustainable development. At the same
time, practicing the tenets of sustainable development
is an essential foundation on which to build actions to
deal with climate change. The sessions in DSDS 2015
were structured and designed to harness the power
of intellectual debate and policy analysis related to
both the SDGs as well as the expected contours of an
agreement that may be reached at CoP21. DSDS 2015
also provided an appropriate opportunity to reflect on
how the global debate on sustainable development has
evolved over the past 15 years. One major feature of
recent developments has been the fact that solutions
would need to be implemented through the collective
and individual actions of all stakeholders. The provision
of specific tracks in the structure of DSDS 2015
reflects the need for specific sectors and stakeholders
to define what is required for them to be part of the
solution. These tracks also allow in-depth and specific
consideration of the problems and challenges faced in
specific fields and solutions that must be devised.
This being the 15th chapter of the Delhi
Sustainable Development Summit there is now
substantial experience on how this pioneering initiative
on the part of TERI has evolved and what might be the
most effective means for carrying the exercise further.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 7
The clear conclusion reached is that DSDS needs to be
raised to a higher platform, given the talent, expertise
and leadership that it is able to attract. The messages
that are crafted in this Summit also require widespread
dissemination to motivate action, so that human society
and all species existing on this planet face lower levels
of risk associated with unsustainable development and
the growing impacts of climate change.
Acknowledgements
Dr Annapurna Vancheswaran
Director, Sustainable Development Outreach Division, TERI
The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) Delhi
Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) serves as
a vital platform for nations of the world to discuss
and debate strategies in the realm of sustainable
development and explore avenues for synergy. The
Summit allows representatives from different walks
of life, namely polity, economy, academics, and civil
society to contribute to the formulation of effective
policies that would benefit both the people and the
planet.
The 15th edition of TERI’s flagship event was
inaugurated by a distinguished panel comprising Mr
Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of State (IC) for
Environment, Forest & Climate Change, India; Mr
Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Railways, India;
H.E. Mr Laurent Fabius, Minister for Foreign Affairs
and International Development, France and Former
Prime Minister, France and President, COP 21; Mr
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Former Governor, California
and Founding Chair, R20 Regions of Climate Action; Dr
R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI and Chairman,
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and
Dr Annapurna Vancheswaran, Director- Sustainable
Development Outreach Division, TERI.
In its 15th year, DSDS focussed on the theme,
‘Sustainable Development Goals and Dealing with
Climate Change‘. DSDS 2015 was the first international
platform in the developing world, to articulate the
expectations of the global community on Sustainable
Development Goals. The year 2015 has a very diplomatic
agenda set for itself with 193 countries part of three
negotiations – Financing for Sustainable Development
in July 2015, Adopting Sustainable Development Goals
in August 2015, and Finalising a Climate Agreement in
December 2015. The dignitaries and deliberations at
the Summit helped in gaining perspective on the goals
ahead for countries as also a road map to achieve these
to ensure smoother negotiations in Paris at the 21st
Conference of Parties.
The Summit is immensely grateful to its partners
and their magnanimous support over the past 15 years
as well as new partnerships forged across governments,
bilateral and multilateral organisations, and corporates.
These collaborations besides affording the Summit
with the necessary financial support to make the
necessary arrangements, have also being generous in
their encouragement and continuous guidance which
has provided the much needed impetus for us to aim
higher and further improve the quality of the Summit.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF),
Government of India deserves special mention for their
continued support for the conference.
I take this opportunity to express gratitude to all
the high-level dignitaries, speakers, participants, and
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 9
delegates for contributing to the engaging discussions
and making the Summit a success.
As always, the DSDS secretariat and colleagues
from across all divisions of the Institute deserve credit
for their untiring efforts, cooperation, and commitment.
The succeeding pages provide highlights of the key
deliberations and discussions of the 15th edition of the
Summit held in Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi, India from
February 5-7, 2015.
Highlights
The 15th edition of the Delhi Sustainable Development
Summit (DSDS) was held from February 5-7, 2015,
under the broad rubric of ‘Sustainable Development
Goals and Dealing with Climate Change’.
The Summit, spread over 3 days, hosted 240
speakers, 14 plenary sessions, 17 Thematic Tracks and
many other special sessions. The discussions covered a
range of issues related to the Summit theme, including
the SDGs, sustainable habitats, sustainable mobility,
renewable energy, climate change, water management,
air pollution, clean technologies, etc
A total of 15 Ministers from 12 countries namely,
Bhutan, France, India, Mexico, Russian Federation,
Norway, Maldives, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Malta,
Poland, Mongolia participated in the proceedings.
The 2015 Summit was graced by Nobel
Laureates Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee President Emeritus and
Distinguished Research Fellow, Academia Sinica and Mr
Kailash Satyarth, Founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan &
Chairperson, Global March against Child Labour.
At DSDS 2015, the 11th Sustainable Development
Leadership Award was presented to Dr José Manuel
Durão Barroso, Former President of the European
Commission & Former Prime Minister of Portugal,
in recognition of his pioneering efforts towards decarbonising the European economy and towards
promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The Third Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Award
for Unconventional Thinking was presented to
Professor Jacques Grinevald (Epistemologist and
Historian, The Graduate Institute Geneva) for
his important contributions to the Decroissance
(Degrowth) literature and for his service in advancing
thinking around anthropocene and bioeconomics;
and Professor Herman Daly (Professor Emeritus,
University of Maryland) was awarded with the Lifetime
Achievement Award for his vision and for taking a
courageous stance and swimming upstream against the
currents of conventional economic thought. This award
was especially instituted in 2015 by TERI to recognise
exceptional contributions in advancing thinking around
sustainable development.
The second edition of the Media Colloquium,
an exclusive activity hosted to sensitise journalists on
issues of sustainability while reporting, attracted the
participation of 15 journalists from 6 countries. Our
Media Partners for the Summit included Hindustan
Times, Mint, CNN-IBN and SciDev. Net. A total of
292 journalists attended the Summit over the four days
resulting in over 500 reports across the spectrum –
print, electronic and online.
At its 15th edition, the Summit engaged youth
leaders from across global universities entitling them to
an exclusive opportunity to listen, witness and interact
with some of the world’s greatest thought-leaders.
Apart from being a great learning experience, it proved
to be a great opportunity for the students to not only
discuss issues of sustainability, environment and climate
change but also actively engage in taking constructive
actions in this direction. 26 Youth Leaders from 13
universities participated in the Summit proceedings.
The valedictory session of the 15th edition of the
Summit was graced by interfaith leaders for the first
time in fourteen years to initiate catalyse a change in
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 11
behaviour, perspective and priority towards global
challenges of sustainable development and climate
change. Ven’ble Bhikkhu Sanghasena, Founder and Head
of Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre, Ladakh
and Mahakaruna Day; Diwan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan,
Head of the Ajmer Sharif (Ajmer Dargah) ; Shri Giani
Gurubachan Singh, Chief Jathedar of the Golden Temple
(Akal Takht) ; Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, CoFounder/Chairman of the Global Interfaith WASH
Alliance, President of Parmarth Niketan Ashram,
Rishikesh; Dr Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, Archbishop
of Faridabad; Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, President,
Divine Shakti Foundation & Secretary-General,
Global Interfaith WASH Alliance; and Acharya Shri
Roopchandra Muniji, President, Manav Mandir Mission
came together for a special interactive session for a
Sustainable Future.
To mark the 15th edition of the Delhi Sustainable
Development Summit, TERI hosted a series of
dialogues in different Indian cities to create awareness
about the subject of Sustainable Development Goals,
create momentum towards their finalisation, as well as
contribute substantially to the process towards defining
the post-2015 path of development.
The Regional Dialogues were hosted in the cities
of Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The focus of the
discussion in these Regional Dialogues centred on the
commitment of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
towards the setting up of 100 Smart cities in India in
the coming years. The Regional Dialogue deliberations
focused on these issues in addition to various aspects
related to city life—pollution, water and sanitation and
transportation.
12 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Music was also a part of the 15th edition of the Summit
with a special performance by Junoon, the Sufi-Rock
band from Pakistan and the Climate Change Satyagraha
Concert which was a rendition by a young troupe
of The Velammal International School, Chennai,
presenting a musical journey spreading the message of
‘save earth from the crisis on the planet’.
Mr V V S Laxman, former member of the Indian
cricket team, was announced as an LaBL (Lighting a
Billion Lives) Ambassador.
Special events held during the Summit:
❖❖ Y
UVA MEET :Sustainable Solutions: Safe
Water for All
Seventh in the series, this DSDS special event
engaged youth on the theme, ‘Sustainable
Solutions: Safe Water for All’. As part of the YUVA
Meet, a series of State Level Youth Seminars on
the theme ‘Sustainable Solutions for Access to Safe
Water: Promoting Innovation and Collaboration’
were organised across seven states.
❖❖ U
shering Net Zero/Positive Energy Buildings
in India
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Partnership (REEEP) in association with TERI
organised the event to understand the current
happenings in the building sector with respect
to energy positive buildings in the country and to
discuss the future prospects. The event will throw
light on the regulatory, fiscal and technological
aspects of energy positive buildings thereby
discussing the gaps and challenges in the further
expansion of these buildings in the immediate
future.
❖❖ C
onsultation on the Post-2015 Development
Agenda: Sustainable Development Goals and
the Means of Implementation
The Consultation on the Post-2015 Development
Agenda envisioned to support the process of
identifying best practices in means of sustainable
development goals (SDG) implementation by
bringing together experts in the field of SDG
governance, financing, and technology, as well
as in Sustainable Consumption and Production
(SCP) as an important case of implementation
to consider and to contribute to the process of
translating global commitments on sustainable
development into tangible outcomes.
❖❖ International Workshop on Water Security
and
Groundwater
Management
for
Agriculture in the Age of Climate Change
The overarching aim of the workshop was to
engage researchers, policy makers and other
stakeholders to identify options and strategies to
cope with climate change and pressures on surface
and ground water resources while improving
water and food security in India.
❖❖ W
orkshop on “Japanese Experience on
Promoting Heat Pump Systems for Energy
Efficiency”
TERI and Energy Conservation Center Japan
(ECCJ) organised the event where experts from
ECCJ and other organisations in Japan including
a few Japanese manufacturers shared their
knowledge and experiences about the technology
of heat pump to explore the possibilities of
application of Japanese low carbon technologies
like heat pumps in the Indian industry and building
sector.
❖❖ B
amboo as change agent - Better life, Better
future
The side event threw light on the dwindling
bamboo resources in their natural habitat are due
to over exploitation, shifting cultivation practices,
poor and unscientific management techniques and
extensive forest fires, etc., and proposed possible
mitigation strategies. In addition to this, the
event also discussed solutions for policy and legal
bottlenecks required for enhancing livelihood
opportunities through bamboo.
Books and reports launched during DSDS 2015
❖❖ Global Sustainability Development Report
2015: Climate Change and Sustainable
Development: Assessing Progress of Regions and
Countries
❖❖ Energy Security Outlook - Defining a secure and
sustainable energy future for India
❖❖ Seventh edition of the Planet for Life Series: Building
the Future We Want
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 13
Agenda
Day 1: February 5, 2015
0930 hrs – Inaugural Session
1045 hrs
Lamp Lighting Ceremony
Welcome Address: Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI & Chairman, Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change
Special Address: Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger
Former Governor, California & Founding Chair, R20: Regions of Climate Action
Launch of TERI publications
Ministerial Addresses – India
• Mr Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of State (IC) for Environment, Forest & Climate
Change, India
• Mr Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, India
Inaugural Address: HE Mr Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Development, France & Former Prime Minister, France & President, COP21
Closing Remarks: Dr Annapurna Vancheswaran, Director, Sustainable Development Outreach
Division, TERI
1045 hrs – Leadership Panel 1: From MDGs to SDGs and Addressing Climate Change
1145 hrs
Chair: Mr Nitin Desai, Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former UN Under-Secretary-General for
Economic and Social Affairs
Video Message: HSH Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Panellists
• HE Mr Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Former President, Maldives & President, Progressive Party
of Maldives
• HE Mr Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, Former President, Mexico & Chairman, Global Commission
on the Economy and Climate
• Nobel Laureate HE Dr José Ramos-Horta, Former President, East Timor & Chair, High
Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations, United Nations
• HE Ms Mary Robinson, Former President, Ireland & UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for
Climate Change
• The Hon’ble Kevin Rudd, Former Prime Minister, Australia & President, Asia Society Policy
Institute
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 17
1145 hrs –
Tea
1200 hrs
1200 hrs – Special Session – Leaders’ Speak
1305 hrs
Moderator: Mr Karma Paljor, Business Editor, CNN-IBN
Keynote Addresses
SDGs and Climate Change – The Road Ahead
• Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI & Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change
The Sustainable Development Goals and the Imperative of Social Transformation
• Nobel Laureate Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee, President Emeritus and Distinguished Research Fellow,
Academia Sinica
Globalize Compassion for Sustainability
• Nobel Laureate Mr Kailash Satyarthi, Founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan & Chairperson,
Global March Against Child Labour
1305 hrs – Keynote Address: Solutions for Inclusive, Green, and Resilient Cities
1320 hrs
• Mr Takehiko Nakao, President, Asian Development Bank
Chair: Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI & Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change
1320 hrs –
Lunch hosted by Asian Development Bank
1415 hrs
1415 hrs – Leadership Panel 2: Sustainable Production and Consumption: Policy and Practice
1500 hrs
Chair: Ambassador C Dasgupta, Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former Ambassador of India to
the EU, Belgium, and Luxembourg
• HE Mr Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Qatar & President,
Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, Qatar
• HE Mr Ruud Lubbers, Former Prime Minister, The Netherlands & Member, Club de Madrid
• Lord John Prescott, Former Deputy Prime Minister & Member of Parliament, House of Lords,
UK
18 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
1500 hrs – Engaging All Stakeholders for the Future We Want
1615 hrs
Moderator: Mr Nick Ishmael Perkins, Director, SciDev.Net
• Mr Gyan Chandra Acharya, UN Under-Secretary-General & High Representative for the
Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and the Small Island Developing
States (UN-OHRLLS)
• Dr Jaco Cilliers, Country Director, UNDP India
• Dr Wakako Hironaka, Chair of the Board, Earth Water & Green Foundation & DirectorGeneral, Global Environmental Action (GEA)
• Dr Bindu N Lohani, Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Knowledge
Management and Sustainable Development
• Dr Pavel Kabat, Director and CEO, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
• Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University & Director and
Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S), University of Tokyo
1615 hrs –
Tea
1630 hrs
1630 hrs – SDGs in a World of Wealth and Income Disparities
1745 hrs
Chair: Mr Yvo de Boer, Director-General, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
• Dr Shamshad Akhtar, UN Under-Secretary-General & Executive Secretary, United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)
• Prof. Hironori Hamanaka, Chair of the Board of Directors, Institute for Global Environmental
Strategies (IGES)
• Dr Alexander Likhotal, President, Green Cross International
• Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri, Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium, and
Luxembourg
• Dr P C Maithani, Director, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), India
1745 hrs – Sustainability, Climate Change, and Corporate Sector Initiatives
1900 hrs
Chair: Mr Venkatesh Valluri, Chairman, Ingersoll Rand India
• Mr S Richard Fedrizzi, CEO and Founding Chair, US Green Building Council
• Dr Henrik O Madsen, Group President and CEO, DNV-GL
• Mr Randal Newton, Vice-President of Enterprise Engineering, Ingersoll Rand
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 19
• Mr Glenn Schmidt, Director of Steering of Government and External Affairs, Sustainability
Communications, BMW Group
• Mr Jeff Seabright, Chief Sustainability Officer, Unilever PLC
• Ms Namita Vikas, Senior President & Country Head, Responsible Banking, YES BANK
1915 hrs –
Launch of seventh edition of the Planet for Life Series: Building the Future We Want
1930 hrs
1925 hrs –
Special Address: Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations (via video)
1935 hrs
1935 hrs
onwards
Cultural Performance by Junoon followed by Dinner
Day 2: February 6, 2015
0900 hrs – Ministerial Session 1: The Agreement that the World Needs at COP21
1015 hrs
Chair: Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• HE Mr Juan José Guerra Abud, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico
• H
E Ms Lyonpo Dorji Choden, Minister of Works and Human Settlement, Royal Government
of Bhutan
• HE Mr Sergey Donskoy, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Russian Federation
• Mr Susheel Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,
India
• HE Mr Lars Andreas Lunde, State Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Climate and Environment,
Norway
• HE Mr Abdullahi Majeed, Minister of State for Environment and Energy, Maldives
• Dr Mukul M Sangma, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Meghalaya, India
• Ambassador Richard Verma, US Ambassador to India
1015 hrs –
Presentation of the Third Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Awards
1025 hrs
1025 hrs –
Tea
1045 hrs
20 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
1045 hrs – Challenges in Introducing Clean Technologies (By Invitation Only)
1245 hrs
In partnership with EDF
Thematic Technologies for Communities: Improving Groundwater Management in
Tracks
India
Jehangir
Mumtaz
In partnership with UNDP
How to Shape India’s Sustainable Development Pathways under Climate
Change?
Shah Jehan
In partnership with AFD and IDDRI
Electric Mobility – Shaping the Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility
Durbar
In partnership with BMW
Special Session on Tackling Climate Change by Legislators: The Road to
Paris 2015 (By Invitation Only)
Sheesh
Mahal
In partnership with the British High Commission and R20
1245 hrs –
Lunch
1345 hrs
1345 hrs – Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
1500 hrs
Chair: Prof. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General & Executive Director,
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Keynote Addresses
• Dr Naoko Ishii, CEO & Chairperson, Global Environment Facility (GEF)
• Mr Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India
Panellists
• Mr Hideaki Domichi, Senior Vice-President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
• Dr Peter Holmgren, Director-General, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
• Prof. Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Deputy Director-General, International Institute for Applied
Systems Analysis (IIASA)
• Ambassador Michel Rentenaar, Acting Director for Environment, Climate, Energy, and Water
at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Netherlands Government Climate Envoy
1500 hrs –
Tea
1515 hrs
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 21
1515 hrs – Safe and Clean Transport for Sustainable Cities
1715 hrs
In partnership with IATSS and IIT Delhi
Thematic Challenges in Introducing Clean Technologies
Tracks
In partnership with EDF
How can Reduction of SLCPs Contribute to Achieving SDGs and a
Successful Outcome in Paris?
Mumtaz
Jehangir
Sheesh
Mahal
In partnership with Royal Norwegian Embassy and Embassy of Sweden
Asia’s Smart Future Cities
Shah Jehan
In partnership with ADB
1715 hrs – Keynote Addresses
1800 hrs
Chair: Dr Prodipto Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former Secretary, Environment and
Forest, India
Resource Management and Good Governance
• HE Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik, Former Prime Minister, Norway & President, The Oslo Center
for Peace and Human Rights
Tackling Climate Change – Opportunities for Developing Countries
• HE Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, Former President, Guyana
1800 hrs – Special Address: Mr Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, & New and
1815 hrs
Renewable Energy, India
1815 hrs – Ministerial Session 2: Financing Transformational Change and Achieving SDGs in Africa
1930 hrs
Chair: Dr Fatima Denton, Director of the Special Initiatives Division of the United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
• Mr Idrissa Balde, Technical Advisor to the Hon’ble Minister Mr Abdoulaye Balde, Minister of
Environment, Senegal
• The Hon’ble Jayeshwur Raj Dayal, Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development,
Disaster and Beach Management, Republic of Mauritius
• HE Hon Saviour Kasukuwere, Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Zimbabwe
• HE Ms Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, The Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture,
African Union Commission
22 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
1930 hrs
onwards
Climate Change Satyagraha Concert followed by Dinner
Day 3: February 7, 2015
0900 hrs – Moderator: Mr Nicholas Dawes, Chief Editorial and Content Officer, Hindustan Times
0930 hrs
In Conversation with
• Prof. Jeffrey D Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute & Special Advisor to the UN SecretaryGeneral (via video)
• Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI & Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change
0930 hrs – Announcement of the TERI – U Brain TV Partnership
0940 hrs
Screening of the film on Energy and SDGs
0940 hrs – Climate Change: Ethics, Equity and the Poor
1055 hrs
Chair: Ms Ekaterina Zagladina, President, Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel
Peace Laureates
• Dr Rajiv Gupta (IAS), Principal Secretary (Water Supply Department), Principal Secretary
(Climate Change Department) & Managing Director, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and
Chemicals Limited
• Dr Arvid Hallén, Director-General, The Research Council of Norway
• Ms Naina Lal Kidwai, Chairman, HSBC India & Executive Director on the Board of HSBC AsiaPacific
• Dr David M Malone, UN Under-Secretary-General & Rector, United Nations University (UNU)
• Dr Jukka Mönkkönen, Rector, University of Eastern Finland
• Mr Suman Bery, Chief Economist, Shell International
• Dr David M Malone, UN Under-Secretary-General & Rector, United Nations University
(UNU)
• Dr Jukka Mönkkönen, Rector, University of Eastern Finland
Launch of the GNFC publications
1055 hrs –
Tea
1105 hrs
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 23
1105 hrs – Oceans and Seas: Governance and Management of Coastal Ecosystems
1300 hrs
In partnership with UNDP
Thematic Urban Transport and Climate Change – Policy Challenges for Indian Cities
Tracks
In partnership with TOI Norway and Climatrans
Mumtaz
Are We on Track to Deliver Sustainable Energy for All by 2030?
(By Invitation Only)
Durbar
Sheesh
Mahal
In partnership with SE4All and The World Bank Group
Bio-economy and Sustainable Development: Revisiting the Policy
Agendas in the North and the South
Jehangir
In partnership with VITO
What Next for the IPCC?
Shah Jehan
In partnership with CDKN
1300 hrs –
Lunch
1400 hrs
1400 hrs – Ministerial Session 3: Is Action on Climate Change Imperative and Urgent?
1515 hrs
Chair: Ambassador Ajai Malhotra, Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former Ambassador of India to
the Russian Federation
Keynote Address: HE Ms Ségolène Royal, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and
Energy, France
Panellists
• Dr Heherson T Alvarez, Commissioner, Climate Change Commission & Former Secretary of
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Philippines
• The Hon’ble Leo Brincat, Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development and
Climate Change, Malta
• The Hon’ble Jean Charest, Partner, McCarthy Tétrault & Former Premier, Québec & Former
Minister of the Environment, Canada
• HE Dr Maciej H Grabowski, Minister of Environment, Republic of Poland
• Mr Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, India
• Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (IC) &
Parliamentary Affairs, India
24 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
• HE Dr Oyun Sanjaasuren, Former Minister for Environment and Green Development;
Member of Parliament of Mongolia & President of UNEA
• Mr Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General
1515 hrs – Presentation of the 11th Sustainable Development Leadership Award and Keynote Address
1535 hrs
by the Recipient
• HE Mr José Manuel Durão Barroso, Former President, European Commission & Former
Prime Minister, Portugal
1535 hrs – Special Presentation: Scientific Visualisation for Understanding Energy and Climate Data as
1545 hrs
Prerequisites for Policy and Action
• Dr Tim Foresman, Professor and SIBA Chair in Spatial Information Institute for Future
Environments—Science and Engineering Faculty Queensland University of Technology
1545 hrs – Valedictory Session: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Interaction with Faith Leaders for a
1645 hrs
Sustainable Future
Chair: Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, ‎President, Divine Shakti Foundation & Secretary-General,
Global Interfaith WASH Alliance
Video Message: Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi
Setting the Context: Mr Takashi Kiuchi, Chairman, E-Square Inc.
Panellists
• Dr Kuriakose Bharnikulangara, Archbishop of Faridabad
• Diwan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, Head of the Ajmer Sharif (Ajmer Dargah)
• Acharya Shri Roopchandra Muniji, President, Manav Mandir Mission
• Ven’ble Bhikkhu Sanghasena, Founder and Head of Mahabodhi International Meditation
Centre, Ladakh and Mahakaruna Day
• Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Global Interfaith
WASH Alliance & President of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh
• Shri Giani Gurubachan Singh, Chief Jathedar of the Golden Temple (Akal Takht)
1645 hrs – Presentation of Awards: Young Researchers’ South Asian Symposium on Sustainable
1650 hrs
Development
1645 hrs – Concluding Remarks: Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI & Chairman,
1700 hrs
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 25
DAY 1
Inaugural Session
The Delhi Sustainable Development Summit was
initiated by TERI in 2001 to bring together diverse
voices that can deepen the understanding of
sustainable development. Every year for the last 14
years distinguished personalities from across the world
have come together to take forward the discourse on
sustainable development. The dignitaries present were
ministers and political leaders from several countries
including Australia, Bhutan, Benin, Canada, Congo, East
Timor, France, Ireland, Mauritius, Monaco, Maldives,
Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Norway,
the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, the
UK, and Zimbabwe. The occasion was also graced
by Nobel laureates Kailash Satyarthi and H.E. Dr Jose
Ramos-Horta and Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee.
The summit was inaugurated by a distinguished
panel consisting of Mr Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble
Minister of State (IC) for Environment, Forest & Climate
Change, India; Mr Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for
Railways, India; H.E. Mr Laurent Fabius, Minister for
Foreign Affairs and International Development, France
and Former Prime Minister, France and President, COP
21; Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger, Former Governor,
California and Founding Chair, R20 Regions of Climate
Action; Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI
and Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change; and Dr Annapurna Vancheswaran, DirectorSustainable Development Outreach Division, TERI.
A very short video presentation on the purpose of
the summit was shown.
Dr Pachauri proposed a formal welcome address.
at this summit today. This annual event is being held
for the fifteenth time, and over the years, it has grown
and evolved into a major activity that enlightened
leaders from all over the world give us the privilege
of attending.
We believe that the problems facing humanity and
all living species on this planet require the best minds
and the most valuable wealth of experience to come
together in an effort to develop solutions that would
make a difference. There are glamorous events held in
other parts of the world where the focus is essentially
on seeing what can be done to revive business activity
and the global economy in the next quarter. But very
Dr R K Pachauri
I am deeply privileged to welcome the dignitaries on the
stage during this session as well as all the participants
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 31
few focus on the next quarter century and beyond.
Indeed the problems that we face today have roots that
are the result of decades of growth and development
on an unsustainable pathway. Solutions would similarly
take decades to correct the damage of the past.
The growing challenge of climate change is a clear
indicator of this reality of unsustainable human activity
worldwide.
The scientific evidence provided by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
is now overwhelming. The solutions that the IPCC’s
Fifth Assessment Report has also assessed require
implementation with a sense of urgency and purpose,
which cannot be postponed any longer. This would
require the coming together of all stakeholders and
all sections of society. The Synthesis Report of the
IPCC released in November 2014 clearly states and
I quote “Delaying additional mitigation to 2030 will
substantially increase the challenges associated with
limiting warming over the 21st century to below
2°C relative to pre-industrial levels. It will require
substantially higher rates of emissions reductions
from 2030–50, a much more rapid scale-up of lowcarbon energy over this period, a larger reliance
on carbon dioxide reduction in the long term and
higher transitional and long-term economic impacts.
Estimated global emissions levels in 2020 based on the
Cancun pledges are not consistent with cost-effective
mitigation trajectories that are at least about as likely
as not to limit warming to below 2°C relative to preindustrial levels. But, of course, they do not preclude
the option to meet this goal. Climate change has the
characteristics of a collective action, global problem at
the global scale because most greenhouse gases (GHG)
accumulate over time and mix globally and emissions
32 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
by any agent that is individuals, community, company,
country affect other agents. Effective mitigation will
not be achieved if individual agents advance their
own interests independently. Cooperative responses
including international cooperation are therefore
required to effectively mitigate GHG emissions and
address other climate change issues.”
The 21st century according to conventional
wisdom is a period in human history when actions will
be dominated by knowledge. Yet attitudes, systems, and
institutions are characterized by an enormous amount
of inertia. This inertia is often the result of vested
interests as well, which the Fourth Assessment Report
of the IPCC clearly stated in the case of mitigation in
the energy supply sector. It said, ‘Resistance by vested
interests may make it difficult to implement’. These
are basically sustainable energy solutions that are being
referred to. Knowledge organisations such as research
institutions and universities therefore now have a much
larger responsibility that transcends the requirement
of producing and imparting knowledge on subjects of
crucial value to human society but also to carry out
a sustained programme of information dissemination
by which the public and leaders in all walks of life
can benefit from the knowledge that’s created. The
unprecedented developments in information and
communications technology in recent years make such
outreach possible far beyond expectations that existed
in the past.
TERI organises this Summit annually not only as as
part of its outreach activities but also to receive valuable
feedback and advice from the distinguished leaders of
human endeavour collected here by which TERI can
refine and reorient its research activities to fulfil a much
larger role in the service of humanity. An enduring and
firm belief in the value of establishing and maintaining
a high level of relevance in TERI’s programmes and
activities has supported the Institute’s growth in the
past. TERI started its research activities towards the
end of 1982. It possessed no staff or infrastructure
in that year, and it has now grown to a level of over
1,200 employees with infrastructure and facilities not
only in the National Capital Region of this country but
in several other parts of India as well as with a firm
presence in other parts of the world.
The range of activities that TERI’s mission
covers policy research on energy, environment, and
climate change; development of renewable energy
technologies particularly those based on biomass
resources; biotechnology research focussed on finding
solutions to the world’s environmental problems and
moving towards efficient use of resources, resource
use efficiency in buildings, sustainable solutions related
to transport, and urban infrastructure; development
and dissemination of solutions for cooking and lighting
in rural areas to enhance access to clean; and efficient
technologies and devices.
The Institute is fortunate to receive support
from a range of sources located in different parts of
the globe. Most notably, even though TERI is a notfor-profit, non-government organisation, it has been
favoured with continuing support and encouragement
from the Government of India and the governments of
various states of India. It also receives valuable support
from multilateral and bilateral development assistance
organisations. Increasingly now, TERI receives support
from corporate bodies as well both within and outside
programmes of support that constitute Corporate
Social Responsibility. We feel that DSDS quite apart
from being a unique platform globally to advance
knowledge and awareness for promoting action
on some crucial challenges facing the world is also a
reaffirmation of the support that TERI receives from
every corner of the globe.
I therefore am privileged to welcome you once
again at this flagship event of which TERI is truly proud.
I also express the hope that the global community is
also genuinely proud of this extremely important
forum, which we hope through your patronage and
support will grow to a level where it can make a major
difference to human activities in creating a sustainable
future for humanity and all species on this planet.
At the end, I would like to read out to you
two quotations from Mahatma Gandhi and he said,
‘The small body of determined spirits fired by an
unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course
of history’. But he also, being a realist, knew that there
would obviously be all kinds of resistance to change
that group of dedicated people want to bring about.
So in that context, let me read out another quotation
from Mahatma Gandhi. He said, and I quote, ‘First they
ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you,
then you win’.
Thank you.
Next, Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger, Former
Governor of California and Founding Chair of R20
Regions of Climate Action addressed the gathering.
Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger: Well, thank you very
much for the wonderful introduction and, of course, it
is always great to see my very dear friend Dr Pachauri,
and it is wonderful to be back here again in India. I
love coming here, love seeing all the action here, the
people are wonderful here in this country. Now let
me say that I play an action hero in the movies but
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 33
Dr Pachauri is a true action hero. You, Patchy, always
have been a great leader, and you have always been
a crusader for the environment to create a green and
sustainable energy future. And what I love about you
is that you don’t just talk but you create the action.
I am just looking at the programme, that Lighting a
Billion Lives initiative. What a fantastic programme.
Let’s give him a big hand for the great work that
he is doing.
Now I also want to say thank you to Prime
Minister Modi for all his work that he has been doing
from the time he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, which I
have heard is the California of India. And he has created
34 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
some really good action, solar action in Gujarat, and
he has shown that sub-national governments have
tremendous power that you don’t really have to wait
for the national government to create any action. And
I know and I am sure that the Prime Minister is going
to continue to lead and to prove the naysayers around
the world wrong. So I just want to let him know I am
always ready to help and it is great to be here.
It’s also great to be here because I have this
ability of stepping in from the fantasy world to the real
world. Today, I am here to talk about the real world,
real action, and climate change is not science fiction.
It is impacting us right now. Just like Dr Pachauri said,
this year alone we would dump 40 billion tonnes
of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And just
recently, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, one
of the most famous and reputable labs in the world,
have proven that we actually have underestimated the
warming of our oceans by 24–58 per cent. The World
Health Organization says that air pollution causes seven
million premature deaths every year. All over the world
you can see flooding, monster storms, droughts, and
wildfires that are completely out of control. I have seen
that as Governor; when I started my term as Governor,
we had four months’ fire season. By the time I was
finished with my governorship, we had fires all year
round and these were out-of-control fires. The latest
United Nations report predicts that further warming
will slow down economic growth, increase poverty,
and further erode food security around the world
and add mass migration and susceptibility to
infectious diseases.
This is bigger than any movie. This is the challenge
of our time, and this why I am on a crusade to reverse
this trend and to create a sustainable energy future and
to terminate climate change once and for all. But if we
are going to win this battle, we must think differently.
Everyone knows that California is the Mecca of the hitech industry, with companies like Facebook, Twitter,
and Apple. As a matter of fact, Apple had a model—
Think Different—and with that model they changed the
world. So I am asking all of you to think different. Let
us also change the world. This is exactly what we have
always done in California. By thinking differently, we
have become 40 per cent more energy efficient than
the rest of the United States. If the rest of the United
States would adopt our policies, we could literally close
75 per cent of all the coal-fired power plants in United
States. Or, it’s the equivalent of taking 188 million cars
off the road.
As leaders from all over the world prepare for the
United Nations climate change conference in Paris, I
want to share California’s example with the world to
show that thinking differently is really the only way
forward. It is part of California’s DNA. And, we have
always been willing to think differently to protect
our environment. California has marched relentlessly
towards a clean energy future no matter which party
occupied the Governor’s office. As a matter of fact,
Californians don’t even look at the environmental issue
as a political issue. We look at it much more as a health
issue, a job issue, economics issue, a national security
issue, or simply as a people’s issue but not a political
issue. We have recognized that there aren’t conservative
roads or liberal roads and that we are all travelling on
the same roads. There is no conservative air or liberal
air, we all breathe the same air. There is no conservative
water or liberal water, we all drink the same water. So
when I became Governor of California, I promised the
people of California that I would continue the tradition
of protecting the environment, and to pump up the
economy. This is why I was eager to continue with
the past ground breaking environmental laws such
as the low carbon fuel standard, the green building
initiative, the million solar roofs that we added to our
homes in California, the renewable portfolio standard
to move our goal from 24 per cent to 48 per cent by
the year 2020. And our tape-up emissions reductions,
which was first a California law and now it’s a federal
law. And, of course, aided too by our commitment to
reducing greenhouse gases by 25 per cent by the year
2020 and 85 per cent by the year 2050. Our current
Governor Jerry Brown has just made a commitment
to reducing fuel consumption by 50 per cent within
the next 15 years in California. So, as you can see, the
action continues.
We sent an important message that we never
wait for the federal government or any kind of an
international agreement. We want to be their partners
but we don’t wait. In California, we don’t believe in
waiting, we believe in being in a perpetual state of
motion. When California passes its laws, of course,
some experts thought we were crazy. They said it was
Washington’s job to do that, that the states had no
business to do that. We said, the hell with that. We don’t
wait for anybody. Some so-called experts even said that
they can’t aim to go right down the train, it would wipe
out, it would be disastrous for California’s economy.
You know what? The opposite has happened. Everyone
knows that our green economy is going through the
roof. We in California track more than half of the
greentech venture capital in the United States. Some
also say 60 per cent even though California represents
only 12 per cent of the United States. And we have
raised five times as much capital as the second placed
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 35
state. We are building solar plants, the biggest in the
world and we are building electric cars and hydrogen
cars and biofuels. We do all kinds of things, there is
action everywhere.
But it isn’t just the green sector. Our economy
as a whole is thriving. In fact, we lead the nation in
manufacturing, hi-tech, biotech, greentech, agriculture,
entertainment, tourism, and the list goes on and on.
And as we have implemented our environmental
standards, California’s economy has outpaced national
growth even though everyone said that our economy
will crash if we go green. We know in California that
we don’t have to choose between the environment and
the economy. We know the opposite is true. Protecting
the environment will create an environmentally good,
sound state and also a sustainable economy for
the future.
Our success has shown to the world that subnational government, citizens, states, and provinces
can be a force in the fight against climate change. We
are the laboratories of reform. As a matter of fact, subnational governments have the power to cut over 80
per cent of greenhouse gases as it is. But it isn’t just in
California. There are great examples of governments
taking action all over the world, in Brazil, in Austria,
in Germany, in France, in Norway, United States; in
every continent, in cities and states people are moving
forward. In fact last year in the United States, for the
first time the solar industry created more jobs than
the gas and the oil industry combined and also created
more jobs than the coal industry.
And right here in India, you can find action
everywhere you look too. Prime Minister Modi is
leading the solar revolution. He recently raised India’s
solar investment goal to a 100 billion dollars by the
36 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
year 2022, which could produce an additional 100,000
megawatts of electricity, but clean and green electricity.
But it isn’t just your national government here in India,
it’s all over India. You are moving forward in the cities,
in the states and also in the private sector. Under the
Prime Minister’s leadership, the state of Gujarat had
brought in an idea to cover its canals with solar panels.
And then he became the national leader and now the
federal government has said that they want to cover
over 1,000 miles of canals and create thousands of
extra megawatts of clean electricity. Delhi, for instance,
replaced all their polluting taxis and buses with clean
burning natural gas vehicles which emit 50 per cent less
greenhouse gases. And in the private sector, they have
stepped up too. As an example, Coal India, the biggest
coal company in the world, has just made a decision
that they are going to power, in fact solar power, in
their own facilities and they have also decided to invest
and install an additional 1,000 megawatts of solar. So,
even though it’s a small gesture, but it is a gesture and
it shows there is a change in opinion, in minds, that they
are thinking differently. So if the biggest coal company in
the world can think different, what the hell is everyone
else waiting for?
I hope there is a new agreement at the United
Nations climate change conference in Paris. I hope
that the governments of the world can come to an
agreement so that we can have another successful
treaty. And I know the French government is very
serious about achieving an agreement in December.
I have met with the French president, President
Hollande and Foreign Minister Fabius, who is with
us here today. And let me tell you something. They
along with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are very
passionate about that and they really are serious about
On this occasion TERI is launching two new publications. The first is a new annual research titled Global
Sustainability Development Report, which will assess the progress of the regions in the countries around the
world. The first in the series, TERI’s Global Sustainability Development Report 2015, is related to the theme
of this summit, Climate Change and Sustainable Development. The report assesses the climate risks of 193
member countries of the United Nations and their progress on various aspects of adaptation to the impacts
of climate change and mitigation. Every year TERI will bring out a similar Global Sustainability Development
Report on the annual theme of the sustainable development summit and rank countries on their progress.
The second publication, the Energy Security Outlook, is supported by the Department for International
Development and is planned as a series that will be brought out every two years. TERI’s projections for the
future show a staggering level of import of energy, including oil and coal in the next 15 years, if we continue
with business as usual. The Energy Security Outlook is being brought out not only to sensitise India’s decision
makers and the public on the importance of energy security as part of India’s development prospects but also
to evaluate choices by which energy security can be maximized.
walking away from that meeting, from that conference,
with a huge victory for the world. And I know that India
will be a big player in the negotiations and I trust that
the prime minister would do everything that he can in
those negotiations to make our dream of a sustainable
and green energy future become a reality. But subnational governments around the world should not wait
for Paris. We should hope and we should be supportive
and we should do everything that we can to make this
agreement happen. But, at the same time, sub-national
governments should continue doing their hard work
and to live up to 100 per cent of their potential. We
should be working from the bottom up and from the
top down. When those two meet, we would create
critical mass.
We should be defined by our movement and by
our action, not by our hesitation. In California, we have
been successful because we never waited, we never
hesitated and we never took ‘No’ for an answer. We
always think differently. And today I promise you that
I will continue my crusade, I will continue fighting, I
will never give up. And I want to have the rest of the
world join us in our crusade to create the green and
sustainable energy future because it is our responsibility
to hand this world over to the next generation in better
shape than we inherited it.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Next, the Hon’ble Minister of State (IC) for
Environment, Forest & Climate Change, India,
Mr Prakash Javadekar addressed the gathering.
Mr Prakash Javadekar: We are all very eager
to discuss various subjects for which this Sustainable
Development Goals and Dealing with Climate Change
DSDS is happening. Dr Pachauri, we in India and the
world, the communities are really proud of you for the
dedicated work you have carried out for years as the
Chairman of IPCC.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 37
Arnold Schwarzenegger, you are not only an action
hero in movies but also on ground in California by the
way you have taken people along, changed habits about
energy consumption among people in US is not that
easy as it might seem, but you did it. So you are a action
hero action on ground also and we are very happy that
you are here.
I am very hopeful that the Paris Agreement will
have a very smooth passage and a new protocol will
emerge out of Paris. If that happens smoothly, the main
factor behind it will be Fabius, he is fabulous.
As Schwarzenegger has said, our Prime Minister
is a man of action again because the world has started
38 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
seriously discussing climate change. The then Vice
President of the USA, Al Gore, presented the powerful
documentary and book called An Inconvenient Truth
that shook the conscience of the world. If that is
the inconvenient truth, what Narendra Modi did as
a chief minister in Gujarat for 12 years, his handson experiences are penned down in a book called
Convenient Action. So if there is an inconvenient truth,
we can still have convenient action to mitigate the
challenge presented by the climate change. And here
is the message of the Prime Minister which I would like
to read out:
‘I am happy to learn that the TERI is organising
DSDS 2015 on the theme Sustainable Development
Goals and Dealing with Climate Change. In order to
be effective, our efforts at poverty eradication and
sustainable development must take into account the
challenges posed by climate change. I am of the firm
opinion that India should use the current global focus
on climate change as an opportunity to decisively
change the quality of life of its citizens. We should also
work towards shift on emphasis from carbon credit
to green credit, which takes into account initiatives
towards clean energy generation, energy conservation,
and energy efficiency. All put together is a green credit.
I hope the deliberations of DSDS will lead to fruitful and
productive outcomes.
I wish the organisers and participants all success.’
Today we are discussing very important issues on
a very peculiar backdrop. First is that the 2015 Summit
of DSDS is different because it is taking place at such
a historic turning point with three main sustainable
development goals (SDGs) global events coming up this
year. First, the millennium development goals (MDGs)
tenure will end in 2015 and SDGs would be agreed
upon in the UN Summit in September 2015 to carry
forward the unfinished agenda of MDGs. The second,
a new UN climate protocol will be decided upon in
Paris in December 2015. And third, the crucial UN
Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa
to consider financing of sustainable development is
taking place in July 2015. So this year, the entire year
is packed with climate negotiations, and I hope that the
world will deliver.
SDGs are what we desire. But SDGs have to be
differently placed for different targets for different
countries taking into account the inequities in which we
live. All countries are at different stages of development
and, therefore, SDGs cannot follow the ‘one form, fits
all’ route. It has to be different for different countries
but our progress has to be towards achieving the full
SDGs and complete the unfinished agenda of MDGs
because the period to achieve the latter will be over
but still there is an unfinished agenda. We have marched
very much on the road to achieving the MDGs but still
various countries are at different stages, and they must
be given finance and other help to carry successfully
meet their MDG goals.
The world has witnessed tremendous prosperity
in last couple of decades. We have grown at a speed we
never expected we would grow. But that growth has
also brought this scenario where there are inequities
also growing and that has to be factored into all the
negotiations scheduled for this year.
As I was saying, there are three big events in this
world but more than that, this Summit is different
because it is the first conference taking place after
oil prices have hit nearly $40 per barrel. It has very
important bearing on how much we consume. Oil
prices were continually rising since MDGs were
finalized; but we are now in a different frame of
reference in climate change. The game is changing
over fossil fuel. Our thinking and our policies need
to seize this historic opportunity to launch inclusive
development by action on climate change. At the same
time, this is the year when the new government under
PM Modi has started raising ambitions and aspirations
of the people at accelerated speed, not only in India
but globally.
As Schwarzenegger has rightly pointed out,
100,000 megawatt is not a small thing. It means that
145 million tonnes of carbon emissions are saved per
year. And this we are doing not by 2022 but we will
complete this, we will achieve our 100,000 megawatt
target of renewable energy by 2020. So this is the pre2020 action by India which was not mandated as a
non-annex country in the Kyoto regime. We were not
mandated to do that but we are still doing it through
our own initiatives and our own commitment, on our
own conviction, on our own volition. We have no
pressures. Nobody has been exercising pressure and
Modi Government is not in the habit of taking pressures
also. But we take our own actions, we have pressure.
And our Prime Minister said it very clearly when
Obama visited. He said that, yes, we have pressure,
pressure presented by climate change and pressure of
the future generations that they have the same right to
a planet that is safe to live with a quality of life where it
is maintained. And that is why we are taking pressure of
the new generation and their aspirations and that intergenerational equity is what we are considering. And
this is not one instance of Modi ji having to tell us to
‘Go Renewable’. It is all sustainable development goals
on which we want to walk the clean energy path. If
we want to sum up, yesterday there was a report that
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 39
categorised Delhi as a bad city. But let me tell you, I am
not going into negating something saying that ‘oh! We
have 20 monitoring stations, you have picked up only
one station, or so on and so forth’. These are facts. But
let me also at the same time tell you all cities globally
are becoming worse because of vehicular pollution,
because of many other geographical factors. In Delhi,
particularly in winter season when there is burning all
around the cities in western UP, in Haryana, in Punjab
in the fields, it has subsequent affects. There is a storm
and dust coming from Rajasthan and many other places.
So there are many reasons. But still I think we have
to make our cities better. Fresh air is my birth right
and I will have it. That should be the people’s demand
and government is committed to providing clean water,
clean air, and clean energy. That is the way India wants
to walk its own talk and we have ambitions to walk
this talk.
Ban Ki-moon, as you rightly said Schwarzenegger
is a passionate man. He was here a fortnight ago and
he visited our green building from where we operate.
I will invite everybody to come to our building and see
how this zero energy building, energy neutral building,
or even a positive energy consumes half of what a
building of this size will consume and we generate
more than what we consume. So that’s a way we lead
by example and Ban Ki-moon was there and we had
a very good meeting. We discussed his latest report,
The Road to Dignity, which stated that all countries
need to change jointly move towards a final outcome
of SDGs by September 2015. The target of the report
is to achieve dignity for all which puts a human face to
the SDGs. And I think that’s very important.
In the Lima meeting on climate change, India
took a lead in conceptualising that climate negotiations
40 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
are not only for the government diplomats but for
the common man and poor people who are most
vulnerable to climate change. Impacts of climate
change in India would be felt if the IPCC report is to
be believed and we should, because it is science, and it
says that even agriculture will suffer in Southeast Asia
by 10–15 per cent. And that’s why we are launching a
new programme, aggressive afforestation programme,
accelerated afforestation, with $6 billion, new carbon
sinks which we aim to create to balance things.
So, finally, I will expect that TERI has been
organizing this DSDS conference always in Delhi very
successfully, and world leaders come here and discuss
various things. But now I should ask that TERI organises
somewhere in the rural background because they are
the people who are really suffering, who have the right
to grow and still they have right to have clean fresh air,
freshwater, and also a sustainable place to live in and to
that we all will work together and India will do its job
under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Thank you. Thanks once again.
Mr Suresh Prabhu, the Hon’ble Minister for Railways,
India, addressed the gathering next.
Mr Suresh Prabhu: We have all gathered here
at the fifteenth edition of the Delhi Sustainable
Development Summit (DSDS) with the common
agenda of successfully combating the problem of
climate change.
Since we signed the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, we made a protocol in
Japan— Kyoto—and have come a long way since then.
We could build good coalitions, create huge awareness,
and agree many times on action. Unfortunately, of
course, those who had to act didn’t act as much or some
didn’t act at all but still we could move in a particular
direction at least in terms of thinking and therefore
we have come a long way. But in this time, since we
decided that climate change was a challenge, since then,
since Rio, we now have irrefutable evidence, scientific
evidence that climate change is a reality. We also have
intolerable experiences of common people who don’t
understand science that climate change is affecting
them adversely. We have a huge loss. Only those who
understand the numbers of GDP, even in terms of lost
output. We even have experiences of people who have
suffered because of lack of tourism, lack of jobs, and
many other issues as a result of this climate change.
So despite the fact that we have come a long way and
despite agreeing decades ago on the action to be taken,
we are not able to act on it as good as we should have.
And that is why the problem is worse confounded, and
as I was just glancing through the report, I thank Dr
Pachauri for that, it looks like even with Nicholas Stern
had also said some time ago that if you delay the action,
more is the cost of combating with it. And therefore
this is a big challenge we are all facing, the challenge
is staring at us and therefore this is a very important
event that we organise.
Globally, we see almost all countries suffering in
one form or the other. But some countries are suffering
more than the rest. And I have my good friend and a very
competent and a committed Minister of Environment
pointing out that India is one of the worst sufferers of
this. And despite the fact that we do not have adequate
capability to deal with it, we are doing our best to deal
with that challenge. But globally everybody, each citizen
or the other, in some form of the other, is affected by
climate change and we therefore really need to act on
it. And to do that, we really now must innovate our
thinking as to how to deal with this.
I am very glad that we are talking about the
new sustainable development summit in terms
of Sustainable Development Goals. We had the
Millennium Development Goals. Unfortunately the
global community is really very good and I must
congratulate them that they agree on everything
very quickly. So we could get the best of the heads of
government coming together every year for 15 years
and all of them unanimously agreed that development
goals are important. But the millennium went away,
so the development goals are forgotten. Now it’s the
time we must find out a unified strategy of dealing
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 41
with climate change, dealing with environmental issues
without forgetting developmental aspect of it. So the
new innovative way that we should look at it is how
do we actually marry the development on one side
and the goals of what we agreed, the consents, of the
developing countries, into an actionable point that will
make sure that we combat climate change, at the same
time we do not create the type of social issues we will
have to encounter with.
Also, we all agree, and I am glad the Governor was
mentioning that there is a huge potential to create new
jobs, but the new jobs have to be created because the
old jobs are anyways becoming redundant. We may not
have realized it, but the lifespan of those jobs created
from the old economy that created this problem of
climate change are in any case under threat. So we
really need to create a new economy which will actually
ensure that we have a type of energy resource, we
have a type of usage of energy we can use it today and
change it completely and also create a new economy
that is compatible with climate change related issues
and also create type of jobs that we need to protect the
livelihood of many people that are born today and are
going to get born tomorrow.
And, therefore, we need to work on this as a
unified strategy and I am sure if you do that we will
definitely be able to manage this in a very effective
way. I know we must also bring in the concerns of food
security, energy security, and climate security together.
And that should be the new way of bringing out this
Sustainable Development Goals and that could really
be a game changer in terms of doing that.
I am really hopeful that Paris will be the new place
where we can find a solution. Paris is known as the
capital of fashion but I hope Paris becomes the capital
42 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
of passion. . So let’s bring fashion and passion together.
Let’s make climate change a fashionable issue for
people to follow but also make it a passionate issue in
which we really find some solution in Paris and do not
make it another round of talk and negotiation. And for
that to happen, I hope this particular Summit creates a
building block for making that happen.
And to make that happen, we really need to find
some of the issues that we really need. For example,
as my good friend and a very distinguished member
of our cabinet was saying, India would like to change
the energy mix. We want to bring in more and more
renewable energy. We have only committed to make
100,000 megawatts of solar energy. Maybe another
100,000 megawatts of wind energy. And let me tell
you, our potential for wind is 560,000 megawatts. And
that’s only onshore. We are not even calculating the
offshore capacity and we have 7,800 km of coastline.
We have a huge potential of solar because we have got
300 days of sunshine in all parts of India and that could
be really aid in harnessing our huge solar energy.
But to make this, we really need a linkage between
this market where there is a potential and some sort of
a global action which can really make the market thrive.
And the market can thrive if you can have a global deal
on climate change that will facilitate innovation, which
will ensure that this type of action could take place on
the ground by providing some market support as well
as some international support in terms of technology
and others. And therefore we really need to find out
how we can really develop this new mechanism. We
had the Clean Development Mechanism, we had a joint
implementation, and all of that is now forgotten but let
us think about new ideas, new innovation and make it
happen in a proper manner. And if we can do that, the
global community could benefit because the providers
of this knowledge and ideas could also benefit because
they are the providers, the users will also benefit
because they are going to use it for a sustainable use,
and all of that could really build a new partnership that
is really needed to bring a new change in the way we
have actually handled climate change in the past. I really
think we need to look at many issues.
Another issue also is do the need to act on the
impending danger of having a world population
becoming 10 billion in the next few years. If the
population increases, the demand for scarce resources
will become possibly worse and would create greater
issues regarding how to deal with them. And in
my opinion, one of the ways to deal with it, we talk
about supply side intervention and we also talk about
demand side intervention. I think the best demand
side management among many other things is also
controlling population of growth. A world population
of 10 billion people globally, is not really. We really
need to find out whether we can have the carrying
capacity for a planet to have so many people. We
need to think about this and make the globe and the
planet one of our prime concerns, make sure that we
all work as a team, and help all those countries like
India that want to act more and try to bring in all the
synergies together. I am sure we will be able to tackle
this very big challenge together very soon. And I really
wish that this particular gathering and I can see such
distinguished people present here, and many of them
are my very good friends, I have worked with you,
so I know your commitment. I think if we can really
put this commitment to action, we can really bring a
transformation that is really needed to make the world
safer, the future generations will be happy with us, at
the same time our present life will be far better than
what it is today.
So let’s hope this particular DSDS brings out that
outcome in the next two days.
Thank you very much. Congratulations.
Next, H.E. Mr Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and International Development, France and
Former Prime Minister, France and President, COP 21
presented his inaugural speech.
Mr Laurent Fabius: Hon’ble Presidents, dear
Ministers, Governor Schwarzenegger, ladies and
gentlemen, distinguished guests: I will speak in English.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 43
Forgive me. Thank you, Dr Pachauri, for inviting me
to this major event. I wanted to be here today for the
DSDS first because it is an important event by itself and
because also it is on the road to the COP 21 that France
will host and share at the end of this year. No doubt
that 2015 will be a decisive milestone for our collective
action both on climate change and development with
many conferences but particularly at least three major
forthcoming international conferences on Financing
for Development in Addis Ababa in July, on Sustainable
Development Goals in New York in September, and
on climate change in December in Paris. Today, as it
was emphasized by all our speakers, more than ever
we need to address climate and development together
and not against each other. I would like to make four
brief observations.
The first one is, as far as science is concerned,
the old climate scepticism is no longer an option. The
last IPCC report confirmed that climate change or
rather climate disruption is an obvious threat. And we
must all thank Dr Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC,
for his magnificent leadership on this. I consider that
the scientific community has done its job and now
governments, local authorities, business community,
civil society need to act.
Second point is with regards to what is to be
expected from the Paris climate conference I remember
when Paris was chosen, it was easier because we were
the only candidate, many of the people who came
and congratulated me said, and on the spot I didn’t
completely understand it, now I understand. They said,
‘Good luck. Now it’s done’. France will host the COP 21
after the COP 20 in Lima, which did a very good job. You
must be assured that we will spare no effort to deliver
a universal and meaningful agreement that the world
44 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
needs. Negotiations among 195 countries on such an
essential matter are a challenge. Achieving an outcome
that can generally be considered a success will require,
we all know that, a major shift in our economic models,
what you called ‘think and act differently’, towards low
carbon pathways. And it will require strong political
leadership and a collective spirit of responsibility and
solidarity. So far as the presidency of the COP 21 was
concerned, we want to be transparent, impartial, and
ambitious. We will make sure that every voice is heard.
This agreement should be an agreement among all and
for all. This agreement will need to be ambitious and
respond to the scientific call for urgent action. And
equally it would need to fully take into account each
country’s right to development. An agreement that
would lead some countries to consider their growth
hampered by its provision would not be acceptable.
What do we propose to achieve in Paris? Four
pillars: The first one, major one, is universal and
differentiated agreement that demonstrates that we
are taking action today and that we shall take additional
strong measures in the long term to achieve our
common objective of limiting global warming to below
2°C. And I hope, as we were discussing that a few
moments ago, that we shall be able to agree on the
major issues even before Paris.
Second point is national contributions by each
country. We hope that they will be announced as
early as possible so that we may gain a full and shared
understanding of where we really stand.
Third consideration is financial package. No
significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can
be achieved without equitable access to sustainable
development. You all know that the initial capitalization
of the Green Climate Fund has amounted to over
10 billion dollars. It is a first step but beyond that we
need increased financing from both public and private
sources to reach $100 billion a year starting from 2020
while shifting investment from high carbon to low
carbon technologies, new technologies, new activities.
And fourth, besides government, we want the
COP 21 to gather initiative from other stakeholders—
private businesses, local and regional entities, and civil
society. We call on private companies and businesses and
sub-governmental entities to this agenda of solutions.
My third remark is that taking action against climate
disruption and for poverty reduction should not be
regarded as two separate and contradictory goals. As
Prime Minister Modi recently said, global awareness of
climate change is an opportunity to improve the quality
of life of our citizens and to fight poverty. We all know
that we need growth in both developed and developing
countries. The way forward is to ensure sustainable
growth that creates wealth, jobs, and social progress.
Just as yesterday fossil fuels enabled our economies to
develop, tomorrow clean technologies and the right
policy framework can ensure a new cycle of sustainable
growth and development. And action against climate
disruption is and will be a sort of opportunity.
India is a major economy and therefore a major
emitter as well as a key player in both climate and
sustainable development goal negotiation. At the
same time, we all understand the constraints of India.
We have taken note too of the ambitious, which have
already been proposed, 100 gigawatts of solar energy
before 2020, replication by three of the nuclear installed
capacity before 2025, 100 smart cities, very large
programs in energy efficiency, egalitarian consumption.
These are real ambitions. And we all know that we need
a signal that all countries are embarking on a trajectory
towards a low carbon economy based on their national
circumstances. No doubt, that India will play a leading
role in this effort and no doubt that it will do it under
the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, who is really
dedicated to this common goal. As regards France,
apart from our national and European decisions, we
shall strongly support all the initiatives taken by the
Indian government to tackle climate disruption. We
shall continue to collaborate with India on this issue,
carbon-free energy, partnership on civil and nuclear
energy, water, urban development, and space.
Now, my final word. I would like to reiterate the
mantra of Prime Minister Modi when he said, ‘Together
with All, Development for All’. I think this applies not only
to India but can inspire the entire world . Our common
goal should be to reconcile human development and
the preservation of nature. And in this regard, it is no
surprise that the DSDS, this major event, is taking place
in India, a country that since ancient times has always
cherished nature. Now the Minister has said that
Paris was a city of passion and fashion. Okay. I would
add, passion, fashion, action, and transformation.
I wish all of you a very fruitful meeting here and for
those of you who will come to Paris next December, a
productive preparation and an excellent COP 21.
Thank you.
The closing remarks were delivered by Dr Annapurna
Vancheswaran, Director-Sustainable Development
Outreach Division, TERI.
Dr Annapurna Vancheswaran: Thank you.
Dignitaries on the dais and distinguished guests, it is
both a privilege and an honour to have you all present
here for the 15th edition of the Delhi Sustainable
Development Summit.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 45
Hon’ble Minister Mr Suresh Prabhu mentioned and
congratulated Dr Pachauri for the 15 years of the
summit. Ladies and gentlemen, I truly have been
fortunate and can state with pride, of course, no
reference to my age that I have been part of each and
every DSDS and over the years seen this platform grow
both in content and participation. Dr Pachauri and my
colleagues feel undeniably the journey though arduous
has been filled with excitement and expectation. Thank
you all for supporting us for the last 15 years.
H.E. Mr Fabius, Hon’ble Minister Mr
Suresh Prabhu and Mr Javadekar, and Governor
Schwarzenegger, may I on behalf of TERI express
our deep gratitude to each one of you for your
presence here for the 15th edition of DSDS. Over
the years, DSDS has emerged as the foremost
platform to deliberate on sustainable development
and environment and climate change issues as we
46 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
have heard from all the other dignitaries on the dais.
This year the summit will have over 15 thematic tracks
that will be convened tomorrow and the last day of
the summit. These thematic tracks not only forge
partnerships but provide an opportunity for diverse
stakeholders to share their experiences and knowledge.
Our heartfelt gratitude to all our Summit
partners, proudly displayed on the backdrop behind,
whose support, some of them year on year, has been
invaluable and instrumental in whatever success we
have achieved thus far. Thank you once again to all our
partners who are mentioned on this stage. It would
take a plenary session to name all our partners.
On the 3 days of the summit, the future of our
planet and the best ways to protect and care for it were
discussed and deliberated. However, we know that it’s
crucial for young minds to shape their future. Twentyfive youth leaders representing Belgium, Canada,
China, Germany, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United
States and, of course, India attended the meet. DSDS
2015 gave them a unique learning opportunity to listen,
witness, and interact with some of the world’s greatest
thought leaders. The distinguished guests joined in
cheering these youth leaders present.
These young friends before they came to the
summit were asked to complete a sentence, which was,
“Sustainable Development Goals will be incomplete
without _____.” They were to complete that sentence
and I would like to display one of them, which was from
among one of these students, and I will read it out,
“Sustainable Development Goals will be incomplete
without realizing our actions have a ripple effect, an effect
on all parts of the complex system of the earth.” Indeed,
a profound statement from these leaders of tomorrow.
Thank you one and all.
Leadership Panel 1
From MDGs to SDGs and
Addressing Climate Change
Chair
Mr Nitin Desai
Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former UN Under-Secretary-General for
Economic and Social Affairs
Video Message
HSH Albert II
Prince of Monaco
Panellists
HE Mr Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
Former President, Maldives & President, Progressive Party of Maldives
HE Mr Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Former President, Mexico & Chairman, Global Commission on the
Economy and Climate
Nobel Laureate HE Dr José Ramos-Horta
Former President, East Timor & Chair, High Level Independent Panel on
Peace Operations, United Nations
HE Ms Mary Robinson
Former President, Ireland & UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for
Climate Change
The Hon’ble Kevin Rudd
Former Prime Minister, Australia & President, Asia Society Policy Institute
The first technical session of the Summit (Leadership
Panel 1) focused on the imperatives of carrying
forward the work of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) and integrate them into the proposed
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be adopted
at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to
be held at Paris in December 2015. In keeping with
the importance of the subject and the need for clear
reasoning on a complex issue, the session relied
upon the knowledge of political stalwarts and climate
change crusaders with significant past experience
of international climate negotiations and a record of
affirmative climate action in their own countries. The
session was chaired by an international civil servant,
Mr Nitin Desai, who has also been closely
involved with matters of economic cooperation and
development at the highest levels of the bureaucracy,
both nationally and internationally.
In his video message, HSH Albert II, Prince of
Monaco spoke about his government’s efforts in laying
the foundation for sustainable development and added
that knowledge sharing and open dialogue are the keys
to resolving these issues. He underlined the magnitude
of the task at hand, its universality, and the extreme
urgency of addressing the problems confronting
humankind. He said that this method of discussion,
dialogue and debate with leaders drawn from the fields
of science, politics, business, and the intelligentsia, is the
most effective way of finding solutions to the pressing
question of ensuring progress without harming the
environment. He alerts participants to the fact that the
brunt of climate change impacts, calamitous as they are
in their effect, will be felt by all but most severely by
the poor and vulnerable communities. It is therefore
necessary to spread knowledge and carry the message
as widely as possible and to keep the dialogue going.
In her address, HE Ms Mary Robinson said that
she sees 2015 as a landmark year for climate negotiations
when the MDGs are to be replaced by a new set of
guidelines that will take effect at the beginning of 2016,
to be called the SDGs that will cover the period from
2016 to 2030. According to her, it is critical that the
right policies are put in place immediately to advance
The Delhi Sustainable Development
Summit is indeed an important event for
the planet and for its future.
HSH Albert II
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 49
the twin objectives of fostering economic growth and
achieving the targets for reducing carbon dioxide and
greenhouse gas emissions. She insists that sustainable
development and action on climate change go hand
in hand and one cannot be divorced from the other.
While emphasizing the continuation of the principle of
‘Overseas Development Assistance’ (ODA), whereby
developed countries commit to providing 0.7 per cent
of their gross national income as aid to poor countries,
she laments the fact that these commitments have
fallen well short of their objectives with adverse effects
on healthcare, education, and governance in some
countries. This is a grave cause for concern because,
under these circumstances, if countries are asked to
commit additional finance for climate action it may
very well cloud the prospects of arriving at a strong
climate deal acceptable to all. It is in this context that
the need to leverage private sector financing assumes
greater relevance. She tells us that we must focus both
on shifting to a world of zero emissions and repairing
the damage caused by the greenhouse gases already in
the atmosphere. At the same time, those responsible
for implementing the sustainable development and
climate change agenda, such as ministers charged
with the finance and environment portfolios, must
understand the various issues in all its ramifications
and see eye to eye on all related matters. The three
interconnected United Nation confabulations, viz.,
The fact that three interconnected
meetings are taking place one after
another should spur us to action
to build consensus quickly.
HE Ms Mary Robinson
50 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
the July meeting in Addis Ababa on Financing for
Development, the September meeting in New York to
adopt the SDGs, and the December COP21 meeting
in Paris, should spur us to action to build consensus
quickly. She concluded her presentation exuding
confidence that these interconnected discourses are
an excellent opportunity to delineate the linkages
between sustainable development and climate change
while reaching a solid agreement.
The Nobel Peace Laureate HE Dr José RamosHorta, who was instrumental in helping East Timor gain
independence from Indonesia, pleaded for continuance
of ODA to developing countries, in particular small
island states and fragile nations, which have seen
decreased aid inflows. He was emphatic that climate
change discussions and progress on the SDGs cannot
be dissociated from increased development assistance
to developing countries and, in particular, fragile states
which are at the greatest risk from disruptions in the
climate system.
HE Mr Felipe Calderón Hinojosa stated that
the biggest challenge facing the world today is to
eradicate widespread poverty and to contain global
warming. Elucidating on the New Climate Economy
Report 2014 presented to the United Nations by his
organization, the Former President of Mexico fervently
sought to demonstrate that economic growth and
prosperity can be achieved while simultaneously
combating climate change but warned that time is
of the essence and, therefore, we must act without
delay. The report emphasizes the three major changes
required to tackle these challenges as being a move
away from a high carbon intensive economic growth,
introducing changes in land use systems to practice
more intensive agriculture so as to produce more
quantities of food for a greater number of people with
better quality and higher efficiency, and ushering in the
smart cities of the future that are compact and well
connected. Identifying the three main drivers of the
economy as natural resources efficiency, infrastructure
investment, and innovation, he said that India must
shift to renewable sources of energy to reduce its
import bill and exploit to the full its huge potential for
generating electricity from solar and wind power. Such
a step would also greatly reduce the alarming levels
of pollution in its cities, which rank among the highest
in the world, resulting in health costs and leading to
premature mortality. He also advocates putting a price
on carbon and for abolishing all wasteful subsidies.
HE Mr Maumoon Abdul Gayoom hoped that
the new development agenda will complement the
MDGs framework in addressing all issues of sustainable
development including the vulnerability of countries
to climate change and natural disasters. He cautions
Our actions today will determine the
legacy we pass on to our children.
HE Mr Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 51
that these issues of sustainability have become even
more intractable now. Growing energy demand from
a rapidly increasing global population will soon exhaust
fossil fuel supplies. This is not only unsustainable in
the long run but will also contribute significantly to
climate change leading to degraded lands, lower food
production, loss of biodiversity, and increased water
scarcity. Apprehending that the Maldives, being a
low-lying island, is the most vulnerable to the impacts
of climate change he appealed to the international
community to provide financial, technological and
human resources support free from stifling bureaucracy.
He ended on a cautionary note by saying that actions
today will determine the legacy that will be left for
future generations. The time has come when a choice
has to be made between limitless energy exploitation
and sustainable development since both cannot be
attained simultaneously.
The Hon’ble Kevin Rudd said that the burden of
acting on climate change is greater on Asia because it
represents nearly half the global population and half
the world’s gross domestic product. Observing that
the science on climate change is irrefutable and that
it is undeniably caused by human activity, he said that
global temperature rise must be limited to below 2°C
or extinction is unavoidable. A seasoned campaigner
of past climate agreement negotiations, he is hopeful
that a meaningful and effective agreement can be
reached at Paris and put forth three reasons justifying
his optimism. Firstly, there is the benefit of past
The world needs to unite as a single team to
deliver a win for the planet and its people.
The Hon’ble Kevin Rudd
52 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
experience of conferences that failed to deliver for
political reasons but this time he expects the member
states to come to the table fully prepared to take on
the challenge of fighting climate change for achieving
sustainable development. Secondly, civil society voices
will increasingly be heard in all the UN deliberations
leading up to the COP21 meeting in Paris to be held
in December 2015. Being the major stakeholders on
the planet, their views might well provide important
lessons to guide effective policy making. Thirdly, now
the business community has also come on board
since they too realize equally the benefits of putting
the planet and its people ahead of profits. This should
help to leverage private capital for climate change
action. Furthermore, the old debate between climate
change action and economic development has reached
common consensus today. On the question of financing
for climate change, he suggests that it is not enough
to rely on Official Development Assistance (ODA)
and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) alone
but that new financial vehicles from the global financial
community for investment in new infrastructure
must be harnessed. He complimented the political
leaderships of both India and China for having declared
their intention to agree to a global compact. He also
wants that if the Individual National Declarations of
Contributions become the norm then it is necessary
to build into the Paris agreement a mandatory review
process of respective national commitments and
delivery against targets.
Acknowledging all the contributions, the chair
Mr Desai rounded off the discussion, expressing
hope for a robust climate deal in Paris that gives due
consideration to elements of the climate action and
sustainable development framework, the interest of
all the countries, and includes all the components and
outcomes of the SDG agenda to be agreed upon earlier
in New York. He echoed HE Mr Felipe Calderón
Hinojosa’s view that now is the time to abjure the
use of fossil fuels and move on the renewable energy
path by exploiting the earth’s abundant resources
of solar and wind power and fostering innovation in
these new areas. Underlining the point made by both
Nobel Laureate Ramos-Horta and President Gayoom,
he reminded that some low-lying countries are in a
do-or-die situation and so actions taken today assume
utmost urgency.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 53
SPECIAL SESSION
LEADERS’ SPEAK
Moderator
Mr Karma Paljor
Business Editor, CNN-IBN
Keynote Addresses
SDGs and Climate Change – The Road Ahead
Dr R K Pachauri
Director-General, TERI & Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change
The Sustainable Development Goals and the Imperative of Social
Transformation
Nobel Laureate Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee
President Emeritus and Distinguished Research Fellow, Academia Sinica
Globalize Compassion for Sustainability
Nobel Laureate Mr Kailash Satyarthi
Founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan & Chairperson, Global March Against
Child Labour
The panel for the session included two Nobel laureates,
Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee of Taiwan and Mr Kailash Satyarthi
from India. They were joined by the climate scientist
Dr R K Pachauri and the meeting was moderated by
Mr Karma Paljor of the television network CNN-IBN.
Dr R K Pachauri delivered the first keynote
address on the theme Sustainable Development Goals:
The Road Ahead. In his opening remarks, he stated that
mankind has reached a defining moment in history
when climate change threatens all living species. The
implications for humanity are truly challenging unless
the damage caused to the climate system by human
activity is reversed. We are witness today to higher
incidence of extreme weather and climate events like
intense cold, recurrent heat waves, frequent cyclonic
storms accompanied by melting glaciers, sea level
rise, ocean acidification, changing weather and rainfall
patterns, unseasonal snowfall and so on. Atmospheric
and hydrologic changes are projected to negatively
impact water availability, food production, fisheries, and
other ecosystem services. Relying on forecasts of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
he displayed diagrams based on actual observations
which showed increase in global average temperature,
sea level change, greenhouse gas concentrations,
and carbon dioxide emissions. These observations
suggest that on an average, one gigatonne of these
harmful GHG emissions are being added annually
which creates an unsustainable situation. Projections
of climate change and its impacts up to the end of this
century only add a greater urgency for the need to
take action. Many adaptation and mitigation options
can help address climate change, but no single option
is sufficient in itself. The Fifth Assessment Report of
the IPCC projects an RCP of 2.6 which assumes that
global annual GHG emissions will peak between 2010
and 2020. RCPs refer to Representative Concentration
Pathways of four greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
but the scope for more emissions is finite. It is hoped
that the proposed Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions (INDCs) to be agreed at Paris would
make it possible for the world to move along the 2.6
RCP trajectory. As the age-old adage goes, a stitch in
time saves nine. Thus, a delay in mitigation action will
shift the burden from the present to the future, and
insufficient adaptation responses to emerging impacts
have already begun eroding the basis for sustainable
development. If action is delayed further, then the
costs and the feasibility of taking action will go beyond
Unless we have a common understanding,
there will be no future for humanity.
Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 57
reach and the impacts of climate change would cross
the irreversible thresholds.
Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee feels that climate change
is getting progressively worse and response to it is
proving to be feeble and inadequate. According to
him, there are three reasons—political, social, and
scientific—behind the lack of progress on Sustainable
Development Goals and mitigating climate change. He
avers that climate change is a global problem which
cannot be solved by scientists or a single country alone
but by everybody acting together. He is, however,
hopeful that if COP21 is successful in introducing useful
initiatives globally, mankind may still have a chance
of survival. Of course, this calls for large amounts of
capital for investment in new infrastructure. But he
finds it ironic that while we think nothing of spending
huge amounts of money on weapons of war, we are
not willing to commit funds to a cause that can bring
about improvements in living conditions on earth for
all and promote universal peace. He counsels us to
look beyond the European Union, the United States
of America, or the United Nations organization for
funding and instead build new institutions and devise
new financial instruments to fight the common enemy
that is climate change.
Commenting on the social impact of sustainable
development, he said that coupled with population
explosion and the conspicuous consumption that is
seen today, mankind has overloaded earth but this by
no means represents development. Too much is being
utilised and it is not being balanced out by being frugal
Transformation begins with compassion.
Mr Kailash Satyarthi
58 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
and functional in one’s wants. He sees Asia as the new
engine of the sustainable development train as the West
has reached a level of stagnation in terms of growth
in infrastructure. India is advancing rapidly yet this
advance does not represent progressive development.
Its cities are polluted and there is widespread illiteracy
and poverty. China, the other big economy on the
continent, is beset by overdevelopment because of the
size of its population and the economic prosperity of its
people. All this is telling adversely on the earth-climate
system within countries and beyond. It is the future of
humanity that is at stake.
From a scientific viewpoint, the Industrial Revolution
three hundred years ago enabled a transition to new
manufacturing processes and since then our addiction
to fossil fuels has grown manifold which is the main
contributing factor for climate change. He espouses
the cause of embracing a low-carbon society but pleads
for a return to nature and increased dependence on
renewable sources of energy. Since the science of
solar and wind energy is now well understood, the
technology is expected to develop in due course. It is
high time to harness these infinite sources of energy,
which will also become less expensive as technology
improves. Persisting with the technological argument
for a change to renewables, Prof. Lee mentioned one
of his students in California who uses solar panels for
powering her home and for charging her electric car.
Therefore, the technology is already in place. What
is required is more research to bring down the cost
to make it affordable, fabricate storage devices, and
transport the energy across national borders just as is
done with petroleum and coal.
According to Prof. Lee, the common man must be
communicated with differently in conveying the message
of combating climate change. A difference of one or
two degrees does little to bother him as he already has
to endure unbearably high temperatures. He feels that
people should be educated on the inadvisability of using
air-conditioners continuously, which only adds to the
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The first Taiwanese to be conferred the Nobel
Prize, Prof. Yuan T Lee has served as the President of
the International Council for Science.
Mr Kailash Satyarthi’s keynote was on Globalize
Compassion for Sustainability. His organization
campaigns for the rights of children and has also built
a rehabilitation centre in Rajasthan for bonded children
as well as those who have been freed from child labour.
He spoke of how climate change has affected life in the
area and related an incident that can be ascribed to
climate change. About fifteen years ago, when a lake
in Rajasthan had plentiful water in it, one could see
children playing and trees and animals all around. But
We really have to defend
ourselves from climate change.
Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 59
now the lake is dry and water has to be fetched from
far-off areas. Even for collecting firewood and fodder,
the people of the surrounding villages have to trudge
long distances, a task performed mainly by young boys
and girls because the menfolk have migrated in search
of livelihood. This affects their education. Children are
denied entry to schools or have to drop out for family
reasons; child exploitation is rampant; all these at the
cost of their childhood, freedom, and education. He
also recounted his interaction with a group of students
from Nigeria and recent events in Pakistan where
misguided and radical militant groups are trying to
impose their own strict code of conduct and preventing
children from attending school.
Mr Satyarthi recommended the Indian systems of
Yoga and Yagna for reconnecting with nature and the
universe. Yoga is mental and physical discipline that
helps to unify and develop the mind, body, and spirit.
Yagna means fire worship by chanting verses from the
scriptures with noble thoughts and intentions that
helps purify and improve one’s spiritual tendencies.
He postulates the 8E formula, which encompasses
education, environment, efficiency, ethics, equity,
employability, and entrepreneurship for achieving
sustainability.
Mr Satyarthi noted that Mahatma Gandhi was able
to translate and transform the spiritual values of truth
and non-violence into a social movement, even a political
movement. Since presently markets, economies and
products are being successfullt globalised, itcompassion
is globalised as well for the children of the world, their
childhood, their education, and their aspirations. His
pioneering work in freeing children from bonded
labour, providing for their education and giving them a
new lease of life reminds one of the aphorism - open a
school door, close a prison.
This is the time to globalize compassion.
Kailash Satyarthi
60 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Solutions for Inclusive, Green
and Resilient Cities Introduction
Moderator
Mr Takehiko Nakao
President, Asian Development Bank
Chair
Dr R K Pachauri
Director-General, TERI & Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I am very pleased to speak to you about “Solutions
for Inclusive, Green, and Resilient Cities”. Before
getting specifically into this topic, I would like to set the
stage by talking more broadly about the international
development agenda in 2015 — in particular, the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the
prospects for a new global climate agreement.
The year 2015 will be a milestone year for
international development. An agreement on the SDGs
and the post 2015 agenda is expected to be reached at
the September United Nations (UN) summit in New
York. In December, a new climate deal is also expected
to be agreed at COP21 in Paris.
In July 2014, the UN Open Working Group (OWG)
on the SDGs delivered its final report. The SDGs place
environmental and social sustainability at the core of
the new integrated development agenda. At the same
time, the SDGs aim to eradicate extreme poverty,
and tackle other unfinished business of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) by 2030 including for
education and health. Economic transformation will be
key to achieving many of the goals.
The global development community is now
finalizing the SDGs. ADB supports key proposals of the
SDGs. I want to stress three points about the transition
from the MDGs to the SDGs. First, we still need to
fully achieve the MDGs agenda. Second, poverty and
inclusive growth cannot be set aside on environmental
grounds. Third, neither can the environment be
neglected in the pursuit of growth. Upholding these
principles will be essential for sustainable development.
Along with the SDGs, the international community
has never been so close to agreeing on a global deal
on climate change involving all the important players.
Intensive negotiations are ongoing in the lead—up to
COP21 in Paris in December.
The Lima Call for Climate Action agreed at COP
20 last December provides the framework for several
elements of the new agreement and establishes ground
rules on how nations can submit their contributions to
the climate change agenda. Countries also agreed to
raise adaptation to the same level as mitigation action.
The issue of climate finance will be critical for
the new agreement. Recent pledging for the Green
Climate Fund is an encouraging signal. Developed
countries need to show leadership in global
climate actions including technological innovation
and transfer while developing countries will also
contribute according to the principle of common but
differentiated responsibility.
I believe ADB and other multilateral development
banks should make a key contribution to financing both
SDGs and global climate actions. In doing so, special
attention should be paid to their role of catalysing
public and private resources.
Reshaping Asia’s booming cities is the key to
meeting the SDG and Climate Change goals.
Now I would like to go to the main topic of my
discussion today, which is “Solutions for Inclusive, Green
and Resilient Cities”. Cities are the key to meeting the
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 63
SDGs and the global climate goals. The proposal for
SDGs identified sustainable urban development as
a critical area of focus. Several SDGs call for actions
mainly in urban areas where most economic activities
and investments take place. And cities are where much
of the climate mitigation and adaptation action will have
to take place.
Cities have driven economic growth in Asia — now
producing about 80 per cent of GDP — and have lifted
tens of million out of poverty, especially in the last two
decades. Asia is the most rapidly urbanizing region in the
world. More than half of the world’s largest cities are in
Asia. By 2050, 3 billion people — about 65 per cent of
all Asians — will live in cities. This urbanization process
should be in tandem with further economic growth.
However, rapid urbanization also means the
urbanization of poverty. Of a total of about 1.6 billion
urban people in Asia, more than 500 million live in
high density, degraded slums. Asia accounts for about
60 per cent of the world’s slum dwellers. Large
disparities have emerged in urban areas, and the
poor are the most vulnerable to economic and
environmental shocks. It is clear that the way cities
are developed and managed will heavily influence the
effort to eradicate poverty in Asia.
Environmental sustainability remains a major
concern. As cities swell in size and numbers, they are
under increasing environmental stress. Cities struggle
with air and water pollution, traffic congestion,
inadequate solid waste management and wastewater
treatment. Only about 10 per cent of solid waste ends
up in properly managed landfill sites. Current levels
of investment in water, sanitation, housing, and other
urban infrastructure are not sufficient to cope with
such a rapid urbanization process.
64 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Vulnerability to climate change should also be addressed.
Rapid and often poorly managed urbanization intensifies
climate change risks and amplifies its impacts on
infrastructure. Asian cities are especially vulnerable to
the hazards caused by climate change: 238 million Asian
urban poor are expected to be hit first and hardest by
the effects of climate change. Natural disasters routinely
erase 1 per cent to 5 per cent of GDP each year and
this figure is increasing. Several Asian cities, including
Dhaka, Kolkata, Mumbai, Shanghai, Bangkok, Yangon,
and Manila, are at risk of coastal flooding as sea levels
rise. With the cost of natural disasters set to rise in the
near future, cities will become a major battleground in
the region’s fight against climate change.
To reduce poverty, address environmental
challenges, and mitigate climate related disasters,
we must focus on building inclusive, green, and to
resilient cities.
First, inclusive growth is key to reduce poverty.
Creating inclusive cities means giving the urban poor
better access to basic services, such as primary health
care, education, water, affordable transport, and
adequate housing. Inclusive cities should also expand
quality job opportunities for the poor.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) supports
such efforts in our developing member countries. For
example, In India, we are working with the government
to support its National Urban Health Mission (NUHM)
efforts to strengthen urban primary health systems. The
improved quality of urban health services is expected
to benefit about 400 million people, including about
70 million currently living in urban slums. More than
half the beneficiaries will be women, since maternal
and child health services comprise a large part of urban
primary healthcare.
ADB is also firmly committed to supporting
India’s 100 Smart Cities Initiatives. The use of
technology and intelligent systems will improve
urban services for the poor, including sanitation and
affordable transportation.
Second, to make cities greener, they must become
more energy and resource efficient through promotion
of low carbon development and smart use of land
and water. They need to invest more in mass public
transport systems and better waste and wastewater
management. Transport systems need to be better
integrated. For example, in Vientiane, Laos, ADB is
supporting mass public transport systems including
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) linked to cycle and pedestrian
pathways. In this way, 700,000 people can easily switch
from one mode of transport to another.
Another example of ADB’s support for “green”
cities is a private sector loan to develop waste-to-
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 65
energy projects in more than 20 secondary cities across
the People’s Republic of China. As of June 2014, 12 of
these plants are already in operation. Together, they
can process about 4.6 million tonnes of household
waste annually, generating approximately 1.3 billion
kilowatt hours of on-grid electricity each year.
Third, to make cities more resilient, decision
makers should always consider natural hazards and
climate change risks when designing cities and urban
infrastructure. Relatively small up-front investments can
save lives and avoid large scale infrastructure rebuilding
and rehabilitation costs later. Asia needs to invest more
in climate resilient infrastructure such as enlarged
drainage systems in cities, elevated roads, and bigger
storm-water retention reservoirs to accommodate
variations in rainfall.
Innovation and knowledge partnerships will be
crucial in these efforts. At ADB, all investment projects
are screened for climate risks; those at risk undergo
climate impact assessments to ensure we can plan,
build and manage investments that are more resilient.
Here, I would like to mention an ADBsupported project in Bangladesh. The Coastal Towns
Environmental Infrastructure Improvement Project
is designed to reduce the vulnerability of municipal
infrastructure — such as water supply, sanitation, solid
66 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
waste management, and bus terminals — to climate
change and disaster risks. The project also includes
investments in cyclone shelters, emergency access
roads and bridges, and stronger homes in slums.
Finally, inclusive, green and resilient cities need
better governance and more effective institutions.
Greater use of integrated urban planning, better use
of land, and more timely investments in sustainable
and resilient infrastructure, are all essential. Cities also
need additional funding beyond traditional sources. For
example, they can consider the development of new
finance instruments to better mobilize local resources
— such as municipal bond mechanisms and Public
Private Partnerships (PPPs).
One example of innovative financing is the
use of private equity funds to promote PPPs in the
Philippines. The Philippine Investment Alliance for
Infrastructure, whose investors comprise ADB, the
Philippine government pension fund, a Dutch pension
fund manager and an Australian private investment
bank, is designed to draw other private funds
into infrastructure.
In closing, I would like to commit that ADB will
continue to play an important role in the development
of inclusive, green, and resilient cities and the success
of the SDGs and the global Climate Change agenda.
Leadership Panel 2
Sustainable Production and
Consumption: Policy and Practice
Chair
Ambassador C Dasgupta
Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former Ambassador of India to the EU,
Belgium and Luxembourg
Panellists
HE Mr Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah
Former Deputy Prime Minister, Qatar & President, Administrative Control
and Transparency Authority, Qatar
HE Mr Ruud Lubbers
Former Prime Minister, The Netherlands & Member, Club de Madrid
Lord John Prescott
Former Deputy Prime Minister & Member of Parliament, House of Lords, UK
The session was devoted to the basic question of
sustainable production and consumption with a view to
discussing the framework and methodology concerning
the uninterrupted pursuit of growth and development
causing least harm to the environment. The session
participants included the Deputy Prime Minister of
Qatar who was also the President of COP18 held at
Doha, a former Prime Minister of the Netherlands and a
former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The session was chaired by a senior officer of the host
organization with past experience of having served
as India’s envoy to some countries in Europe and to
the European Union. Chair, Ambassador C Dasgupta,
Former Ambassador of India to the EU, Belgium and
Luxembourg, clarified at the outset that sustainable
consumption does not imply a deprivation of comforts
or a reduction in living standards but involves the
distribution and composition of consumption. For
instance, as he pointed out, countries with similar per
capita income and per capita consumption can have
widely divergent per capita emission figures because of
the composition of their consumption.
After introducing the panel, he invited HE Abdulla bin
Hamad Al-Attiyah to make the first presentation.
Complimenting the organizers for the event,
HE Mr Al-Attiyah accepted that the common
concern is about the impact of the unsustainable use
of our resources on climate change and our common
responsibility for the well-being of future generations.
He informed the gathering that since 2011, the
emirate of Qatar has embarked on an ambitious longterm strategy for the sustainable development of the
country and is keen to cooperate with other nations for
building consensus on sustainable development goals
and climate change policies applicable to all. Repeating
Mahatma Gandhi’s maxim, “Earth has enough for
everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed”,
he said that rapid economic growth has helped in
bringing down levels of poverty worldwide. However,
population growth and unsustainable practices of
production and consumption of goods and services is
straining earth’s finite resources causing irreversible
damage to the environment. He asserted that we must
build on the principles and policies enunciated at the
Johannesburg and Rio+20 conferences to facilitate
exchange of knowledge on these urgent issues. We
must be prudent in how we use these resources and
must make fundamental changes in our production and
consumption patterns.
He also argued that climate change conferences
achieve little because of political compulsions. On the
one hand, developing countries do not want to ‘shoot
Earth has enough for everyone’s
need but not for everyone’s greed.
Mahatma Gandhi
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 69
themselves in the foot’, as he puts it, and stifle their
own growth by accepting binding commitments on
emissions reductions. On the other, the developed
countries, who are some of the biggest polluters,
simply don’t attend the deliberations. The conference
then merely ends up producing a document couched in
pious declarations of intent—what he dismissively labels
as ‘a text’— and an agreement to meet again in another
location to discuss the same old unresolved issues.
As he sees it, there are three sides to the sustainable
production and consumption debate — academic,
political, and scientific. The academic side states the
problems in all its real and projected connotations;
the politician puts forth the argument couched in a
language that means little and delivers even less; and
the scientists look for immediate answers, which is also
not pragmatic.
Calling himself a votary of the Earth Charter,
a civil society initiative launched by international
NGOs for the adoption of ethical principles to foster
sustainable development which is also in its 15th year,
HE Mr Ruud Lubbers has mixed feelings about
the prospects of green development in his continent
Europe. Firstly, there is a new President of the European
Commission and a new head of the Council of Europe.
The scourge of climate change compels them to resolve
their differences and come together as one to fight the
problem together. He ascribes another reason for them
to unite to the crisis in the Euro zone and the banking
crisis. Yet another threat looming over the continent is
what he calls the ‘Putin’ crisis, the domineering tendency
We have one common future.
Ruud Lubbers
70 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
of their big neighbour Russia, to influence politics on
the continent by virtue of its geographical size and oil
wealth. He feels that the threat posed by Russia calls for
a separate union quite apart from the one needed for
fighting climate change.
Although temperatures are rising faster than
anticipated, he is optimistic of our being able to keep
climate change in check because new technology
is developing fast. The business community and
civil society also appreciate that the economy and
environment go hand in hand. Moreover, since Europe
signed on to adopt the low-carbon route to economic
growth at Copenhagen, China and the USA have
also showed their willingness to accept emissions
reductions as they too realize the health implications
of non-environment friendly growth and the economic
costs of nature’s fury. He counsels us that India, as
an important member of the non-aligned group of
countries, can assume a leadership role in the ongoing
debate about sustainable development and set an
example for others to follow by its own voluntary
actions on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
He reiterated earlier sentiments that even though the
world is witnessing unspeakable horrors today it is still
possible to safeguard our common future and ensure
the progress of mankind if we inculcate the principles
of respect for each other, respect for nature, and our
responsibility towards the earth.
In his inimitable hard-hitting style, Lord John
Prescott reminded the attendees that the COP21
meeting in Paris, scheduled to be held in December,
must not turn out to be another lost opportunity but
should result in a meaningful agreement. He said that
the words ‘sustainability and sustainable production’
can mean different things to different people. Where
the environmentalists see it as causing least harm to the
planet, corporates views sustainability as production
of ever greater volumes of goods and services to
maximize profits, which goes against the very tenets
of sustainability.
The former Deputy Prime Minister of UK and
a serving member of the House of Lords drew a
comparison between DSDS and Davos, the venue
of the annual high profile World Economic Forum
attracting some of the most influential political and
business leaders in the world. Noting that DSDS is
held in the first week of February and is focused on
reducing man’s carbon footprint, Davos is held in the
last week of January and attempts to look for new
business opportunities which only helps to enlarge that
footprint. DSDS is about the environment while Davos
is about the economy. While both are concerned
In the 21st century, it’s better we start
getting concerned about sustainability.
Lord John Prescott
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 71
with growth, the Davos conference does nothing
to address issues of a changing climate, not realizing
that the climate itself can so easily affect the business
climate. He stated that the decisions at Davos are antienvironment and sometimes border on madness, like
drilling for oil in the Arctic, as in last year’s meeting,
or discussing issues of cyber security this year,
which also has nothing to do with the environment or
poverty reduction.
His chief concern is to bring about congruence
between these two different schools of thought before
the Paris meeting. The Copenhagen talks broke down
because it lacked unanimity among the 40 member
countries represented there. But COP21 will include
all the existing 191 countries, thus building consensus
will be that much harder. ‘The Problem of Paris’, as
he ominously calls it, will revolve around thorny issues
of funding, fair share, common but differentiated
responsibilities, technology, consumption patterns,
etc., and can be solved only by involving all competing
interests in the negotiations.
It is a question of individual countries finding the
political will to adopt the recommendations of COP21
for implementation within their own geographical
regions. He warns us that 2015 is the year we have
72 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
to reach the required agreement and that we simply
cannot afford to fail this time or delay it further. He
finds it particularly heartening that Mr Laurent Fabius,
the French foreign minister who would also preside
over the meeting in Paris, had made it clear in his
presentation that the new climate deal has to apply
universally. It is also encouraging that China, America,
and Europe have all agreed to accept emission cuts in
addition to providing the necessary capital for taking
measures aimed at mitigation and adaptation.
Summing up the proceedings, the chair observed
that the essence of sustainability is contained in the
Gandhian principle mentioned by HE Mr Abdulla bin
Hamad Al-Attiyah which states that one has to be
functional in one’s needs. He echoed Mr Lubber’s
views that we have to work together to achieve and
safeguard our common future. He also reinforced Lord
Prescott’s assertion that the sustainable production
and consumption and business-as-usual pathways are
contrary and not possible to reconcile. He concluded
by saying that HE Mr Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah’s
insights from the Qatar COP, the Copenhagen
experience of Mr Lubbers, and Lord Prescott’s intimate
knowledge of the Kyoto Protocol should serve as our
signposts on the road to Paris.
Engaging All Stakeholders
for the Future We Want
Moderator
Mr Nick Ishmael Perkins
Director, SciDev.Net
Panellists
Mr Gyan Chandra Acharya
UN Under-Secretary-General & High Representative for the Least
Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and the Small
Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS)
Dr Jaco Cilliers
Country Director, UNDP India
Dr Wakako Hironaka
Chair of the Board, Earth Water & Green Foundation & Director-General,
Global Environmental Action (GEA)
Dr Bindu N Lohani
Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Knowledge
Management and Sustainable Development
Dr Pavel Kabat
Director and CEO, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
(IIASA)
Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi
Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University & Director and Professor,
Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S), University
of Tokyo
The first post-lunch session of the day attempted
to explore the all-important question of including
comprehensively, the interests of the widest possible
group of people in decision-making. Stakeholder
engagement is the process by which organizations seek
inputs from those who may be affected by its activities.
As the classical English economist Jeremy Bentham has
said, the greatest good of the greatest number in every
human enterprise must be sought.
Before inviting the moderator and panellists, the
compère related an incident of a farmer telling him
that earlier farmers could plant seasonal crops but with
changing weather patterns, their traditional knowledge
is not useful anymore. This affects both farmer incomes
and production for the masses which, in turn, has
implications for a country’s prosperity. It is therefore
essential that climate change policies incorporate
processes that consider the views of all stakeholders.
In his introductory remarks, the moderator,
Mr Nick Ishmael Perkins, Director of SciDev.Net,
an online news portal, recited an African proverb: If
we want to go fast, we must go alone. If we want to go
far, we should go together. The import is that the goal
of sustainable development is to achieve maximum
growth while including everyone in its ambit. This
underlines the need for far-reaching public consultation
in the decision-making process to understand the full
impact of new laws, rules, and regulations.
The first speaker Mr Gyan Chandra Acharya
remarked that the 48 Least Developed Countries
(LDCs) are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate
change as their economy is mostly agrarian, they often
have to bear the brunt of natural disasters and they have
the highest incidence of both poverty and deprivation
in terms of hunger, malnutrition, education, energy
access, lack of infrastructure, and employment. The
impact of climate change in these countries is highly
disproportionate to their emissions. They lack the
capacity to adjust to impacts on agriculture and onset of
diseases. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
agenda must, therefore, take complete cognizance of
all their concerns to promote human development
If you get people to weigh in,
they will buy in.
Dr Jaco Cilliers
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 75
and economic growth in these regions. Providing
opportunities for livelihood enhancement and creation
of jobs is all the more important if we are to sustain the
progress achieved on the other goals. He concluded by
saying that we have to find a model to make sure that
the views of all the stakeholders—scientific community,
private sector, government, international community
as well as civil society—are fully taken into account in
deciding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
as well as the climate change deal. The communities
themselves must become a part of the solution to
the problem.
In answer to a question from the floor during
the session regarding insufficient funds for adaptation,
Mr Acharya said that a Green Climate Fund was being
set up and that it had already built up a corpus in excess
of $10 billion and the aim was to reach $100 billion.
He said that discussions were on within the negotiating
groups in the IPCC to divide the Green Climate Fund
equally between mitigation and adaptation. It was
hoped that the Paris agreement would be able to reach
an agreeable solution.
Mr Gyan Chandra Acharya is also the Chair of the
Global Coordination Group of the Least Developed
Countries and has been part of the 2010 Millenium
Development Goals review process.
Dr Jaco Cilliers of United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) said that the
year 2015 presents us with a chance to address
the most pressing issues of our time and gave a
call for more constructive collaboration between
all interested stakeholders including government,
business, private sector, civil society, international
organizations, research, and local communities.
He finds it encouraging that India is setting ambitious
76 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
targets for itself in the area of renewable energy.
Their Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has recently
inaugurated a 10 MW channel solar project in the
Indian Prime Minister’s home state of Gujarat.
He outlined four areas that present both
opportunities and challenges. The first is to bring
all the separate interest groups on to one platform
to build consensus. Such groups of people may have
different priorities because of their contrasting beliefs
and financial circumstances. These communities form a
large part of society that needs to be involved in creating
sustainable solutions. The second is the importance of
having wide-ranging consultations, of which DSDS is
an exemplar that brings stakeholders together from
various sectors, so that everybody understands the
benefits. Bringing about behavioural and attitudinal
change is yet another area that requires attention. His
suggestion is that we need to have both, a top–down
and a bottom–up approach to really create sustainable
development solutions. Observing that people support
what they help to create, he pointed out that the push
for environmental action is now being made not just
by activists but the government has also stepped in to
play a leading role. Lastly, learnings from discourses
in conferences, seminars, and workshops must
translate into concrete action. He expressed UNDP’s
readiness to continue to support this worthy cause.
During audience interaction, he explained that various
UN organizations have been holding stakeholder
meetings, whether it be with women’s groups, famer
organizations, industries, civil society institutions,
academia, and others where the people’s voice is
given due credence, recognizing that both proactive
and reactive elements can contribute effectively to
the dialogue.
Introducing Dr Wakako Hironaka as a member
of the host organization’s Governing Council, among
her many accomplishments, Mr Perkins informed
that she had brought along a few copies of the Earth
Charter for distribution.
According to her our century has witnessed great
technological, scientific, and medical progress but
it has also seen internecine conflicts, social inequity,
and environmental degradation. Population growth
continues unabated and if growing societies take the
path of unsustainable development, this would lead
to further environmental degradation and harmful
effects on public health. Although the Rio Summit
had resulted in the adoption of Agenda 21, The
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) framework, and the Convention
on Biological Diversity, it failed to institutionalize the
Earth Charter submitted by international NGOs.
She feels that the Earth Charter should also be
accepted. The document is a declaration of
fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable,
Our Planet Earth must not
end with our generation.
Dr Wakako Hironaka
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 77
and peaceful global society. Its signatories include
prominent personalities like Mikhail Gorbachev,
Maurice Strong, Ruud Lubbers, Kamala Chowdhry,
and many others. Japan undertakes diverse kinds of
activities to promote the Earth Charter principles.
In response to a question from the floor about
half the global wealth being in the hands of a very tiny
part of the population, she said that the Earth Charter
recommends more philanthropic and charitable action
by them of their own accord or to even subject them
to higher taxes.
Classifying the interest groups as academia,
government, private sector, civil society, arts, and
the media, Dr Pavel Kabat gave three examples
of stakeholder interaction. Academia is presently
concerned only with research and publication, but this
seldom translates into policy. Therefore, he would like
to make a strong plea for the academic community also
to be engaged in implementation activities and for their
findings to be heeded in policy making at the government
level. He also suggests that this involvement should be
more long-lasting and permanent because conditions
may undergo such rapid changes over time that they
render earlier scenarios outdated and no longer
tenable. Another example where there is room for
improvement is in the implementation space. Terming
the present approach terribly siloed, presently there
are separate budgets for energy, climate, water, and
the environment, whereas all these distinct portfolios
impinge upon each other so firmly. Yet another
possibility of increasing stakeholder engagement
lies in the area of communication. The media can
serve a useful role by means of drawing up effective
narratives and wide dissemination of information
to stakeholders.
78 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
To a question from the chair on the outcome of his
request to the government for a large sum of money
for flood prevention and sea-intrusion infrastructure
development, he replied that he was able to make
a convincing argument by pointing to other items of
expenditure which are also deemed equally necessary
that may not bring immediate returns but are required
to safeguard the future. To him this further underscores
the importance of communication in being able to
explain the benefits properly.
As a banker, Dr Bindu Lohani describes himself
also as a stakeholder in the SDGs and climate change
agendas and is primarily concerned about the financing
that would be required, which is huge. Even the MDGs
were not fully funded and many targets have remained
unfulfilled. He expects that funds would have to be
raised by the multilateral development banks from
their own sources and by leveraging private capital.
A very large proportion of that money has hitherto been
spent on mitigation and he feels that the adaptation
aspect also calls for the same level of financing. He
feels that governments should be more innovative in
raising resources. For instance, withdrawing perverse
subsidies on fossil fuels and channelizing them into
renewable energy sources would pay dividends. Some
governments have even started levying a carbon tax.
Green bonds like water bond, clean energy bond,
climate bond, etc., can be useful financial instruments
for raising additional finances. Such a strategy can
streamline the tasks by utilizing funds for which they
are earmarked.
To a question from the floor regarding inadequate
funding for adaptation, he replied that various kinds of
funds are there—Climate Investment Fund, provided
by the donors; the proposed Global Climate Fund;
and ADB’s own funds to try and provide maximum aid
money without posing a burden to other countries.
Earlier it was difficult to integrate the environment
component in development projects but today
environmental screening has become routine and
Environmental Impact Assessment studies are
mandatory for all development projects. He envisages
a significant role for the insurance industry also in
adaptation mechanism by their ability to absorb risk
costs. Structured approaches have to be devised
appropriately. As to a concern voiced by the audience
and repeated by the moderator, that the bulk of the
global wealth resides with a miniscule percentage
of the population, he was hopeful that charitable
foundations would readily step in to fill the funding gap.
The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
practiced by business organizations also helps promote
development in many ways.
Emphasizing that the partnership approach
is key to achieving progress on the SDGs’ agenda,
Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi cited the example of Japan’s
recovery from the triple disaster in 2011. International
organizations, developed and developing countries,
international and local NGOs, private sector and the
people, academia as well as people affected by the
disaster, all came together as one to provide aid and
relief. Many volunteers also joined in the efforts to offer
help to the affected people. Involvement of stakeholders
at different levels helps to strengthen the partnership,
share information, and complement the efforts by
other stakeholders. He feels that such partnerships
hold the promise of improving the people’s problem
solving skills not only in unusual circumstances, but
also in the broader context of promoting a sustainable
society and solving global challenges such as climate
change and loss of biodiversity. He also informed the
gathering that in the outcome discussion of the Open
Working Groups and the Synthesis Report of the
Sustainable Development Goals, public participation is
highlighted as an indispensable aspect of the SDGs. We
have to encourage participation of every stakeholder to
build a sustainable society.
Don’t compete, collaborate.
Dr Pavel Kabat
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 79
SDGs in a World of Wealth
and Income Disparities
Chair
Mr Yvo de Boer
Director-General, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
Panellists
Dr Shamshad Akhtar
UN Under-Secretary-General & Executive Secretary, United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)
Prof. Hironori Hamanaka
Chair of the Board of Directors, Institute for Global Environmental
Strategies (IGES)
Dr Alexander Likhotal
President, Green Cross International
Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri
Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium, and Luxembourg
Dr P C Maithani
Director, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government
of India
The session ‘SDGs in a World of Wealth and Income
Disparities’ dwelled on the fact that the most important
point of concern for Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) is inequity since income disparities lead to
unstable political state and crime. The panellists pointed
out that how, due to uneven distribution of electricity,
nearly 45 per cent of India’s population still lives
without electricity. They emphasized on the provision
of universal access to energy for all. They stressed that
the issue of economic disparity needs to be addressed
at the global level and SDGs must be reinforced for
good governance at the national, regional, and local
levels. The panellists also opined that there is a need to
find a ‘greener model’ of economic sustainability and to
encourage transformative legislation.
In a telling commentary on the prospects for
progress on the SDGs to be adopted later in 2015, the
presenter emphasized that there is tacit acceptance
that there is no contradiction between being able
to dispel widespread poverty and simultaneously
achieving growth and development that touches all
members of society. Simple technical interventions
that reduce carbon emissions at source have multiple
benefits such as providing a cleaner atmosphere during
cooking, avoidance of health complications, preventing
premature mortality, and being environment friendly,
while preserving the dignity of human life. TERI’s clean
burning cookstove, the smokeless chulha, is a case
in point. Other technologies, such as solar power,
small-scale hydro, biomass gasification, and biogas can
achieve similar results.
Promising to leave ample room for
audience interaction the chair of the session,
Mr Yvo de Boer, stressed that the SDG process is
not without its relevance as can be gauged by the fact
that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
many of the national policy goals, that countries had
formulated in consequence, have actually resulted in
significant progress on climate change mitigation and
adaptation. But many unresolved issues have not been
tackled fully such as the problem of increasing poverty,
growing inequalities, and widening income disparities.
Dr Shamshad Akhtar presented a slide that
indicated that income and wealth disparities are rising
in the Asia-Pacific region and said that this is seriously
undermining prospects for economic growth. She
asserts that the prevailing economic indicators for
measurement of growth are skewed in that they focus
mainly on income figures but ignore the distribution
We must nurture growth with equality.
Dr Shamshad Akhtar
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 83
aspects of social disparities as well as availability of
natural resources and their use. She feels that current
development paradigms must undergo deep changes.
Where there is inequality, collective action on public
goods like the environment does not serve larger
interests of the people. According to her, equality can
impact growth even more than higher levels of free
trade, low government corruption, foreign investment
or low foreign debt. Thus, it is important that growth
is nurtured with equality. To her, inclusive growth is
the best means of tackling inequality and non-inclusive
growth, which is intensified by poor governance,
ineffective institutions, and the political economy of
vested interests. Inclusive growth, on the other hand,
focuses instead on long-term goals of sustainable
development. To this end, she advocates structural
reforms that introduce job-generating growth,
effective competition policies, strong institutions which
prevent arbitrage and encourage fair practices, socially
and financially sustainable welfare system financed by
progressive tax regimes as well as checks and balances
on rent seeking, illicit financing, etc. The SDGs are an
embodiment of these values and principles and many
of the 17 proposed goals reinforce equality with one
emphasizing strong, sustainable, inclusive, and jobgenerating growth and another specifically calling for
reducing inequality within and among countries. The
SDGs address income, social, and environmental
disparities within countries and extend the scope of
coverage to inter-country disparities as well.
Prof. Hironori Hamanaka stated that the
intergovernmental negotiations on the SDG process is
now entering the final phase and is expected to conclude
with a declaration on the post-2015 development
agenda in September 2015. This would include 17
84 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
broad goals and 169 underlying targets covering critical
areas of economic development, human well-being,
and environmental sustainability. He cautions, however,
that agreeing on global goals is merely the first step and
that achieving them will depend on good governance.
He is of the opinion that the MDGs fell short of their
objectives because they lacked effective governments
and the rule of law. Since the SDGs are likely to be more
integrated and ambitious in nature, the importance
of good governance cannot be overstated. What is
required is more inclusive development. He feels that
one of the remarkable features of the SDGs is that it
creates an opportunity to both include and empower
diverse voices.
Repeating Albert Einstein’s dictum that one
cannot continue doing the same things over and over
again, expecting to reach a different result each time,
Dr Alexander Likhotal doubts the veracity of
reports that claim that the MDGs have been successful
in meeting their targets. Instead he finds that social,
economic, and wealth disparities have been growing.
He supported his argument by citing an Oxfam report
which states that very soon one per cent of the
population will own more than the remaining ninetynine percent put together thus making claims of
poverty eradication a bit far-fetched. Faulting politicians
for their inability to perceive the ills in society, he stated
that there is a dire need for transformative leadership in
politics. Current agendas and frameworks in use need
to be reformulated. He calls the existing condition
the babysitter syndrome, which means that attention
is given to wherever there is the biggest hue-and-cry
regardless of all other considerations. He is an advocate
of a systemic approach to the challenges being faced by
humanity and stresses that nations must not forget that
they live in a globalized, interconnected world bound
by common desires and aspirations. Not realizing this
interdependence, these nations are only prompted by
self-interest that result in neglect of societies that are
most in need of growth and development. To rebalance
the situation and proceed on the right path, either
interdependence of the world needs to be reinforced
or the process of globalization is to be reversed.
Business will never change its ‘for-profit’ nature but
growth can be decoupled from the use of materials and
energy. Beliefs and practices need to be transformed.
Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri emphasized
that the SDGs is about reduction in wealth and
income disparities, ‘within and among countries’,
thus recognizing the pervasiveness of the problem in
developing and developed countries alike. Of particular
concern to him is the fact that nearly 1.3 billion people
subsist on less than $1.25 a day.
The future is already here.
Dr Alexander Likhotal
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 85
The problem of inequality in wealth and incomes is
further compounded by inequality in other areas such
as governance and trade regimes. He feels that while
there is a need to mobilize and upscale investments
in social and human capital development, education,
healthcare, rural development, housing, rural
infrastructure, there is also a need to rapidly create
new productive job opportunities for people. Equity
in these many sided efforts is only possible if there is
growth and serious aggregate wealth creation. At the
same time, disparities in consumption of resources must
be reduced. The per capita consumption of energy in
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development) countries is more than double the global
average and seven times more than in India and Africa.
He finds it heartening that India has set itself ambitious
targets for exploitation of renewable energy but it is
dispiriting for him that international players are averse
to collaboration and exchange of technical know-how.
On the contrary, the West is moving in the direction
of production of further hydrocarbons, shale gas, etc.
To a question from the audience about ensuring
affordability of technologies for the masses, he fairly
turned the problem on its head by saying that the
focus should be on innovation and introduction of
cheaper but equally effective technologies. To another
concern voiced by a participant that industrialized
countries are promoting perpetuation of disparities
by moving their production facilities to developing
countries where labour is cheap, he responded
that this is the way globalization proceeds. The only
solution to combat this growing disparity would be to
collaborate and improve skills and capabilities in the
process. To yet another query regarding the possibility
of big corporations being able to influence economic
86 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
conditions in the countries in which they operate, he
said that issues of capital movement and technology
transfer have the potential to be beneficial or
disruptive. It is the countries which should be careful to
choose what is in its best interest so as to gain the most
from multilateralism.
Dr P C Maithani sought to confine himself to the
question of access to energy, an indispensable element
of the SDGs which seeks universal access to energy
and for doubling the share of renewable energy in
the global energy mix by 2030. Forty-five per cent of
India’s population is still without access to electricity
and uses traditional biomass cookstoves for cooking
which are inefficient, unhealthy, and non-environment
friendly. These people need to be provided with
modern cooking energy and lighting services. There
is no dearth of programmes for promotion of this
essential need but policies should be framed properly.
Affordability is a major issue which should not be lost
sight of, without which all programmes would fall by
the wayside. Initiatives such as TERI’s Lighting a Billion
Lives (LaBL) campaign which provides solar lanterns in
rural areas, not connected to grid electricity, can play a
useful role in solving the problem to some extent but
entrepreneurship development should be encouraged.
A judicious mix of renewable and conventional energy
may go a long way in addressing the problem of
universal energy access.
To a question from the audience regarding
the issue of affordability being at the heart of all our
solutions to reduce disparities, he responded that NITI
Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India),
India’s revamped Planning Commission, had fixed `60
as the minimum requirement for household lighting
energy and cooking energy needs. For people who are
unable to afford even this amount, the government
would have to extend subsidies or look for more
affordable energy services.
To a question about the measurement of the
impact of the SDGs, Dr Akhtar replied that both the
goals and the capacity for carrying out these studies
differ from country to country but the modalities for
some uniformity therein are being worked out. To the
supplementary question, whether it is possible to rate
a country’s performance on the basis of rise in per
capital income of the lower half of the population, she
remarked that apart from income disparities, there are
a number of other disparities and that a more holistic
framework is required to capture the nature and extent
of these disparities. Responding to a question from
the floor regarding measurement of the impact of the
SDGs, especially the importance of global governance
mechanisms to guide implementation, Prof. Hamanaka
Policies matter.
Dr P C Maithani
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 87
replied that as far as climate change is concerned,
the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC provides a
good framework for action but we lack adequate
information in several other important areas to enable
good decision-making.
To the question whether SDGs will be formulated
in a way that is practical, implementable, and relevant to
developing countries, he said that this is related to the
question of means of implementation and, of course,
finance and technology as also to build capacities of
institutions and individuals.
To another participant wanting to know the
basic difference between the MDGs and the SDGs,
Dr Akhtar said that whereas the former comprised
eight very rigorously defined goals in specific sectors
the latter incorporate many more goals and will take
a more integrated approach. More importantly, unlike
the MDGs, the SDGs recognize the interdependence
of sectors and will now treat them accordingly. The
chair Mr Boer explained that the MDGs are a yardstick
for development cooperation while the SDGs are
more about the development pattern of the planet is
intended to be revamped as a whole.
To another question about inequalities leading to
polarization, he said that the Arab Spring is the best
example in recent times of how discontentment of a
section of the population can affect social and political
cohesion and spread like a contagion across boundaries.
Responding to a question as to how in the context
of the SDGs can greater emphasis be placed on rural
development, Dr Likhotal said that companies will do
so as long as they see some profit in it. As he puts it,
‘the business of business is business’ and no enterprise
would like to reduce its customer base. Market
economics is changing rapidly everywhere. If people
88 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
find a product useful, they will acquire it at any cost.
To another question regarding a negligible fraction of
the global population accounting for as much as the
vast majority’s consumption, he said that it is not just
about poverty but health, water, energy, etc. In the
present day, poverty level is being pegged at $2 per day
whereas in the current economic conditions it should
be higher and under these circumstances the levels of
poverty would seem less encouraging. The SDGs are
an improvement on the MDGs as they will attempt to
factor in all these conditions.
The chair brought the session to a close
saying that the ends are as important as the means
of implementation.
Sustainability, Climate Change
and Corporate Sector Initiatives
Chair
Mr Venkatesh Valluri
Chairman, Ingersoll Rand India
Panellists
Mr S Richard Fedrizzi
CEO and Founding Chair, US Green Building Council
Dr Henrik O Madsen
Group President and CEO, DNV-GL
Mr Randal Newton
Vice-President of Enterprise Engineering, Ingersoll Rand
Mr Glenn Schmidt
Director of Steering of Government and External Affairs, Sustainability
Communications, BMW Group
Mr Jeff Seabright
Chief Sustainability Officer, Unilever PLC
Ms Namita Vikas
Senior President and Country Head, Responsible Banking, YES BANK
The session on ‘Sustainability, Climate Change,
and Corporate Sector Initiatives’ was chaired by
Mr Venkatesh Valluri who stressed that business
truly plays an important role in driving climate change
and environmental sustainability issues. He also said
that sustainability requires a shift away from productbased market creation approach to a market-based
product creation approach.
While yielding to the apprehension that business
activities give rise to climate change issues, the Chair
tried to allay these fears by saying that they also bring
in technologies which are corrective in nature that can
help in building a much better future for our planet.
As product development in the advanced West often
drives market creation in emerging countries, which
constitute almost three-fourths of the global population,
it becomes necessary that business organizations in
the developed countries embrace sustainability in
their operations.
With this premise the Chair introduced the
panel as representing a unique group of leaders who
have been addressing environmental sustainability
and climate change issues within their own domains.
It included an American nonprofit organization
focused on improving energy efficiency in buildings;
an environmental certification body from Germany;
an Irish industrial goods company; a carmaker in the
premium segment also from Germany; a British–Dutch
consumer goods conglomerate; an Indian private
sector commercial bank; and the Chair himself
heading the India operations of the above said Irish
multinational group.
Dr Henrik O Madsen began by classifying the
major environmental risks as resource exploitation,
energy scarcity, climate change, and loss of biodiversity.
He feels that these can also result in opportunities that
benefit society and create businesses able to grasp them.
He said that we need collaboration between regulators,
businesses, academia, and civil society to draw the
world back from the brink of unsustainable growth.
Business or the private sector has the capacity to apply
business solutions to complex problems by innovating
new technologies, scaling the applications of new
solutions, securing large scale financing, and creating
jobs and livelihoods. Governments can facilitate change
through good regulations. He opined that regulated
collaboration between academics, governance research
Business cannot succeed
in a society that fails.
Dr Henrik O Madsen
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 91
organizations, and the private sector is required on
the path for change and sustainability. Dr Madsen also
informed that in January 2015 DNV-GL issued the
first edition of the Global Opportunity Report in Zurich,
Switzerland which identifies five global risks—extreme
weather, lack of freshwater, unsustainable urbanization,
non-communicable diseases, and an addiction to fossil
fuels. He is hopeful that these risks can be converted
into opportunities that produce long-term value
instead of short-term gains. The Global Opportunity
Report is a collaborative effort between DNV-GL, the
UN Global Compact and the Monday Morning Global
Institute with help from The Energy and Resources
Institute (TERI). The report finds India at the top with
respect to putting a value on these opportunities, and
he believes that it can propel change towards a safer
and more sustainable world.
Mr S Richard Fedrizzi said that US Green
Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for green
buildings has been a catalyst for creating markets for
energy efficient, water efficient, and resource efficient
buildings that reduce waste and carbon emissions and
improve the comfort and well-being for the occupants.
He informed the attendees that their rating system is
gaining wide acceptance and has now spread to nearly
150 countries with a large proportion of users being
in the affordable housing category. He also said that
LEED has recently acquired the Green Real Estate
Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), a portfolio level
scoring tool for investors and financial institutions
looking to assess the sustainable real estate efforts of
large developers. Referring to similar rating systems
like Building Research Establishment Environmental
Assessment Method (BREEAM) in the United
92 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Kingdom, DGMB in Germany and TERI’s Green Rating
for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) and others
in India, he said that owners and operators of new and
existing buildings around the world have been able
to have an immediate and measurable influence on
reducing their energy consumption and Greenhouse
Gas (GHG) emissions and improving their carbon
footprints and profitability. These have a positive effect
not only on the environmental attributes and success
opportunities but also on the social, wellness, and
health aspects of how communities are affected by
building projects. He also highlighted that LEED and
GRIHA combined roadmap for increasing efficiency
of buildings and reducing the carbon footprint. He felt
that the corporates have a bigger role to play in their
responsibility towards change for sustainability.
Mr Randal Newton informed the attendees
that in this era of awareness about global warming
and climate change, Ingersoll Rand’s business is a great
challenge by itself because the refrigerant halogens are
known to be major contributors to greenhouse gas
emissions. Thus, their need to innovate assumes added
urgency. In keeping with this goal, the Company has
made a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative
and the UN Climate Summit to significantly reduce
the direct GHG emissions in their products by 2020.
This calls for huge expenditure on new product and
new technology development for energy efficiency
and new refrigerants with lower global warming
potential but they hope to meet their targets with
minimal re-engineering and without compromising on
considerations of environmental health and safety of
the workforce. Another concern that they constantly
address in developing new refrigerants is to maintain
energy efficiency because most of their products run
on electricity, which is generated from fossil fuels,
and any loss of efficiency would be retrograde. He
revealed that they are already on the way to achieving
two-thirds reduction in GHG potential by the new
refrigerants that they are developing. Mr Newton
opined that three elements are necessary to achieve
the sustainability goals by 2020—safety of employees
and customers, energy efficiency, and developing
environment-friendly products. He highlighted the
fact that manufacturers should make a commitment to
achieve environmental sustainability.
Mr Glenn Schmidt said that his Company—
the BMW Group—consciously tries to incorporate
sustainability into their business model by taking
an outside-in approach—looking at customer
requirements first—and blending it with an inside-out
perspective—utilizing the strengths of the business
and their core competencies. Mr Schmidt stated that
in 2007, the BMW Group introduced the ‘Efficient
Dynamics’ model, which focuses not only on increasing
efficiency, but also on reducing fuel consumption and
CO2 emissions. They follow the principle of efficient
dynamics by which they improve efficiency, reduce
fuel consumption, and lessen the average CO2
emissions while still retaining the principal features of
their vehicles that appeal to customers. Over the last
20 years, the Company has been able to reduce fuel
consumption of their new cars by 38 per cent and plan
to increase this factor to 50 per cent in another five
years. Now the Company is looking at zero emission
driving and in this effort they have introduced the i3
series worldwide. They use 100 per cent renewable
energy in their production facilities at Leipzig,
have been able to reduce water consumption by
70 per cent, and their operations are 50 per cent more
energy efficient. He calls upon the energy companies
to provide affordable renewable energy and facilities
of charging stations and also for development of good
apps in digital mobility services across different forms
of transportation.
Accepting that business has an important role to
play in the climate change and sustainable development
process, Mr Jeff Seabright likens it to a marathon
and so placing the full force of business in terms of the
innovation, the human capital, the connections and
supply chains that can withstand the challenges of lowcarbon inclusive growth is absolutely vital to reach the
finishing line. He observed that a suitable framework
for developing a roadmap for private sector activities
in sustainability must have three aspects—assessing
footprint, handprint, and blueprint. He calls it the
‘footprint–handprint–blueprint’ framework of finding
solutions. This means the businesses must minimize
their carbon footprint by reducing CO2 emissions
and their environmental impact. That is clearly
possible but is not quite enough to solve the problem.
He said that the second element is the handprint
of the businesses whereby businesses can leverage
change in the marketplace to drive transformation
that will fundamentally shift the business-as-usual
cycle and bring about improvements in the supply
chain. This can have far-reaching effects at promoting
sustainability. He emphasized on clean sanitation
technologies and safe water as the basis for business
to combine social development along with sustainable
Business solutions: Footprint –
Handprint – Blueprint.
Mr Jeff Seabright
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 93
growth. As an illustration he gave the example of his
Company, Unilever PLC, making soaps, detergents
and the Domestos range of household cleaning agents
that promote hygiene, and sanitation, and water filters
under the brand name ‘Pureit’ that also promote health,
hygiene and sanitation. Avoiding tropical deforestation
in the production of palm oil is another instance of the
business handprint leaving its imprint on sustainable
development. According to him, the third element of
this framework, blueprint, exhorts businesses to pitch
for greater influence in the public policy space so that
politicians enact laws in the larger interest.
Ms Namita Vikas pointed to the need of
finance for action on climate change. She said that
there are three important roles of the banks starting
with ‘financial inclusion’ through which end users are
assisted with finance, ensuring reliability amongst
the users, and investing in enterprises to cater to
livelihood opportunities for the people. Expenditure
on initiatives like providing clean drinking water,
infrastructure development leading to job creation,
and renewable energy deployment also have huge
funding requirements. She pointed out that this
question of financial inclusion is especially acute in India
because a large part of the population is still poor and
many people are not into the banking system. In this
connection, a massive effort is being made in India
by the government’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
programme of the government which not only opens
bank accounts but also provides insurance plus an
overdraft facility for the needy. However, banks in the
country are subject to rigorous central bank guidelines
which mandate priority lending to essential sectors
of the economy like agriculture, education, etc. She
highlighted that another area of immediate concern
94 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
is the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
sector which accounts for considerable energy
consumption but lack the managerial and financial
capacity to adopt measures for energy efficiency. She
also stressed on the fact that it is important for the
Indian financial system to align with the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) as she feels that aligning
financial systems to sustainable development is the
need of the hour.
Before inviting questions from the floor, the Chair
asked the panellists to share their business insights
on shareholder value maximization, public policy and
government regulations, technology convergence and
collaboration, and the Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) ethos within organizations.
As regards shareholder value maximization,
Mr Fedrizzi said that the positive net effect of people
having the opportunity to see a development project
turn into jobs, better health, environmental safety, and
a variety of other things that nurture a community adds
to shareholder value.
On the question of public policy, Mr Seabright
said that all wasteful subsidies must be abolished to
discourage their use and ambitious goals should be set
that translate into meaningful results. We must also set
ambitious goals that translate into meaningful results.
He also feels that collaboration between business
sectors could be a very powerful contribution to the
solutions we are looking for.
On the question of government regulation,
Mr Schmidt feels that there must be a right balance
between carrot and stick. Citing the case of California,
he said that they had set stiff targets for emissions
reductions but they also had government support for
infrastructure, incentives with a high level of awareness,
and receptivity to new technology. He also feels that
disruptive new technologies nurture collaboration
by themselves. He holds up the development of
electric vehicles as having brought the energy and
transportation sectors closer. As to shareholder value
maximization, he said the new sustainable technologies
are per se attractive to customers that favourably affect
the company shareholders.
Staying with the question of regulation,
Mr Newton of Ingersoll Rand feels that although they
increase competition, he is in favour of more regulations
because it takes a lot of risk out of the new product
development activities and future investments that you
need for the future making things easier for industries.
As for CSR, Ms Vikas held a counter viewpoint to
the American economist Milton Friedman’s precept
that a company should only look to increase profits
for its shareholders rather than CSR, affirming that the
business of a business is more than business. Holding a
counter viewpoint, She affirmed that the business of a
business is more than business.
To an apprehension from the floor during the
Q&A session, that a corporate would only look for
profits to remain solidly in the black and not engage
diligently on mitigation, Mr Seabright responded that
the challenges around climate change and sustainable
development like global telephony, distance learning,
education, water access, and sanitation are in
themselves ample opportunity for businesses to
meet their CSR obligations while protecting their
bottomline. To another question about bringing about
process improvements all along the supply chain, he
said that in the production of palm oil they work with
their stakeholders to improve their yields, preserve the
forests and rehabilitate degraded lands—all of which
benefit the small farmers and communities.
In response to another question about the role
of NGOs, Ms Vikas replied that their help is required
foremost in ground level implementation as in
designing questionnaires, conducting surveys, etc.
Building their capacities is another aspect that should
be given due attention.
The business of business
is more than business.
Ms Namita Vikas
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 95
Launch of sixth edition of the
Planet for Life Series: Building the Future We Want
96 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
SPECIAL ADDRESS
Mr Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General, United Nations (via video)
Mr Ban Ki-moon commenced his video address by
stressing that the DSDS 2015 theme ‘Sustainable
Development Goals and Dealing with Climate Change’
is extremely relevant. He informed that in September
the United Nations is to convene a special summit on
sustainable development, mandating the creation of
new sustainable goals for all nations. And in December
2015, countries from all over the globe will come
together in for the 21st Conference of Parties (COP)
with a goal of securing a meaningful universal climate
change agreement. He stated that embracing climate
change as well as sustainable development is necessary
as they are complementary and interdependent and
are two sides of the same coin. He also stressed on the
fact that governments should provide the framework
and private organizations (including think tanks) too
must share their ideas to build a more prosperous and
resilient world.
He also suggested that countries should intensify
their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
by investing in low-carbon technologies for future
sustainable growth. Renewable energy can be utilized
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 99
for better health, improved agriculture, and water
and food security. He congratulated India’s Prime
Minister Narendra Modi for pursuing this vision of
development without destruction and was impressed
and inspired by his leadership and vision. He pointed
towards India’s impressive initiative to scale up its solar
power capacity and the 100 smart cities project. He
is of the opinion that these steps can reduce poverty,
catalyse a clean sustainable growth and bring about an
increase in climate change mitigation. Over the next
15 years, the world will make a massive investment in
new infrastructure for cities, energy, and agriculture
and if a majority of this investment is directed towards
100 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
low carbon goods, and services, a sustainable future
would be achievable. But if a low-carbon pathway
is not opted for, achieving sustainable development
goals will be extremely difficult. He feels immediate
action is necessary for a concrete global agreement
and all hands on deck is necessary to reduce effects of
climate change. Our governments must create policy
frameworks however simultaneously, private sector
also has an important role to play as well as civil society,
scientific community, and think tanks such as TERI.
He also stressed on the need to give technological and
financial support to developing countries to achieve
sustainable development.
Cultural Performance by Junoon
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 101
102 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
DAY 2
Ministerial Session 1
The Agreement that
the World Needs at COP21
Chair
Sir Suma Chakrabarti
President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Panellists
HE Mr Juan José Guerra Abud
Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico
HE Ms Lyonpo Dorji Choden
Minister of Works and Human Settlement, Royal Government of Bhutan
HE Mr Sergey Donskoy
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Russian Federation
Mr Susheel Kumar
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change, Government of India
HE Mr Lars Andreas Lunde
State Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Climate and Environment, Norway
HE Mr Abdullahi Majeed
Minister of State for Environment and Energy, Maldives
Dr Mukul M Sangma
Hon’ble Chief Minister, Meghalaya, India
Ambassador Richard Verma
US Ambassador to India
The first technical plenary session on the second day
of the conference aimed to delineate the essential
elements of the new deal on climate change to be
brokered at the 21st meeting of the Conference of the
Parties to be held in December 2015 in Paris.
The panel comprised six officials in charge of
environmental affairs in their own countries—five,
directly and another, tangentially; an envoy from a
developed country; the executive head of a state from
the host country; and the executive head of a multilateral
development bank, who chaired the meeting.
Setting the tone of the discourse, the Chair,
Sir Suma Chakrabarti, identified four major
components for discussion. The first set of issues
concerned the objectives of the new agreement
in terms of defining the quantum of targeted
reduction in emissions and an unalterable timeline
for achieving them. The second concern questioned
instituting a framework of assistance and cooperation
between member states that promotes adaptation
mechanisms in individual countries. Thirdly, as no
workable arrangement can be arrived at unless it
were transparent, it is necessary to incorporate in the
new agreement, a system of measurement of results
achieved in each country. Finally, climate finance issues
will have to be addressed in minute details. Tapping
into sizeable financing from both the public and private
sectors would be of great help in raising monetary
resources. He stressed the importance of two other
events before the Paris meeting—the Finance for
Development conference to be held in Addis Ababa
in July and the September meeting of the United
Nations in New York to adopt the new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking first, HE Mr Juan José Guerra Abud
expressed optimism of reaching the desired agreement.
He suggested that countries should initiate mitigation
and adaptation measures in their territories, so that
they are fully prepared to accept the new stringent
demands made on them. Climate change has not
spared Mexico and it increasingly suffers heatwaves,
torrential rain, and cyclonic storms with greater
severity and higher unpredictability. However, by dint
We should be fired with a sense
of urgency about climate change.
HE Mr Juan José Guerra Abud
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 107
of progressive measures, it has been able to reduce
its emissions by about five per cent. Now that the
energy sector has been liberalized, private players are
stepping in to enable switching to less polluting
fuels like natural gas, thereby helping to reduce its
emissions. Prospects for exploitation of geothermal
energy are also being explored. To a question from
the Chair about the operation of the Green Climate
Fund, first proposed by Mexico at the Cancun
climate parleys, he said that the intent is to provide
developing countries with technology on a no-payment
basis to help them meet their obligations on climate
mitigation. He reiterated the point made by the Chair
that Mexico is a rare instance of a country taking
climate action voluntarily and quite independent of
international conventions.
Describing Bhutan’s development philosophy as
one that embraces inclusive, equitable, and sustainable
growth, HE Ms Lyonpo Dorji Choden said that they
also suffer extreme weather and flash floods. Being a
mountainous country, they are also prone to frequent
landslides. But, they don’t sacrifice environmental
priorities in pursuit of economic progress. Forest
cover has been raised to an impressive 72 per cent.
Many areas have been declared as national parks and
wildlife sanctuaries. Even though the country lacks
financial resources, it provides free education and
free healthcare to its citizens. She hopes for a strong
agreement applicable to all, one that sets a limit on
global temperature rise as a precondition for the
planet’s future, greater support for poor and vulnerable
Reducing emissions is first aid for the climate.
HE Mr Lars Andreas Lunde
108 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
countries, and to streamline the financial mechanisms
for achieving their ambitious goals.
Describing his country as being characterized
by geographical insularity, ecological fragility, and
economic vulnerability, HE Mr Abdullahi Majeed
of Maldives said that efforts to reconcile economic
development, equity, and environmental protection
should be properly prioritized. Maldives experiences
water scarcity, frequent flooding, and island erosion.
Coming from a Small Island Developing State, regions
that are at most risk from climate disruptions, he
expects a comprehensive, credible, and binding climate
agreement that takes into account the needs of the
developing countries and those most vulnerable to
climate change. The new agreement must build on
previous accords and be based on mutual trust and
understanding. While he welcomes the announcement
of new financial vehicles for aid, he would like to see
that these are disbursed quickly rather than being
mired in bureaucratic procedures.
Presenting the Indian government’s understanding
of the subject, Mr Susheel Kumar said that the new
agreement will be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Whereas the earlier agreement enshrined the principle
of common but differentiated responsibility, the
new deal will prescribe universal action on the part
of all by way of Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions. The Paris agreement should strike a
right balance between the emphasis on mitigation
and adaptation. The new climate agreement should
give due consideration to the conference to finalize
the SDGs that precedes it. The question of finance
also needs to be sorted out to the satisfaction of all
Parties. To promote energy efficiency, it must enable
free transfer of technology across national borders.
Most importantly, an effective system of monitoring,
reporting, and verification should apply to aspects of
emissions, finance, technology, and adaptation.
HE Mr Sergey Donskoy stated that Russia has
been increasingly exposed to environmental hazards.
Incidents of floods and forest fires are on the rise,
causing great economic damage and hardship. It has
consistently been drawing attention to the need to
formulate a new paradigm of sustainable development
to tackle problems of poverty, limited access to
resources, environmental pollution, and depletion
of natural resources. The new agreement should
recognize the undeniable connection between the
ecology, economy, and social harmony. It should be
able to address air and water pollution, ecosystems
degradation, and waste recycling. He revealed that
green economy, sustainable development, and climate
change issues will be the key topics for discussion at
the first meeting of the BRICS Environment Ministers
in Moscow, next April.
Remarking that even the small state of Meghalaya
is not immune to climate disruptions, Dr Mukul M
Sangma felt that policymakers and experts should
come together as one at this opportune time to achieve
the common and shared objective of addressing climate
change issues. In fact, he stated that in the previous
year, Meghalaya had experienced both drought and
unprecedented rainfall, resulting in devastation and loss
of precious lives. The state places its commitment to
the environment at the heart of all their development
efforts. But, uncontrolled migration from rural areas
to urban centres strains the existing infrastructure,
rendering their plans useless and leading to irreparable
environmental damage. To counter this urban exodus
and to provide greater livelihood opportunities, the
state government has launched the Integrated Basin
Development and Livelihood Promotion Programme
since there is a direct link between sustainable
livelihoods and a sustainable environment.
Presenting Norway’s views on the proposed new
climate agreement, HE Mr Lars Andreas Lunde
said that his government values science-based policy
The solution to climate change is energy policy.
Ambassador Richard Verma
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 109
making. Delaying action on climate change would
put ecosystems, people, and societies at great risk.
The Norwegian government is all for limiting the
average global temperature increase to 2°C. He
also emphasized the need to start moving towards a
low carbon society. Since countries are at different
stages of development, the principle of common but
differentiated responsibility must be respected. But, it
is also possible to achieve a net zero emissions scenario
by 2050. Reduction in emissions can have many cobenefits for health, environment, and society. A fair and
just climate agreement must have mechanisms in place
to ensure that there is finance available for mitigation
and adaptation action in poor countries. In the matter
of financing, Norway favours the Measuring, Reporting
and Verification (MRV) system for substantiation of
emissions reduction.
Noting the encouraging signs of growing energy
cooperation between the USA and India, Ambassador
Richard Verma pointed to the all too visible effects of
climate change in each other’s countries. But the US
experience has proved that economic growth and
emissions reduction are not in conflict as can be seen
from the fact that their economy has grown while the
rate of emissions has been brought down. Underlining
the basic principles that should govern the Paris
agreement, the ambassador said that the goals should
be ambitious, applicable to all and provide for a strong
system of accountability. The agreement should have a
lasting structure that will build on the targets set earlier.
Summing up the deliberations, the Chair pointed
to the general consensus on the need to agree to
limit global warming to below 2°C, preferably before
Paris COP21 itself. The financing aspect should look
110 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
at raising funds from both public and private sources.
Given that each country’s circumstances are different,
their respective priorities will also, be different and
thus, the agreement should look at a broad canvas of
solutions rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach.
At this historic juncture in human endeavour, it
may be appropriate for policymakers to bear in mind
the 19th century American naturalist and author, Henry
David Thoreau’s observation: “What is the use of a fine
house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on.”
Presentation of the
Third Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Awards
The Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen awards were
launched at the Delhi Sustainable Development
Summit 2012 on his 106th birth anniversary. In his
introductory comments, Dr R K Pachauri, DirectorGeneral, TERI, outlined the significance of the awards
and the work of Dr Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen.
Georgescu-Roegen may be called the Father of
Bioeconomics, a branch of social economics that
attempts to build a comprehensive theory of economy
and society governed by certain biophysical constraints.
Georgescu-Roegen’s work revolved around human
interactions with the environment, issues concerning
food and hunger, land, capital, labour, resource scarcity,
and social institutions as propounded by the classical
English economist, David Ricardo, and linking it to
traditional knowledge.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 111
The 3rd Georgescu-Roegen Awards at DSDS 2015
in the category of ‘Lifetime Achievement’ was
presented to Prof. Herman Daly, Professor Emeritus,
University of Maryland, for his vision and for taking a
courageous stance and swimming upstream against
the currents of conventional economic thought. His
concept of ‘Steady-State Economics’ revolted the
112 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
mind of the orthodox economist. The award in the
category of ‘Unconventional Thinking’ was given to
Prof. Jacques Grinevald, Epistemologist and Historian,
from The Graduate Institute, Geneva for his pioneering
contribution to the ‘degrowth’ literature and for his
service in advancing thinking around anthropocene
and bioeconomics.
Thematic Tracks
Waste Water Management and River Cleaning
In partnership with Innovation Norway
The Thematic Track on ‘Waste Water Management
and River Cleaning’ was held in partnership with
Innovation Norway. Ms Marianne Jensen, Science
and Technology Counsellor, Royal Norwegian Embassy/
Innovation Norway delivered the opening remarks.
In his special remarks, HE Mr Lars Andreas
Lunde, State Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Climate
and Environment, Norway, pointed towards the
threats to water security because of climate change.
Rising temperatures, altered patterns of precipitation,
melting of glaciers, and flooding are also affecting food
production. The rapid population growth, urbanization,
industrialization, and creation of new infrastructure are
making increasing demands on scarce water resources
for different uses putting water under great stress.
There is a need for improved waste water
management, not only for water recycling but also to
ensure that waste and toxic water does not merge with
river flows. Waste water from industrial sectors, such
as oil & gas, pulp & paper, mining, and pharmaceuticals,
can cause serious harm to humans as well as to nature.
Appreciating India’s efforts focusing towards river
cleaning, he referred to the Namami Gange initiative
of the government, an integrated Ganga conservation
mission under the National Ganga River Basin Authority
of the Ministry of Water Resources. The programme
is aimed at integrating efforts to clean and protect the
Ganga in a comprehensive manner by involving states,
Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), and panchayats in 118
towns located on its banks.
Schemes under the mission are conceived in such a
way that it will involve people living on the banks of the
Ganga in its cleaning exercise and maintenance, which
is considered a major shift from past programmes
that were based on a top–down approach involving
only Central and State government agencies. The
programme will also create jobs for local people.
Expressing Norway’s interest in contributing to
river cleaning in India, he said that they have developed
state-of-the-art waste water treatment technology,
mainly by the company Cambi AS, whose plants are
installed in China and the USA and which can also be
used in India. He concluded by hoping that the sideevent will contribute to the development of new
partnerships in the area of waste water management
and river cleaning.
As the India head of Cambi, Mr Morton Hegge
remarked that their technology achieves better
renewable energy production than conventional
technology. It helps to recycle resources and thereby
reduce carbon footprint. Waste water treatment
plants operating in India do not currently meet the high
standards required for such a specialized job.
The Government should bring in more regulation
and focus on the best available technology. Detailed
project reports and tenders must have more stringent
specifications. Stranded assets or equipment lying in
disuse and disrepair will result in economic losses and
cause more pollution.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 115
Waste water treatment of biosolids and bio-sludge
can be used to produce more biogas and more biofertilizer, the latter being preferable to chemical
fertilizers which have harmful effects. He particularly
mentioned the problem of phosphates entering the
water stream, which come from chemical fertilizers
and industrial effluents. Water treatment plants are
costly but they produce renewable energy that can
be put to various uses. Fertilizer prices are increasing
and the government incurs additional expenditure on
subsidies. Looking at all this, investing in modern waste
water treatment plants is actually economical.
Cambi AS has installed 51 plants around the world
including in England, China and the United States
of America. They have won seven global awards for
environmental excellence since 2011. Their largest
plant is in Washington, DC which has been lauded
for its renewable technology. DC Water turns sewage
into electricity and fertilizer. They treat 1,350 million
litres per day (MLD), produce 580 million cubic metre
(cu. m) of biogas annually and 1,400 gigawatts (GW) of
electric power resulting in huge savings of $20 million
a year. Their plants reduce biosolids by half and they
can process up to 55 truckloads of sludge per day.
Another plant is installed in Fort Worth in Washington,
DC. They have also set up five new sludge treatment
plants in Beijing and the process has been validated at
the university level.
The Cambi Thermal Hydrolysis Process (THP)
turns sludge into what the US Environmental Protection
Agency categorizes as Class B waste which is drier
than traditional sludge and can be handled more easily
and used as a bio-fertilizer. Their plants produce 13
megawatts (MW) of electrical energy and have reduced
carbon dioxide emissions by 73 megatonnes per annum
116 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
(MTPA). The THP system enables a higher loading rate
in the digesters and the process also works faster. This
can help reduce the number of digesters which are able
to completely remove all the harmful bacteria and also
keep costs down.
Cambi is a closed system so that there is no
release of methane into the air thus avoiding bad odour.
To demonstrate the performance of their treated
product, he presented a slide showing two adjacent
areas in Washington, DC in the dry season where their
bio-fertilizer worked better than chemical fertilizer.
With sludge obtained from Delhi Jal Board, they are
working on improving crop production in Haryana
and making a significant contribution to improving
the environment.
As a company with experience in maritime operations,
Dr Henrik O Madsen, Group President and CEO,
DNV-GL, suggested placing such waste water
treatment systems on board a ship and gave some very
practical reasons for this novel concept. Firstly, most of
the untreated water is released into oceans, rivers, and
other waterways and so large volumes can be treated
that way. Secondly, availability of space on land is
limited. Thirdly, since all land is primarily owned by the
government, there may be restrictions on site selection
thus delaying the approval and allotment process.
He commented that there are many old oil tankers
that can be anchored, used for water treatment and
are available at little cost. The larger ones can treat up
to 2,000 cubic metres per hour, which could serve a
population of 250,000 people. Supertankers and very
large crude carriers are much bigger and can serve a
population of 2 million per ship.
For waste water treatment, they have partnered
with the Norwegian company EnviroNor. The old
tankers, which can be positioned a few hundred metres
from shore or further offshore, function as floating
treatment plants where the waste water comes in
through pipes connected to the sewage system in
the city. After going through primary treatment or
secondary treatment it can be used to produce fertilizer,
bio-fertilizer, and biogas. The biogas can supply some
of the energy needs of the vessel and the rest can be
used for generating electricity in the city. Depending
on application, the water can be sent onshore,
purified to potable water level or simply released back
into the water.
Another vessel, called The Reliever, is designed
to upgrade an existing sewage treatment plant. These
are in use in the Mediterranean where they take the
recycled waste water and bring it back onshore either
for irrigation, industrial use or for other applications.
The vessel can also be anchored on the river to
produce clean drinking water. This third application has
gained wide popularity in China due to increasing water
scarcity in the country.
The DNV water treatment system provides
great flexibility in operation since all the required
technology is available on site. The ship is an
autonomous unit because it has big tanks, piping,
electrical power, produces its own power, and can
provide accommodation for those working there.
This idea is discussed in greater detail in their Global
Opportunity Report.
Being in effect the custodian of the health of the
people in Chennai City during his 30-year long service
as a former Public Health Officer in Corporation of
Chennai, Dr P Kuganantham, Former Consultant
with UNICEF & CDC, Retd-City Health Officer,
Public Health Dept, Corporation of Chennai described
Chennai as a city with a population of 17 lakh. There
are six or seven canals flowing in the city, which is a
major public health issue because they cause a number
of water-borne diseases.
The monsoon in Chennai lasts from June to
September but three-fifths of the water is lost to
the sea. Conflicts over water sharing between states
further exacerbate the situation. In India, water is a state
subject but border issues result in the water flowing
into the sea rather than being used by neighbouring
states for irrigation. About 75 per cent of the land in
India is dry in spite of having many rivers.
As for water usage and demand, about 92 per cent
of the water is used for agricultural purposes, 5 per cent
for domestic use, and 3 per cent by the industrial sector.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 117
Overall the water demand is supposed to increase
from 552 to 1,050 billion cubic metres (bcm) by 2025.
Average urban water usage is about 135 litres per
person per day but even that remains unmet. And rapid
urbanization is not endemic to India, it is a global issue.
Good sanitary arrangements are also lacking in India.
The reasons for water scarcity are all manmade.
Mismanagement of the precious resource, rising
demands of the increasing urban population,
over-extraction of easily available surface and ground
water and contamination of the available water
sources because of poor planning of townships are all
contributing factors compounded by climate change.
None of the cities in India enjoy 24×7 piped water
supply and in some cities the utility works only on
alternate days.
There are about 18 major rivers in India which
are all polluted due to discharge from agricultural
waste, domestic waste, and industrial uses because the
effluent is not treated prior to discharge. Cities account
for a production of 29,000 million litres of waste water
but installed capacity is enough to treat only about
6,000 million litres. More than 300 cities, with a
population of over 100,000 people, do not have sewers
or are overflowing due to density of population and
lack of maintenance.
As per official estimates of the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB), the total waste water
generation in India in Class I cities, that is about 498
cities, is around 35,558 MLD. However, installed
sewerage treatment capacity is only 11,553 MLD.
In Class II cities, comprising about 410 towns, waste
water generation is 2,966 MLD but the treatment
capacity is only 233 MLD. Thus, there is ample scope
for international agencies to work.
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It is generally believed that the water treatment
plant system was first introduced in London after an
outbreak of cholera in 1854 which caused 700 deaths.
In India, diarrhoea alone kills about 1,600 people every
day and more than one-fifth of all communicable
diseases are water related. Polio, cholera, hepatitis A
and E, typhoid, leptospirosis, dengue, malaria, filariasis,
worm infection, etc., are all water-borne diseases.
One-third of the slum population lives on the
banks of canals in all major cities of India. Yet advanced
water treatment technologies are only limited to a
few highly developed urban centres. No modern
uniform technology exists for solid waste management
in Indian cities. Each local body adopts its own style.
Standardized methods of garbage disposal need to be
developed. Stagnant pools of water are fertile breeding
grounds for mosquitoes and vector-borne diseases.
Rainwater harvesting is being neglected and lakes
and large number of temple tanks in the city remain
dry. Even town planners ignore this important aspect
of water augmentation. Dr Kuganantham suggests that
information on these topics need to be disbursed in
schools and colleges. He recommended developing a new
national agenda on water and sewer management with
the help of international agencies like those in Norway.
Around 100 per cent coverage of urban population for
provision of sanitation and waste water management,
at least in the major cities, should be targeted.
Major housing projects should have their own
drinking water treatment, storage, and gray water
recycling plants, garbage composting units that turn
vegetable waste into fertilizer using chemical culture
or bacteria and additives like sawdust and sand.
Municipal corporations should refuse approval for
new housing projects unless facilities for waste water
and sewage disposal are in place. The Build-OperateTransfer system in waste water management should be
introduced with help from the corporate sector under
their CSR mandate. There should be a single dedicated
national level government agency to liaison with the
project developers.
Regulatory systems must be strengthened to
prevent pollution of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, tanks,
and ground water. Microfinancing of women selfhelp groups will also be useful. The Public–Private
Partnership (PPP) model of development is the best
solution to water management and can achieve the
same results as it did in controlling the spread of HIV
and AIDS epidemics in India.
The panel discussion that formed the second part
of the session consisted of a representative each
from a Norwegian corporate entity working on
water treatment, the corporate entity with maritime
experience that was also there in the first part of
the session, a senior officer of the host organization
with expertise in solid waste management, a water
infrastructure development company, a policy related
institute and the discussion was moderated by the India
head of Forum for the Future which, focuses on all
issues of sustainability affecting the planet.
Initiating the discussion, Dr Suneel Pandey
remarked that waste water management and sewage
treatment is not limited to removing bacterial
contamination and the Biochemical Oxygen Demand
load, which is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed
by aerobic biological organisms in water to break down
organic matter. It should also concern issues of exotic
pollutants, such as nutraceuticals, persistent organic
pollutants, or micro plastics in water.
His professional career began with the Ganga
Action Plan almost a quarter century ago, which was
conceived in 1996 by the then Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi with an initial investment of `462 crore. The
total expenditure incurred, however was almost tenfold, amounting to `4,000 crore. The project used
Dutch treatment plants but when funding dried up,
the plants stopped operating. To him, therefore, the
capacity and capability of those in charge of operation
of the project, utility, and municipal service is crucial
which also involves their technical expertise.
Another issue with imported technology is
exemplified by Chennai where a biogas plant for
treating waste from the vegetable and flower market
was installed. After a few years it developed technical
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 119
snags for want of a spare part, which also had to be
imported, leading to problems of ready availability and
procedural delays. Proper provisioning of spares at the
time of commissioning of plant to ensure reliability of
supply of spares is, therefore, no less important.
Referring to a presentation in the first part of
the session that focussed on anaerobic technology to
harvest energy from sludge treatment, he mentioned
that this technology option is a bit costly in comparison
to aerobic technologies which are used in India. He
recommended doing a life cycle analysis to compare
the long-term benefits of available technologies.
Dr Pandey concluded by noting that training and
capacity building of operators, issue of spares and
minor or major maintenance required in plants should
be given due importance.
In her brief presentation, Ms Line Diana Blytt,
Aquateam COWI AS and Board Member, Vannklyngen
(Clean Water Norway), a cluster of water related
companies in Norway containing 65 small enterprises,
technology providers, municipalities, end-users, and
waste water treatment plants described human beings
as part of the ecosystem like any other creature that
consumes water and food and also produces waste.
Clean water is indispensable for sanitation, hygiene,
growth, and development.
Choice of technology is all-important as far as
water treatment plants are concerned. Clean Water
Norway has also entered into collaboration on different
aspects of effective water treatment technologies. Ms
Blytt stressed that the best available technology that is
long lasting must be opted for. The investment has to
remain in service at least for a period of twenty years.
She pointed to the lack of a good water
infrastructure even in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
120 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
The pipes are 120 years old, made of wood and there is
heavy leakage. Wooden sewer pipes were initially used
by people to dispose of waste water and deliver fresh
water to their homes, even in London and New York,
until they were replaced by other materials for pipes
for different applications. There are still a few wooden
water pipes in existence today.
Cambi AS and Clean Water Norway have no-dig
methods as well that those help avoid road digging,
traffic obstructions, and inconvenience to the public.
In his comments, Dr Madsen said that the first
part seemed to present a scary picture of the future
water scenario. Challenges exist, of course, but he is
certain that it is possible to treat sewage in big cities.
Untreated sewage is a health hazard with economic
consequences for people and so governments must pay
special attention to this problem.
In the context of Smart Cities, many Indian cities
are expanding and many new ones are coming up at
the same time. These would call for slightly altered
approaches but if changes can start with new cities, it
would go a long way in solving the issue. The best of
the technologies are available today and they should be
used extensively.
Referring to pictures presented earlier of heavy
rainfall, flooding, and sewage overflows, he remarked
that the layout and development of the cities should
be such that flooding can be allowed in reserved
areas, which may also promote greenery. The new
cities should install efficient water infrastructure,
reduce losses, and be able to monitor the pipes
so that any leakage points can be identified and
repaired quickly.
In his final observation, he said that water is a
common good and so the government should make
provision for clean drinking water from its own
finances. The magnitude of the task demands that it
seek additional funding for this purpose from financial
institutions and leverage private capital, of which there
are several attractive alternatives.
Representing a leading water infrastructure
development and waste water treatment company,
Mr Suketu Shah said that creation of the right
infrastructure and its proper maintenance is required.
He preferred decentralized systems, a large number of
sewage treatment plants in the cities that are integrated
with sludge treatment.
Appreciating the Cambi treatment process for
its energy efficiency, he said it is possible to produce
renewable energy from biosolids and keep operating
costs downs. It can also produce bio-fertilizers which
can be used in various ways.
Emphasizing that the disposal of waste water
needs particular attention, he suggests that instead
of releasing it into river and canals, the waste water
should be treated to such a level that it could be used
in irrigation and agriculture so that there would much
less river cleaning required.
Apart from agriculture, a lot of water could be
given back to the industries, which account for about
one-fifth the water requirement.
He is of the view that if the government does
not possess the wherewithal in terms of finances,
technology, and expertise to do this on its own,
Public–Private Partnership should be encouraged and
the financial institutions should come forward with
lower cost of capital to make sure that the venture is
commercially viable.
Coming from a policy institute studying security
issues, Mr Uttam Kumar Sinha said that the Indian
government’s initiative and commitment to rejuvenate
the rivers is laudable. However, it should not look for
quick-fix solutions that may not be of much use over the
long term but should do a detailed assessment before
launching major programmes and make judicious
decisions based on those studies.
All great civilizations and cities have developed
on the banks of rivers throughout history—the ancient
cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa came up on the
banks of the Indus, the Egyptian civilization grew on
the banks of the Nile, Mesopotamia flourished on the
banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates, and the Chinese
civilization depended on the Yangtze. Even those
civilizations were subject to the ravages of nature,
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 121
such as floods and droughts but they learnt to cope
with them.
From the viewpoint of society, water cannot be
looked at in isolation. It is closely linked to energy
and food and so even the ministries should treat it in
an integrated, holistic, and broad-based manner. He
further pointed out that supply of water can never
meet demand and so water use efficiency should be
given due consideration.
Conservation of water is another much neglected
area. Humans must learn to live with less. Not just the
technological interventions, but there is also a broad
societal awakening required to be brought in at all
levels in schools, colleges, and universities going right
up to the level of policy making and the government.
From a geopolitical viewpoint, rivers can play
an important role in improving inter-state and
international cooperation. The Indian sub-continent
contains many peninsular and Himalayan rivers. Political
statesmanship, astute diplomacy, and enlightened
policies can turn India’s water conflicts with Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and China, or inter-state river water
disputes, into opportunities for greater collaboration
on hydel projects which will help millions of people.
Coming to the end of the panel discussion, the
moderator made a few pertinent observations and
invited reactions from the panel. Firstly, reflecting
on the session theme and the tenor of the discussion
which was not entirely in consonance with it, the
moderator ventured that the title should have focused
on water resource harvesting rather than waste water
treatment. Secondly, since there is growing interest
in distributed decentralized energy generation, water
must also be thought of on similar lines.
122 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
To the first question, Mr Shah agreed that water is
a huge resource and should be tapped in the right
manner. Dr Pandey felt that distributed decentralized
energy generation from water is practical but it is
critical to achieve economies-of-scale.
During Q&A, the first interjection was about
the multiplicity of agencies in India dealing with the
subject, the question of water pricing according to
social categories, and the need for the autonomous
regulatory bodies that can ensure maintenance and
upkeep of the system.
Dr Pandey responded that underprivileged
sections of the population should be subsidized.
Mr Shah felt that the water supply agency and the
agency handling the waste water should be one and the
same to avoid mismatch and working at cross-purposes.
The second question from the audience was
about Tiruppur, an apparel manufacturing town in
the state of Tamil Nadu with a large number of textile
units that uses huge amounts of municipal water,
which has achieved zero discharge in their operations
after investing money in plant and machinery
but is still unable to compete with similar units in
Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other third
world countries.
Offering his thoughts, Dr Pandey said that
environmental norms in India have been made stricter
now so that these other countries have an edge in not
having to comply with such regulations but can look for
innovative ways to get around that problem. A similar
situation exists in the shipbreaking industry where India
proves cheaper than Bangladesh. Water management
and waste water management are definitely important
considerations for apparel export units but there are
also other elements, such as use of dyes and dyestuff
processing which can help us get a green certification
from the international buying houses and gain an edge
over the competition.
In yet another interjection from the floor, a
question was raised about the viability of waste
and waste water being used to produce energy in a
cleantech process. This approach will definitely find
application in the Swachh Bharat campaign.
Voicing his opinion on the foregoing questions,
Dr Kuganantham agreed with the moderator that
the title of the theme was indeed a bit off the mark
and ‘Water Resources Management’ would perhaps
have been more appropriate. As for water pricing,
he said that water is an essential requirement for all
living creatures and should be provided free by the
government in every country, the expenditure on
which can be recovered to an extent from the taxes
that are paid. As a doctor of medicine, he would even
go so far as to say that along with water, environmental
education, and health services should also be provided
free to the people.
On the moderator’s invitation to the panel to
answer these comments, Dr Pandey offered that as
had been said before, decentralized water treatment
technologies are already in use in modern housing
societies. Large hotels are also required to install
their own waste water and solid waste management
systems. Mr Shah said that since almost 70 per cent of
the energy is used by the plant, low energy consuming
plants should be used to produce energy which will
also bring down the price of water.
A participant from the World Business Council
for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) shared some
of his thoughts and informed the audience of two
proposed initiatives. Companies can generate great
impact in these areas through their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) activities. He believes that every
company should ensure that every employee in every
location has access to safe water, sanitation, and
hygiene. He referred to the WASH Pledge to satisfy
the human right to drinking water and sanitation.
A participant residing in Gurgaon, said that
the water table had dropped to 400 feet. A 20-year
old construction, his apartment block did not have
the water purification and waste water treatment
facilities mandatory in modern housing societies. Only
a fraction of the waste water is used for landscape
irrigation, watering plants, etc. He suggested that for
the remaining bulk of the waste water, around 350,000
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 123
litres, it should be possible to sell the water to certain
users and that ground water recharge technologies
should be developed further.
Acknowledging the contributions, and drawing
a parallel with Fatehpur Sikri near Agra which
was abandoned for lack of water, the moderator
humorously remarked that Gurgaon may face a similar
fate because of ill-planned development and rapid
depletion of ground water.
Mr Shah said the advanced ground water
recharging technology is easily available. Water that is
treated can find a variety of uses. Some people prefer
the term ‘enriched water’ to waste water that can
be turned into an important source of clean energy.
A good consulting company can prepare a report
which demonstrates that their ground water recharge
technology removes all contamination like e-coli
and bacteria.
Dr Pandey cautioned that water harvesting from
water treatment plants must be monitored closely for
contaminants although rainwater harvesting is free of
this problem.
Sharing his experience of water use by Indian
Railways, a member in the audience said that they
have 8,000 stations in India employing huge waste
water treatment plants working in isolated places and
said that it would be more beneficial to have plants of
smaller capacity that can be installed in a number of
locations. Another point he made was that household
Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems have become very
common yet a large quantity of the water goes waste
and questioned why municipalities did not supply clean
tap water.
Mr Shah agreed that waste water treatment plants
of smaller capacity are available, as also for sewage
124 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
treatment plants. He also said that RO systems only
remove salts from water but if the water quality is
as per World Health Organization (WHO) standards,
there is no need to use these systems.
Mr Hegge, pointed out that tenders for waste
water treatment plants in India are not prepared
properly. They do not include biowaste which forms a
major component of the operating cost. It is necessary
to take a holistic view of all the costs involved which
their process does comprehensively.
Dr Pandey said that a proper life cycle costing
of aerobic and anaerobic digesters should be
included in the tendering process itself which also
specifies elements of harvesting, production of
manure, harvesting energy, treating water, and
recovering nutrients.
Mr Shah added that the Ministry of Urban
Development has in fact announced a new policy on
the tendering process for such constructions.
Ms Blytt stated that process design starts with
planning and good water treatment plants should be
installed so that they work better and last longer. Oslo
is now collecting household waste and using sludge
from the waste water treatment plants to produce
biogas used to run buses on this carbon neutral gas,
Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM). CAM is an
adaptation for increased efficiency in the use of water
and is found in fruits growing in arid conditions.
Pineapple is an example of a CAM fruit.
One of the participants disagreed with the view
that water is a right and should be provided free
especially in light of the fact that three-fifths of the
water is lost due to wastage and then the cost of
treating that water also cannot be recovered from
the public. The technology will also vary as per the
economics of particular societies. In China particularly,
warp technology is used extensively. Warp is the
practice of flooding agricultural land with turbid river
water to add sediment to the soil. He ended by noting
that population control appears to be the only solution
to tackling the water crisis.
The moderator pointed out that just as water
is a necessity for humans, so is food. But food
is not provided free and asked for rejoinders to
this observation.
A participant replied that water for the masses
should be free for the underprivileged sections of
society and the cost should be recovered from the
service provider. CSR can also contribute to this
noble cause.
On water pricing, Ms Blytt opined that water
pricing should be done for two categories ordinary
water that is used daily by households, and the
luxury water that is water used in swimming pools,
golf links, gardening or water used for producing
alcoholic beverages.
From a policy perspective, Mr Sinha said that
water security is as important as energy security and so
enabling water access is important.
A question asked of Dr Madsen was if they had
considered putting their floating platforms on trains
that can treat the waste water and sludge and also
produce bio-energy in the process. Dr Madsen replied
that although they hadn’t thought of this before but the
process of sharing of ideas generally is good because
they could now explore this option.
Before wrapping up the discussion, the moderator
requested each panellist to leave a parting thought for
others to act upon.
Mr Sinha said that since water is central to the
policies of the new government, the opportunities
for increased engagement are many. Mr Shah felt that
integrating technologies for waste water treatment
should repay itself in time. Dr Madsen said that the
private sector should play a more active role. Ms Blytt
was of the opinion that rigorous life cycle analysis is
important to make the right decision before investing
in the plant. In his turn, water being too precious to
be used only once, Dr Pandey expressed the hope
that industry will find ways to reuse the waste water
generated by humans, which when recycled can find
many different applications.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 125
Environmentally Sustainable and Smart Cities
In partnership with AFD and UNDP
The track on ‘Environmentally Sustainable and Smart
Cities’ commenced with a welcome address by
Ms Mili Majumdar, Director, Sustainable Habitat
Division, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
She highlighted the importance of environmental
sustainability in the urbanization process of the
country and also discussed the opportunities that the
Government’s smart city initiative offers.
Dr Divya Sharma, Fellow, Sustainable Habitat
Division, TERI, set the theme for the track. She
presented various components of smart cities and
the key highlights from TERI’s regional dialogues on
smart cities organized in Mumbai, Bangalore, and
Chennai. With a focus on smart cities, the regional
dialogues deliberated on themes such as the role
of Information Technology (IT) water management,
sanitation, wastewater management, and mobility.
The regional dialogue brought forward that there is a
need for embedding the concept of sustainable cities
into the DNA of urban development at the policy,
corporate, and individual level. A smart city should
be structured in a way that it allows for smartness
in economy, governance, environment, people, and
living. Smart cities also need to be climate resilient,
inclusive, focus on poverty reduction, employability,
and accessibility of services, such as infrastructure,
health, and education facilities for all. As per the
Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), smart
cities should be competitive to attract people and
investors as well as human and social capital and at the
same time be financially, socially, and environmentally
sustainable. The MoUD defines time-bound activities
in terms of redevelopment, green field development,
and retrofitting activities to develop smart cities. The
basic eligibility criteria for selection under the smart
city initiative is that the city should have developed
a vision, made progress under the Swachh Bharat
Campaign, undertaken initiatives on good governance,
implemented model bye-laws, and worked towards
employment creation. Some of the state governments
have also suggested certain criteria that the cities should
meet, such as 25 per cent weightage for the city’s selffinancing ability, 25 per cent weightage for institutional
systems and capacities of the city, and 25 per cent
weightage for existing service levels and presence of a
committed action plan for the city. The criteria would
also take into account the city’s past performance
on implementation of reforms and the quality of the
vision document.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 127
Panel Discussion 1
Integrating Environmentally Sustainability Framework
into the Smart City Agenda
Chair
Dr M Ramachandran
Senior Advisor, US Green Building Council (USGBC)
(Former Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India)
Panellists
Mr Martin Hiller
Director General, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership
(REEEP), Austria
Mr Amitabh Kant
Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry
of Commerce and Industry, Government of India
Mr Mahesh Ramanujam
Chief Operating Officer, US Green Building Council (USGBC)
Dr Panagiotis Karamanos
Senior Urbanisation Expert, Public Diplomacy & Outreach in India and
in the SAARC
Mr Krunal Negandhi
Head-Sustainability, Lavasa Corporation Ltd
The session started with a background presentation
by Dr Divya Sharma which discussed the smart city
concept note devised by the MoUD. The concept
note defines environmental sustainability as one of the
components of smart cities. Hence, it is important for
cities to prepare an Environmental Sustainability Plan
(ESP). Such a plan would ensure that cities adopt green
technologies and processes, reduce environmental
impacts of everyday activities, encourage change in
behaviour to promote cleanliness and greenery in the
cities and improve liveability in cities. Concept notes
on smart cities prepared by TERI and USGBC were
128 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
also discussed. These notes emphasized on integrating
government departments, businesses, academia, and
citizens at every step of designing and implementing
smart city schemes, considering five key elements:
energy, water, waste, transportation, and liveability.
The decision making for smart cities should be based
on an implementation framework, supported by data
baselines and comprehensive plan scenarios, etc.
To steer implementation at the state and city level,
policies and projects should be deployed till the level
of a detailed project report to ensure appropriate
performance monitoring and evaluation.
The first panellist Mr Martin Hiller quoted the
example of Masdar City in Abu Dhabi as a good model
for developing smart cities. He highlighted that it was
important to see cities in the wider context of the region
and not to treat them in isolation. Accessing data and
information from cities is one of the huge challenges
towards making cities smart, not only because the data
does not exist but also because wherever data exists,
it is in silos. He suggested open access to government
data, as one of the solutions to deal with the issue of
data availability.
The next panellist Mr Amitabh Kant discussed
various challenges that need to be addressed for
making cities smarter. He pointed out that provision
of efficient public transport in cities along with smart
water and waste management are the key challenges
in making cities smart in India. He quoted various
international best practices from where Indian cities
could draw learnings, like Singapore, Kitakyushu,
etc. He stressed that smart governance was also an
important element of smart cities. For smarter cities,
it is critical that people pay for good infrastructure,
and therefore better taxation and pricing of services
and infrastructure should be brought in. Leapfrogging
through adopting Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) would be key to India’s smart city
initiative. ICT could enable smart decision making,
as it enables better data analysis, in a holistic manner
and improved availability of real time information to
citizens. In his final remarks, Mr Kant emphasized on the
need for active citizen participation for smarter cities.
Mr Mahesh Ramanujam highlighted the need for
a rational approach towards transforming existing cities
into smart cities. It is crucial for cities to measure and
monitor their progress on their smart city roadmap. He
also spoke on the need to drive efficiency and energy
into the vision for India.
The next panellist Dr Panagiotis Karamanos talked
about six essential features, namely—environment,
economy, living conditions, governance, mobility, and
people—that need to be considered while upgrading a
brown field or green field city into a smart city. He also
brought out the significance of these six components by
citing relevant examples.
The final panellist Mr Krunal Negandhi
elaborated on the components that were considered in
developing Lavasa city, a green field development. He
highlighted the importance of a city manager towards
making a city smart. The role of such a manager should
be to integrate different functions of a city, holistically.
For instance, the realization of Lavasa city can be
attributed to having a CEO for city management.
Dr M Ramachandran concluded the panel
discussion by stressing on the need for identification of
adequate sources of finance and efficient benchmarking
systems for realizing the smart cities agenda.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 129
Panel Discussion 2
Role of ICT in Making Cities Smarter
Chair
Ms Mili Majumdar
Director, Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI
Panellists
Mr Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar
Head-Digital Enterprise Services, Tech Mahindra Ltd
Mr Santosh Kumar
Director, Chandigarh Renewable Energy Science and Technology
Promotion Society
Dr Supratik Guha
Director, Physical Sciences Department, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research
Center
Mr Krunal Negandhi
Assistant Vice President Projects (Environment), Steiner India Ltd
The second panel discussion commenced with a
background presentation by Dr Divya Sharma,
setting the context for the panel discussion.
The Chair, Ms Mili Majumdar, elucidated how IT
has changed lives over the years and how information
and communication technologies (ICT) can play a key
role in making cities smart. She stressed upon the
need for large scale deployment of technology so as to
achieve resource efficiency and optimization.
Mr Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, defined a smart
city as one which deploys ‘planned infrastructure
with ICT’. He exemplified Mahindra World City,
Jaipur as a live smart city where smart ICT has been
applied to effectively manage various services, such as
130 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
electricity, water, security control surveillance, parking,
street lighting, etc. He also talked about how these
systems can be viewed, managed, and controlled from
anywhere in the world and that they have resulted in
20–30 per cent electricity savings.
The second presentation by Mr Santosh Kumar
discussed the importance of using renewable energy
towards making cities smart. He showcased various
initiatives taken by the Government in the city of
Chandigarh to transform it into a model solar city.
He explained the smart grid system that has been
installed in Chandigarh and how the rooftops of almost
70 government buildings have been utilized to set up
solar panels. He informed that the private sector is
being encouraged to participate in this initiative through
policies which allows them to sell electricity to the
distribution company at an attractive price of `9 per unit.
Dr Supratik Guha in his presentation explained
the smart air pollution monitoring system that has
been developed by IBM and applied in cities like
Beijing, Singapore, and Pittsburgh. He talked about
how a network of ground sensors, satellite imagery,
weather forecasts, and other data can be used to
predict air quality and intense mathematical analysis
can be employed to predict pollution forecasts, find
out sources of pollution, and examine sources which
are polluting above prescribed emission limits.
Mr Krunal Negandhi spoke about the ICT
backbone that has been set up in Lavasa. He explained
how the ICT application had been used starting from
the planning of the city, implementation, and currently
the operation and maintenance of the various systems
especially infrastructure. While providing an insight
into the integrated systems that have been set up for
providing the city with various services, he explained
how ICT has been deployed in the city to facilitate and
assist tourists that visit the city and how ICT is being
used for weather prediction and in managing disaster
management centres.
The session concluded with a question and
answer session.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 131
The Global Energy Calculator—An Interactive and
Open-Source Model of the World’s Energy, Land,
and Food Systems to 2050
Policymakers,
researchers,
and
non-research
community (NGOs etc.) are often unable to understand
complex energy models. The global calculator aims to
provide some quantification and transparency towards
this aim. The Thematic Track was a step towards
informing policymakers and public at large about this
tool, launched at Lima at COP 20, about the kinds
of changes that are needed in the energy system and
lifestyles and the costs associated with them to build a
decarbonized future.
The Global Calculator is a flexible tool that
allows users to explore thousands of options to help
gain insights into the world’s energy, land, food, and
climate systems. The tool can be used to explore
the options the world has to reduce greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions, and see how these options affect one
another. There are lots of insights that one can get from
the tool, including which technologies have the biggest
potential to reduce emissions, the role of lifestyle, and
the impact of electrifying, heating or transport on the
power sector. This will be of interest to anyone thinking
about the long-term options for the planet. The tool
is not just aimed at climate scientists and economists
but policymakers and lay people at large. The tool has
immense outreach since it is available freely online.
The calculator has 40 levers that can be divided
into four categories: lifestyle, technology and fuels, land
and food, and demographics.
Perhaps the most interesting lever is the one on
lifestyle. This lever talks travel, homes, and diet. The
lifestyle lever tries to assess how people will travel in
2050, what kinds of materials would be used to build
houses, and what would be the composition of the diet.
The component of the diet is a relatively unexplored
component in other calculators. This lever shows that if
everyone in 2050 starts consuming meat as much as an
average Indian in 2011 (keeping other levers constant
at business-as-usual levels) the world’s emissions will
plummet manifold leading to peaking of emissions by
2030 and will fall sharply to stabilize at ~28 Gt. of CO2
eq. by 2050 (28 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent
by 2050).
Other than the option of creating own
trajectories, the calculator also has the possibility of
looking at sample pathways that have been created by
different organisations, envisioning the kind of world
they would like to see in 2050. There are some very
ambitious pathways that are present in the calculator,
for example a scenario that was created by ‘Friends
of the Earth’, an international organisation dedicated
towards environment justice for all. This shows a
possible pathway in which world emission will reach
0 by 2050 and with the availability of sequestration
technologies, move to negative emissions post that.
Other levers that are present are technology and
fuels, and land and food. These are important levers
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 133
that allow the user to explore the use of technology in
dealing with climate change. It explores the question
that in what orders of magnitude can different
technologies affect global emission level. Land and food
explores land use efficiency, a crucial topic of discussion,
especially for many countries where urbanization has
put a lot of pressure on land and availability of land for
productive purposes.
The calculator also estimates costs of the pathway,
as this is the most important barrier. It also enables
users to compare costs across scenarios of their choice.
Another useful tool is that the calculator enables the
costs to be split by sector.
Using the calculator and contrasting different
scenarios can enable one to answer broad policy
questions. Some of the findings of the calculator are:
134 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
❖❖ It is physically possible that all 10 billion of
us could eat well, travel more, and live more
comfortably, whilst at the same time reducing
emissions consistent with a 50 per cent chance of
2°C warming.
❖❖ But to do so, we need to transform the
technologies and fuels we use. For example,
our electricity should be decarbonised from its
current level of—580 gCO2/kWh (580 grams
of carbon dioxide per kilo-watt hour) to under
70 gCO2/kWh by 2050, and the proportion of
households that heat their homes using electric or
zero carbon sources need to increase from 5 per
cent today to 25–50 per cent by 2050.
❖❖ We also need to make smarter use of our limited
land resources. In particular, we must protect
and expand our forests by 5–15 per cent by
2050 because forests remove carbon from the
atmosphere and store it in trees and the soil.
Many times model assumptions are not transparently
available and this can be confusing for policymakers and
make them suspicious of model results. Towards this
end, the global calculator is an important step. It makes
available all the assumptions that have been taken while
building the analysis.
The event discussed extensively the development
and use of models particularly in policy advisory. Since
different kinds of models are created for different
analysis models they have different types of drivers.
Therefore, while using models in policy analysis it is
crucial to harmonize the assumptions. A global model
solves these harmonization problems.
The calculator’s biggest strength is its simplicity but
its limitations should be kept in mind while using. The
calculator is unable to give the distribution of effort
within different countries. The calculator can inform
the users about the average levels that need to be
achieved by 2050, however, it is unable to comment on
equity and intergenerational justice. It does not capture
the different types of countries and their different
challenges in adopting mitigation policies. However, an
important feature that this calculator has is that it can
capture the global effect and is able to comment on
the increase in temperature globally—something that
country calculator’s cannot hope to comment on.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 135
Challenges in Introducing Clean Technologies
In partnership with EDF
The thematic track on “Challenges in Introducing Clean
Technologies” was a closed session and was organised
in collaboration with Électricité de France (EDF) and
Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP).
The session comprised two technical sessions with
experts focussing on low carbon technologies, nuclear
technology and challenges facing the renewable sector
– solar, wind and hydro – in India.
GSEP is presently working on a study developing
the electricity sector and preparing for the 21st
Conference of Parties in Paris in December 2015,
and intends to put together a report compiling the
experience of various electricity experts. The idea is
to share and leverage their experience to contribute to
a positive agenda of climate talks that were discussed
at previous sessions at this Summit. The track was
organised primarily to gauge the Indian perspective of
the opportunity and challenges on how to curb carbon
dioxide (CO2) emission in its electricity sector. India
is of course very important in the energy and climate
arena by its size, its industrial ambition and the diversity
of technology and situation.
The entire electric utility industry is facing a new
challenge because decarbonisation of the electricity
supply system needs to be initiated. 35% of total
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from electricity
supply and a large part of that is from production of
electricity, which is largely based on coal but other
sources of energy that supply electricity also have a
considerable contribution to GHG emissions. This is
a new challenge and thus, this requires an extension
of conventional utility economics because externalities
such as concentration of greenhouse gases are also
being taken into account. India, not being a member
of GSEP, has a lot to learn from good practice from all
over the world and therefore this particular session and
in specific the documentation that can be produced as a
result of the actions that are being taken in other parts
of the world would be of enormous value to India as
well.
The first technical session focussed on Challenges
for Introducing Low Carbon Technologies, Developing
Nuclear Technology and Hydro projects in India.
A recent GSEP report finds that decarbonising the
power sector will require reversing the global mix from
2/3rd fossil fuels and 1/3rd CO2 free to 2/3rd CO2 free and
1/3rd fossil fuels, including carbon capture and storage
(CCS) for a large proportion of facilities. This will be
nothing short of a power revolution that will have to
stay focused on keeping electricity affordable and avoid
compromising access to electricity, economic growth
and development. Electricity will have to become the
leading energy carrier in 2050 if countries want to stay
on the 2o Celsius track with low carbon affordable
electricity substituting for fossil fuels to decarbonise
buildings and transport.
If power revolution is to become a reality,
major steps and innovation in three areas need to be
undertaken. First, affordable low carbon technologies
must be innovated to ensure they are available by 2030
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 137
or before and this must cover the entire spectrum of
technologies. Innovation is a key part of it and what will
be the kind of innovations that will need to pave the
way for fossil-fired technologies, first coal fired plants
with efficiencies of 50% would be a decisive advantage.
In the gas sector, the big challenge is ultra-flexible
combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants that can
be brought up to full power 2-3 times faster than is
currently possible and cycle several times a day without
causing the premature wear to machines that is being
seen with existing technologies.
CCS is a vital technology which will be required
under many scenarios, not just at coal plants and even
gas fired plants but also to achieve emissions at biomass
and CCS plants. Going forward a clear technology
roadmap must be followed. First, that captures
technologies like post-combustion, oxi-combustion
and pre-combustion capture to the next level moving
from demonstrators of a few megawatts today to a
138 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
1GW. Second, test different geological environments
for long term storage to guarantee stability, a key
factor for public acceptance. What will also be needed
is innovation of carbon free technologies.
As regards nuclear, constant innovation is key.
Generation 3 reactors need to travel down the
experience curve from the current first of the kind
towards standardised, optimised designs delivering
safe and competitive nuclear power. We will also need
to innovate in renewable energies which have huge
potential, for instance, material performance, design
and numerical simulation could provide us with 12 MW
wind turbines that cost half as much as those available
today. They could capture more wind at lower speeds
reducing intermittency, the factor that is limiting
the economic development potential of available
renewable resources today. Progress is also needed
in methods of wind forecasting accuracy. PV panels
that are twice as efficient could make this technology
competitive. For solar PV to make this efficiency leap
with no jump in costs, technological barriers will have to
be brought down in semiconductors or cell techniques
particularly by using nano technologies. Lastly we need
technological breakthroughs that can lower the cost
of batteries by an order of magnitude to manage the
intermittency of some renewable sources. This would
require breakthroughs in materials and using nano
technologies.
Innovation will also be required in digitisation
and the ways it can be used to energy efficiency
and decarbonisation. Most of the work required to
digitise distribution girds is particularly for low voltage
networks. Smart meters are beginning to be rolled out
on a large scale. To go further, we will need to combine
innovation in networks for instance to make it possible
to have alternative and direct current lines together
or to develop to PLC lines that turn our power cables
into the equivalent of fibre optics. Specifically digital
innovation, the widespread use of smart chips in our
devices, unified standards and protocols making it
possible for different appliances under the same roof
to communicate. All this should bring costs down
for users and lay the ground for sustainable business
models.
Countries should already be anticipating the
adaptation and resilience to climate change and
the increasing overlaps between water, energy and
food with the question of biomass and sustainable
agriculture. Adaptation is no longer optional. It must
be factored into our investment decisions early on
as infrastructure is being built to last 50-100 years or
more.
To thoroughly decarbonise economies, means
more efforts on R&D and perhaps more collaboration
between corporations and governments. Power
companies can contribute their research capacity.
Governments can first earn the investments factoring in
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 139
some trade-offs between deployment and support for
R&D. They also have a key role to play in encouraging
international R&D cooperation particularly for key
technologies like CCS, nuclear renewables and storage.
Being a growing economy, it is of utmost
importance that India sustainably develops its power
sector in order to fuel the growth of the various
sectors of the economy but at the same time try to
minimise the carbon footprint of climate change on the
environment on the path of sustainable development.
In this context, generally a low carbon growth
strategy is adopted as per which importance and
top most priority is accorded as far as generation is
concerned to development of hydro projects, gas to
the extent feasible and renewable technologies, and
whatever is the balance demand which needs to be met
– balance demand in terms of the existing shortages as
well as projected demand.
As of now the installed capacity in India is about
255 GW and this comprises about 32GW of renewable
capacity which implies that the renewable capacity is
roughly about 12% of its total installed capacity. Most
of this renewable capacity has come up during the last
3-5 years and there has been a marked improvement in
the addition of renewable capacity. So, presently there
is about 12% installed capacity from renewable and
this does not include hydro (hydro is another 40000),
so this 12% is basically from wind, solar, biomass and
other technologies; however in terms of energy it is
only about 5% and this needs to be improved.
There are certain challenges to follow this rather
ambitious roadmap for development of renewable
energy sources of which integration of renewable power
into the electricity grid is one. The other challenge
before us is the intermittency of this renewable power
140 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
because it is dependent on nature and how that affects
the grid and how that concern needs to be addressed.
The other aspect is the storage of power since demand
and generation needs to be balance. Another concern
is the need for decentralised distributed generation.
Even though top most priority has been given
to development of hydro, gas, nuclear as well as
renewable, to some extent coal based generation is still
required since that provides the base load requirement
of the Indian system. Thus, the challenge is that even
the minimum possible coal based generation should
be efficient in terms of minimising the emissions
and therefore higher capacity plants and also higher
efficiency plants in terms of the technology should be
opted for.
The other important thing is that we need to have
adequate transmission capacity both intra-State as well
as inter-State which would sort of be able to evacuate
whatever is the balance renewable capacity which is
not being absorbed by the grid.
In the field of nuclear technology, at the moment,
India has 21 reactors which are operational and another
6 that are under construction and out of these one is
a prototype fast breeder reactor of 500Mw capacity
and several more are planned at this moment. Lowgrade uranium available in the country, has prevented
India from not developing its nuclear technology
beyond 5GW. However, India pursued an aggressive
programme to locate more uranium resource in the
country and source from abroad and presently four
reactors are under construction. Out of the 255 GW
installed capacity in India, the nuclear share is about 2%
which is very low compared to world standards. This
establishes a big scope for contribution from nuclear.
In the case of hydro power, it is well-known that it
has an important role to play not only in decarbonisation
but also in many other respects. Important
developments such as climate change impacts that are
affecting hydrology and construction of hydro projects
impacting the environment by way of some cutting of
forests etc., can be minimised, but at the same time,
there is an appreciation that climate change is also
causing changes in the hydrological patterns. This is
seriously going to affect the viability of the projects
being planned, the way we are planning the storages
and this is impacting not only in India but also the
neighbouring countries. Lastly, hydro technology from
the technology perspective is fairly well understood.
Hydro kinetic technology is where without big dams
also considerable generation can be achieved it is
reported that new hydro kinetic technologies if fully
developed could double the amount of hydropower.
Given the potential benefits of this new, clean, power
source, the Commission has taken steps to lower
regulatory barriers in its development.
With regards to scenario modelling for low
carbon technologies, the main challenge is the time
involved – medium to long term time scales and this
presupposes to some level an understanding of what
the future is going to hold, how it is going to evolve,
how technology is going to move in terms of efficiency
improvements, in terms of costs and how everything
would pan out into the future. Various TERI reports
on scenario building exercises report that the power
sector needs to increase its capacity at least between
2.5 to 3 times the 2011-12 level by 2030. What kind
of a mix this is going to have, which technologies,
which fuels are going to pan out into the future are the
matters of decision which need to be taken remains to
be seen. However, there are several issues in terms of
scenario modelling such as internalizing the implications
whether it is in energy security terms, whether it is in
terms of air pollution etc., all become very important
in looking at low carbon scenarios and changes can
be brought about with moderating energy efficiency,
transport, definitely power which are going to be the
key elements where change can happen. Load curves
and load patterns, how these evolve into the future
and linkage with energy efficiency also need to be
understood.
The session concluded with speakers agreeing
that technologies should not be discussed in isolation
but take into account all factors and externalities.
The next technical session was on Renewable
Energy - Challenges and Solutions, Smart Grids.
The session focused on the ambitious targets that
have been set for the coming years and the barriers
that need to be removed if any, that would allow the
100 GW of solar and 60 GW for wind energy targets to
be achieved and maybe surpass them if possible.
Focusing on solar, the 100 GW is split – 60 GW
ground mounted, grid connected and 40 GW off
grid including rooftops. The first challenge is that of
financing. 60 GW requires roughly 90,000 crores of
equity in Indian National Rupees (INR) which depending
on the private sector’s capability will require to be
pulled out from other competing opportunity costs.
Since sectoral limits have been reached, the public
sector banks are finding it difficult to lend money to
projects. For private sector banks the challenge is their
risk perception is still very high and since technology
is evolving at such a rapid pace, they are unable to
model the risk. The second challenge is the time
gap between acquiring funds and getting the project
started. Raising funds takes around 7-8 months while
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 141
the power purchase agreement (PPA) that is given to
developers, the timeline given is roughly 13 months. By
the time land is acquired, roughly 5-6 months pass by
and without land, banks will not disburse funds. Land
and PPA are crucial to a project and thus, by the time
land is acquired and documentation is in place another
two months have passed by.
Refinancing poses another challenge since equity
needs to be pooled in but after the project risk is out,
when it comes to operation and maintenance stage
the solar plants normally don’t need much of operating
and maintenance manpower requirements. It is a
stationary equipment and electronic equipment which
runs on its own. Thus, ideally the policy should support
refinancing so that the cost of overall funding comes
down. Another bottleneck is with regards to policy
and regulatory. There are too many policies with none
focussing on rooftop.
One of the major challenges for this 100 GW 60
GW will be the skill available in the market. Today we
face a challenge in terms of finding the vendors who
will actually execute in the timeframe that is required.
There are numerous challenges from top to
bottom and solutions have to come from everywhere
– government, skill building, private sector, policy and
regulatory where TERI can actually take an active role
in defining the whole policy in an integrated manner.
With regards to wind, presently there is 2 GW
installed and targets of 60 GW in the next 7 years spreads
out as 9-10 GW a year. Installation capacity of 3200 MW
has already been achieved and thus substantially high
capacity additions are being discussed. Currently, India
has manufacturing facility of about 9GW. 19 companies
are manufacturing in India and about 50 turbine models
are certified and approved. The wind resource, the last
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wind potential assessment which was done at 80 meter
hub height is already 100GW.
Coming to the critical issue of policy, in the last one
year or so, huge developments on policies in renewable
in general and wind in particular can be seen at the
Central level. Several incentives have been reintroduced
such as tax incentives, generation based incentives
(GBI) and probably a Wind Mission as well sometime
soon. There are also central level institutions which are
quite aware about renewable energy, giving tariffs, the
connectivity regulations, Renewable Energy Certificate
(REC) mechanism which has been put in place, so at
the central level there good support for policies. But
when it comes to State level, the policies for wind are
not aligned 100% with what the central level policies
are looking at, which basically implies State discoms
are going to buy power from wind energy generators.
States face issues such variable, unpredictable power
which is why they ancillary generation in place; costs
more than the wind procurement costs and also grid
infrastructure at the State level. Policy synchronisation
at the State level is the biggest challenge that wind
is going to face. Even within the departments at
the State level there are issues. Besides lack of an
alternate market because of open access being
an issue will be another major policy challenge.
Coming to technology, in terms of turbines there
isn’t much of a challenge, we are looking at 2.5 MW
turbines going upto 3MW in India. 120MW of hub
height has already been achieved. Going beyond this is
not a technology challenge, but a logistics challenge as
far as wind turbines are concerned.
The most important problem regarding wind is
scheduling and forecasting of wind. At the grid level,
at the SLDC level there are capabilities which needs
to be increased to accept this variable power and
second on the technology or soft techniques for wind
forecasting that are going to be critical if wind energy
capacity needs to be grown beyond 3000MW a year.
Related to that is one can look at the balancing because
even if you do a good scheduling, the variability is
not going to go away. There are two aspects, one is
predictability and the other is variability. So, one can
address the predictability problem, one cannot address
the variability problem. The variability problem one
needs to look at balancing.
With regards to the financing, the problem is
two phased – interest rates and tenure of financing
that is available; and also payment security due to
the prevalence of discoms that are in a bad financial
state with wind power projects in some States having
payment delays of almost a year.
With regards to the challenge of adequate
finance, it was felt that financial institutions and banks
can finance this and the Government is committed to
resolve all the issues. Besides, numerous multilateral
and bilateral institutions are willing to fund renewable
energy projects.
With most of the current and crucial issues been
discussed, what is also important is to look at the
opening of the market in terms of open access because
cost of purchase of electricity by the companies which
are cross subsidising the subsidies for residential and
other sectors is burdened on the high cost consumers,
particularly industries. Thus solar is preferred since it is
cheaper than electricity.
A strong linkage should be developed between
electricity sector generation, transmission and
distribution; and simultaneously with demand side
management programmes. Issues related to nonpayment/delayed payments continue to remain a
challenge but unless electric utilities are also involved in
the entire scheme of things only the supply side is being
tended to.
The session concluded on an optimistic note to
roll out the technologies at the right time and in the
right place and guaranteeing the right mix with regard
to power systems as also understanding the priority
of growth in India and its efforts of encouraging clean
technologies as well as renewable energy sources.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 143
Technologies for Communities:
Improving Groundwater Management in India
In partnership with UNDP
The Thematic Track on ‘Technologies for Communities:
Improving Groundwater Management in India’ was
hosted in collaboration with the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). Groundwater is a
complex resource and needs expert management from
scientists, researchers and the community. Currently,
participation of local communities in groundwater
management is limited to reactive participation
and development of user organizations, while it is
necessary to involve stakeholder organizations in
the groundwater management structure itself with
sufficient authority delegated and responsibility
shared. This also requires a change in approach in
specific programmes for drinking water and sanitation,
from groundwater as water source to groundwater as
resource. This approach is restrictive and concludes
at understanding groundwater prospects with a
special reference to locating drinking water sources.
In many ways, the objective of locating sources also
restricts the potential use of advanced techniques
such as remote sensing, geophysics, and geographic
information system (GIS)-type platforms for datamanagement. However, groundwater resource
approach allows for comprehensive assessment
and management from the stage of its generation,
transmission, and distribution to replenishment of
groundwater with the perspective of its demand at
the individual aquifer level.
The World Bank highlights that there are many ways in
which stakeholders can participate in the management
of groundwater resources and aquifer systems.
These could include groundwater monitoring and
data collection by local communities, administering
local allocation and access to groundwater, preparing
and implementing management plans, undertaking
demand reduction measures, engaging in recharge and
retention measures as well as mobilizing additional
resources for water. Based on the growing need of
involving communities in groundwater management,
this Thematic Track was envisioned.
The Track was chaired by Dr S K Sarkar,
Distinguished Fellow, The Energy and Resources
Institute (TERI). Dr Shresth Tayal, Fellow, TERI
welcomed the panellists and participants of the session.
In his welcome address, he stressed on the importance
and mismanagement of groundwater resources.
Groundwater is considered to be universally available at
a comparatively lower capital cost as compared to other
sources of water. This makes it the most preferred and
reliable source, leading to its indiscriminate extraction
in various parts of the country.
Dr Sarkar, while chairing the session highlighted
the relevance of the theme of the panel discussion
and introduced the panel members. He stated that
India is the fastest growing groundwater consumer
and faces a lot of problems in this context ranging
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 145
from development of groundwater to quality and
management of groundwater. He also mentioned
that groundwater is often referred to as a source and
not as a resource, and as a result, a common pool
of groundwater is neglected. While stating that the
‘effective use of groundwater’ is the main challenge
he highlighted some of the existing good practices for
groundwater management such as UNDP’s project in
the state of Maharashtra.
Before the discussion began, a movie titled
‘Every Drop Counts’ was shown. The movie, a TERI
production, highlighted various issues and concerns of
rural water supply and traditional water management
systems in the Barmer district of Rajasthan. Barmer
falls in one of the driest regions of the world—the
Thar Desert in Rajasthan — and had a rich legacy
of rainwater harvesting that gradually eroded with
time. The film narrates the inspiring story of how
the district administration in Barmer revived this
tradition under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to provide
livelihood and life-long drinking water security to
poor families.
146 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Mr Anshuman, set the theme for the discussion and
made a presentation on the overall aspects of water
resources management in India. He gave a glimpse of
the status of water resources in India and increasing
pressure of the country’s developmental activities on
these water resources. He also pointed out that India
has been the fore-runner of the green revolution but
has missed out on the blue revolution. He informed
that the recharge rate is less than the extraction rate,
as was found in a case study on Gurgaon city where
the groundwater withdrawal rate is three times the
recharge rate. One of the reasons, he mentioned, for
such mismanagement of the resource is policies which
impose no regulation on digging of borewells. He also
presented one of the projects successfully carried out
by TERI in the state of Karnataka. The project, titled
DROP: Development, Rehabilitation and Outreach
Project, is based on participatory approach. The project
was carried out in phases with the initial phase evaluating
the situation of water resources using scientific
modelling methods and social appraisal techniques
and the final phase executing suggested interventions
based on the issues identified in the previous phase.
Prof. Neera Agnimitra has worked with women
groups in various states of India and has emphasized
on the need of community participation ingroundwater
management. She mentioned that though groundwater
is under-exploited in some parts of the country and
over-exploited in others, India accounts for a quarter
of the world’s total withdrawal as per World Bank
statistics. Being an invisible resource, management
of groundwater as a resource becomes critical.
Also, it affects mobilizing people due to the invisible
characteristics attached to it. She further highlighted
the need to take into consideration traditional
wisdom and culture along with scientific knowledge
for ensuring sustainability of the groundwater
management programme. The successful farmer
managed groundwater systems in Andhra Prdaesh
are an example of this. She said that it is important to
demystify the science of hydrology so that local people
can comprehend it easily. She concluded by saying
that a holistic approach is required to conserve this
social capital.
Dr Somnath Bandopadhyay from Nalanda
University raised a concern as to why the successful
case studies are not being scaled up. He stated that
groundwater has both renewable and non-renewable
components and it is important to manage the
renewable component of the resource. Another rising
concern is varying quality of the resource which leads
to different valuation of the resource. He further stated
that there exists three disconnects in the management
of the resource – surface and groundwater disconnect
because of these being dealt in isolation, disconnect
between political and hydrological boundaries and thirdly
disconnect between different consumption use which
is competitive in nature. He added that between these
disconnects exists supremacy of various technologies
and those with access to better technologies can go
deeper and treat better. He highlighted the issue of lack
of scientific governance in the system. He suggested
the need to bring clarity in terms of ownership and
responsibilities as it could help in better valuation
and can thus be integrated into management as a
broader perspective of natural/green infrastructure
management. He concluded by sharing the concept
of a water district which recommends the ownership
and management of groundwater at a local level.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 147
Dr V Kumar commented that uncertainties should
be converted into certainties in terms of quantity and
availability of groundwater. He highlighted that there
exist other disconnects as well in terms of groundwater
rights with land owners and suggested that policies
need to change so as to get groundwater back as
people’s resource. He also pointed out that most of the
data for groundwater is published at the district level
and not aquifer wise, which is a challenge in itself. On
the quality side, he mentioned that human activities are
polluting groundwater and together these issues have
institutional bearing. He also stated that for instance
the aquifers of Delhi are unconfined so the impact of
recharge would be felt at some other place, but this is
important as there is a need for sharing responsibilities
and benefits for better management of the resource.
He also talked about the integrated surface water
and groundwater approach to manage the resource;
however, alongside they need to be managed separately
with appropriate approaches.
Dr Dipankar Saha is currently working for
river development, the Ganga rejuvenation plan and
groundwater rejuvenation. He started with stating
148 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
the fact that there exists 62 per cent groundwater
development in India, which is alarming but nonuniform. The extent of development is more in the
northern and western parts of India and less in eastern
parts of the country. He reiterated that hydrogeology is
a rapidly evolving science and community participation
is important. He also cautioned on the issue that
demystification should be to some limited extent only.
He also brought an important issue of understanding
the local conditions before taking up any recharge
activity. A scientific understanding of the aquifer
dynamics is necessary for managing groundwater.
He also shared that the arsenic contamination does
not always mean the entire aquifer is contaminated
as was found in Patna since groundwater is extracted
from the lower aquifer as the upper one is
contaminated. While reiterating the importance of
groundwater in India, he quoted a World Bank report
observation that groundwater contributes around
9 per cent to India’s gross domestic product. He
concluded by saying that community and stakeholder
participation is necessary for the management of
the groundwater.
Dr Pavel brought the context to a macro scale and
presented few figures and facts on groundwater use in
Asia. He mentioned that Asia is the largest consumer of
water in the world and its share is roughly 70 per cent.
Amongst various sectors, agriculture is the largest
consumer of water. He mentioned that groundwater
use is not sustainable in India and the increasing levels
of pollution is also changing the available quantum of
groundwater available. He highlighted an important
aspect that groundwater is a cross-sectoral issue
and is very intricately linked with energy. It is also a
transboundary issue. Therefore he suggested a need
of an integrated plan considering all the important
factors including community involvement, scientific,
and technological aspects, sectoral competitions, etc.
The session highlighted the need for community
participation for better management of groundwater
resources and the panellist shared their experience of
working in the field. All the deliberations concluded
that the scarce resource should be managed by all
consumers. As common groundwater basins are
referred to as shared bank accounts, involvement of
local communities could provide sustenance to the
success achieved in groundwater management through
artificial recharge initiatives.
Prof. Kabat started with the predicted figures of the
world’s water usage. Of the 6000 km3 of freshwater
available annually, 70 per cent is needed in Asia alone.
Sector wise demand for agriculture is 70 per cent
in Asia which is strikingly high. India’s reliance on
groundwater as a source of water is not sustainable
as the availability of groundwater in India is not
going to change. He concluded with the point that
the type of water resources on which food security
relies are basically groundwater, rain, and reservoirs.
He informed about the situation of main river basins
in India and also discussed energy sector and transboundary issues and a missing integrated approach
for up-scaling technologies related to conservation of
groundwater resource.
The panel discussion highlighted the need to
enhance water use efficiency in all sectoral uses
throughout the country. This should be complemented
with necessary changes in laws and regulations
governing groundwater in the country. There was a
general agreement among the panellists that water
conservation in agriculture can play an important role
in the near future. The panellists felt that governance
should be aligned with scientific solutions, and the
science of groundwater should be demystified to reach
out to local people.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 149
How to Shape India’s Sustainable Development Pathways
under Climate Change?
In partnership with AFD and IDDRI
The Thematic Track was organised in collaboration
with Agence Française de Développement (AfD) to
discuss how rapid economic growth can be achieved
simultaneously with sustainable development. With
India being highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate
change, the session intended to discuss approaches and
strategies towards adapting to these impacts. Dr R K
Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources
Institute (TERI), India, in his address remarked that
India has to be part of solutions to the climate change
problem. Though there is the principle of common
but differentiated responsibility, there is a need to
acknowledge that there is a common problem and
thus a common responsibility. Dr Pachauri stressed
that a sustainable development pathway for India is
absolutely essential as India is a society of enormous
disparities which are only growing and simultaneously
growing is the obsession for development based on
higher and higher consumption. He emphasized that
whatever strategies are implemented for sustainable
development in India need to create opportunities for
every sector of society which cannot be achieved if that
path imposes negative externalities on environment,
ecosystems, and natural resources. He further
highlighted the vulnerability of India to climate change
impacts and how there is an important need to look at
sustainable development holistically and not singularly
from an environment protection perspective.
Dr Pachauri reiterated that sustainable development
should not in any way compromise the needs of future
generations to meet their own needs. Discussing low
carbon development, he talked about benefits and
opportunities of adopting a low carbon pathway and
business opportunities for technological and economic
change. He concluded his remarks by noting that India
needs to look at sustainable development in its entirety
which needs to be distinct from UNFCCC negotiations
as sustainable development is a domestic imperative
and is absolutely essential for India.
Dr Manish Kumar Shrivastava, The Energy and
Resources Institute (TERI), India summarized the
mainstream sustainable development discourse in
India. He stated that the challenge of sustainable
development in India is simple where the country has
an HDI (Human Development Index) of 0.5 and for
reasonable development it needs this to cross 0.8. In
the context of the session he remarked that there is a
direct correlation between HDI and per capita energy
consumption. As development increases per capita
energy consumption also increases. This situation will
have serious implications on greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. Therefore the country needs to improve
energy consumption in an environmentally benign
manner and this is the real challenge. Given this situation
he proposed a two pronged approach starting with
scaling up energy efficiency in the system as it dilutes
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 151
the positive link between HDI and energy consumption
and secondly scaling up renewable energy as it delinks
the energy supply from GHG emissions. In order to
achieve this he stressed on three important underlying
principles—building
infrastructure,
improving
productivity, and simultaneously inspiring the desire for
conservation. He further articulated that India has been
working on these lines on the lower end of the learning
curve and it now needs to gradually move towards
the higher end. From a domestic policy perspective,
he highlighted that India under its 12th Five-Year Plan
had identified twelve focus areas to put the country
on a sustainable development pathway and this also
corresponds with the broader vision of addressing
climate change as outlined by the National Action Plan
on Climate Change. He then remarked that though
India has the right policy foundation for progressing
towards sustainable development, it isn’t implementing
the same at the right pace. This is the challenge and
152 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
in this journey he emphasized that India will have to
make interesting trade-offs. He explained the current
energy scenario of the country currently wherein 150
GW (gigawatts) of energy supply comes from thermal,
and there have been announcements of 100 GW
coming in from solar and 6 GW from wind. However
he questioned whether this supply would match the
demand, and if it doesn’t then it could potentially
create huge macro-economic imbalances. He further
discussed trade, economic, and legal implications
involving these huge infrastructural investments for
developing manufacturing capability for renewable
energy. He concluded by discussing the institutional and
political barriers that need to be overcome for achieving
the renewable energy targets that India has set.
Mr Mark Halel from the International Institute
for Sustainable Development, Europe, commenced
his address by highlighting the fact that the future of
global sustainable development will depend on what
happens in India. However he also emphasized that
the challenges of India are enormous—poverty, energy
access, and economic stability. These development
challenges are at odds with climate change risks. On
one hand the country needs development, however
for that to happen there will be a significant externality
for environment and climate change objectives. He
questioned whether there is a different path from
massive development, industrialization, and carbonbased energy and if India can afford not adopting a
green development path. He discussed three broad
areas for sustainable development. First, policy
alignment which can enable sustainable development
in India. Second is the question of whether incentives
have been encouraging development in the Indian
energy efficiency front and when is India likely to scale
up. Lastly, sustainable development is not the sole
responsibility of the government but rather has to be
build bottom–up with an inclusive efforts at all levels
and scales. He concluded by saying that there is a
need to look at the entire economic model to make
sure the way our economy functions—gives social
justice, addresses equity issues, and gives incentives for
environmentally responsible behaviour.
Ms Vanita Suneja from Oxfam, India, talked about
the process of circular participatory policy making
process. She began her address by questioning if the
two pillars of energy efficiency and renewable energy
could make India’s economy sustainable. She further
emphasized that it is crucial that India in its sustainable
development planning makes an agenda for ‘resilient
rural India’ a part of its modern vision. Rural livelihoods
being the most vulnerable to climate change risks, can
strengthen economic development is efforts are made
towards making them resilient. She further discussed
the issue of last mile delivery of big schemes on solar
and biomass as these are not reaching the people on
ground. Commenting on the policy aspect, she voiced
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 153
that while planning for solar and renewable energy
at the ministerial level, it is important to rope in the
Ministries of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development to
ensure involvement and participation at the community
level. Lastly, she discussed the issue of building capacity
of communities and line departments to implement
targets on grounds. This can start a process of
communication of experiences from bottom–up. She
concluded by emphasizing that by building capacity at
the lower most level, India can give its local communities
the capability to demand services of renewable energy.
Mr Aalok Deshmukh from Schneider Electric
spoke about private sector perspectives of sustainable
development while discussing energy efficiency and
renewable energy. He discussed the concept of
negawatt as the cleanest form of energy available and
how it can explored in the sustainable development
context. He further gave examples of increasing energy
efficiency for economic benefits, retro fitting buildings
154 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
for energy and economic savings and paybacks
from demand side management programmes. He
deliberated on the issue of trust deficit in the market of
energy efficiency projects, as a huge bottleneck when
it comes to investment and interest of private sector.
He concluded by discussing the issues surrounding
the scaling up of pilot projects as compared to doing
another pilot project.
Dr Tracrede Voituriez from The Institute for
Sustainable Development and International Relations
presented perspectives on financing for sustainable
development. He stressed that finance is not the
bottleneck but implementation is the real challenge for
sustainable development. Implementation problems
cannot be restricted and solved by financing only. He
noted that it is not the question of how much extra
money is required but how it will be put to use
to transform societies. In many cases, money and
technology is available and still transformation doesn’t
occur due to political and institutional hurdles, markets
disincentives, etc. While discussing different sources
of finance including the ODA (Official Development
Assistance), he retorted that ODA has become a
dwarf in global financing of developing countries. It is
FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), private investments,
and remittances that are leading the financing regime.
Therefore the issue is no longer to raise ODA but to
mainstream and connect all financial flows to bring
about transformation that is required. Discussing the
role of ODA providers in the current financial regime,
Dr Voituriez emphasized on four new roles for ODA—
provide grants and in addition to this increase, enhance
and mobilize domestic private resources; leverage
and increase international public finance; provide
innovative financial mechanism like green bonds,
etc.; and provide expertise, know -how for project
design, and implementation. Ms Aude Flogny from
Agence Française de Développement (AFD) discussed
the financial landscape required for sustainable
development. For India, she cited a 200 billion dollar
investment per year over the next five years to improve
infrastructure. Further she questioned the financial
landscape for this kind of requirement. ODA is not in
a position to fill this kind of requirement so in order to
fulfill this need India needs to tap all kinds of financial
resources which includes international resources and
access to international markets. She noted that it is
important not to depend on single source of finance
but rather blend different sources of finance such as
grants, loans, guarantees, etc. Referring to a report
prepared by Ricardo AEA, she discussed three possible
solutions to leverage finance—develop a pipeline of
bankable projects; Indian financial landscape needs to
explore more blended options of finance wherein at
the state level there is capacity to negotiate different
options/players for finance; and access to international
climate finance wherein India can tap into this.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 155
Electric Mobility
Shaping the Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility
In partnership with BMW
The track deliberated on opportunities and challenges
involved with electro-mobility, drawing from
experiences around the world and contextualising the
solution for India. Mr S Sundar, Distinguished Fellow,
TERI chaired the first session. He outlined the current
transport scenario in India and highlighted some of the
prospects and challenges of mainstreaming electric
vehicles (EVs) in the country. He pointed out that
electro-mobility can pave way for clean mobility, given
that the challenges associated with electro-mobility,
like producing clean electricity, reducing dependence
on imported batteries, recycling batteries, etc. are
resolved. Mr Sundar also emphasised on the need for
incentives to increase research on electric mobility
and solar vehicles and related technology and also for
encouraging people to adopt electric mobility. He was
followed by Mr Philip Von Sahr, President, BMW India
who commented that sustainability has to be embraced
in all its forms – ecological, social and economic. He
pointed out the relevance of introducing electric
mobility for sustainable development and described
the holistic approach adopted by BMW and showcased
the initiatives being taken by BMW in contributing to
electric mobility. He conveyed that BMW focuses on
continuously decreasing energy use and increasing use
of renewable energy across their operations and that
by 2020 the company is aiming to reduce resource
consumption per vehicle produced by 45 per cent as
compared to 2006 levels and to reduce the emission
levels of the vehicles sold in Europe by 50 per cent from
1995 levels. Dr R K Pachauri, Director General, TERI
stressed on the need to build a roadmap, rooted in
reality for EVs in India with the collaboration of industry
and research institutes. He also voiced his opinion on
how clean electric vehicles are when the electricity is
being generated from thermal power plants.
Mr Martin Wright, Director, Forum for the Future,
India, took over from Mr Sundar as chair and expressed
that with the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan
(NEMMP) in the background, the time is promising for
achieving electric mobility in India. He also emphasised
that one of the main obstacles in adopting electric
mobility in the country was financial constraints and
that electric vehicles need to be made affordable for
the consumer. He stressed that India has to take up
the opportunity and integrate the drive for solar
electricity with the drive for clean electricity to power
clean electric cars. With this he opened the session
for presentations.
Presentations made by the panellists covered
various aspects of electric mobility and highlighted the
Indian Government’s vision for electric mobility in India.
The first presentation was made by Mr Glenn Schmidt,
Director of Steering of Government and External
Affairs, Sustainability Communications, BMW Group
on ‘Revolutionizing (E)-mobility: A holistic approach
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 157
to sustainability;. He gave insights on the motivation
behind the BMW group in taking up electric mobility
pathway and the BMW i-series value chain and vehicle
design innovations and talked about how through
innovations, BMW has been able to reduce energy
requirements for its vehicles by 50 per cent, water
requirements by 70 per cent while using 100 per cent
renewable energy during the production of the ‘i’ series.
He informed the participants about mobility services
such as car sharing schemes like ‘Drive now’ which
could completely revolutionise the nature of personal
mobility. He explained that markets that offer the right
framework conditions such as monetary incentives in
the form of tax breaks, financial incentives and nonmonetary incentives like access to infrastructure,
parking privileges and demonstration projects, provide
the right ecosystem for promoting electric mobility and
this has been proved by experiences across countries
with high penetration rate of electric vehicles.
Dr Sajid Mubhasir, Member R&D, National
Automotive Board (NAB), Department of Heavy
Industries, Government of India talked about the
‘Scenario and plans for electric mobility in India’ and
158 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
shared various initiatives and strategies being planned
in the country to promote electric mobility. He
emphasised that the main wheels that would drive
electric mobility in the country are consumer incentives,
charging infrastructure, technology platform and supply
chain development that would catalyse manufacturing
and promote sale of electric vehicles. He mentioned
that the National Electric Mobility Mission (NEMM)
will start by April 2015. The Mission plans to draw
up a table of incentives and a quick delivery system of
incentives for the consumers, he said. He explained
that under the incentive, the consumer will get 20 per
cent taken off from the cost of the electric vehicle and
that the support would extend to two-wheelers, threewheelers and small cars for the next five years. He also
stressed that the government will simultaneously focus
on creating employment, creating skilled manpower
and engaging industry and research institutions to make
this electric mobility mission sustainable in the long run.
Dr Ujjwal K Bhattacharjee, Senior Fellow, TERI
presented his case on ‘Costs and benefits of using
PHEV buses for public transport in Indian cities’.
Taking from the lessons learnt from a feasibility study
on introducing PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle)
technology buses for public transport in Indian cities,
conducted by TERI for Government of Gujarat, he
stressed on the importance of batteries in the adoption
of various electric vehicle technologies.
The presentations were followed by panel
discussions which explored the various initiatives being
taken by players in the Indian automobile industry to
take the mission of electric mobility in India forward.
Mr Pawan Sachdeva, Senior General Manager,
Public Affairs, Mahindra & Mahindra, commenced the
discussions highlighting that Mahindra & Mahindra
is the pioneer of electro-mobility in India. Though
Mahindra’s electric car, e2O, has been well received
globally, he is of the opinion that the Government in
India needs to undertake a lot of measures to ensure
demand creation for EVs in the domestic market. One
of the challenges for sustainable urbanisation in India is
the rapid growth of transport demand. This is coupled
with inefficient use of resources, which lead to huge
degradation of the environment. This especially stands
true in the case of the transport sector and hence,
there is a need to look for smart solutions of which the
low emission electric vehicle is one such solution. He
pointed out that electric vehicles are significantly more
efficient, almost 7-10 times, than internal combustion
engine (ICE) vehicles and they could be zero carbon
generating when powered by solar electricity.
Mr Sachdeva further stated that questions are
often raised about how electric vehicles would be
powered given that the Government is targeting 6-7
million EVs to roll out by 2020. He explained that in
order to charge these vehicles only 830 MW of energy
would be required, which forms only 0.33 per cent of
the total power demand in the country. Also, if one
looks at the 24 hour electricity demand curve, during
the night time electricity demand falls to 50 per cent.
The charging of EVs could also be done during these offpeak periods. The 6-7 million EVs could also be easily
powered if transmission and distribution losses are cut
down by 1.44 per cent. In an interesting comparison,
the speaker highlighted that 3.4 million air conditioners
(AC) were sold last year. Assuming that these were
3-star rated ACs, their electricity consumption would
be 1 Kw (kilowatt) energy per hour. The power
consumed by ACs operating for four hours per day
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 159
for six months, is enough to power 2 million EVs. He
suggested that the EVs also fit in the Government’s
current Smart City agenda as they are smart cars;
they are connected to the consumer and to the grid.
They can be charged during off-peak demand periods
and feed electricity back to the grid during the peak
hours, this way they can also offer almost free mobility
to the consumers. Mr Sachdeva also spoke about the
solar charging option that Mahindra & Mahindra has
developed, which makes e2o almost a zero carbon car.
Dr Jabez Dhinagar, Vice President, TVS Motor
Company, highlighted the perspective of the electric
two-wheeler industry. He said that the total twowheeler industry expected a production of 15 million
vehicles this year and 35 million by 2020 implying two
wheelers would constitute largest elements of mobility
in India. He mentioned that even in NEMMP 2020
targets, two-wheelers constitute a bulk of the electric
vehicle volumes. However, two-wheeler electrification
is faced with a lot of challenges such as developing
home grown technology base, developing low cost
electric two-wheelers solutions, etc. Dr Dinaghar also
highlighted the typical consumer need and consumption
160 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
pattern with respect to two-wheelers in India where
almost 80 per cent consumers covered only about 1520 km per day. He suggested that a vehicle is treated
as a very precious personal possession in India and a
two-wheeler is mostly parked inside the home and is
general well maintained. As a result, these vehicles tend
to have an extended life cycle beyond 10 years as it is
usually reused in smaller towns and villages.
Dr Dinaghar also discussed his company, TVS’
roadmap with respect to fleet electrification, stating
that initially the company would focus on hybridisation
and later on pure electric technology. Bringing cost
down to consumer’s affordability level posed to be
a great challenge because of high cost of lithium; and
he said that this issue would still exist even after the
government rolled out its incentive package for xEVs
(hybrid and electric vehicles).
There are also inherent advantages in twowheeler electrification as it does not need an extensive
charging infrastructure and the existing domestic
sockets could be used to charge them. The electric
two-wheelers could also be amalgamated with the
solar rural electrification programmes and smart city
initiatives. Dr Dinaghar stated that his company’s
strategy was to produce a 50 per cent mild hybrid fleet
and 10 per cent electric fleet by 2020.
Mr Vernon Noronha, Vice President- Defence
& Government Business, TATA Motors, focused on
three important issues related to electric buses in the
Indian context – infrastructure, funding and weight of
the battery.
Mr Noronha informed that TATA Motors is
spearheading a programme wherein they have
developed hybrid buses, which do not require any
external charging infrastructure; therefore this
technology could be used as a low hanging opportunity
to introduce electro-mobility in the public transport
sector in India. This advantage he felt was critical,
since developing large scale public infrastructure often
takes a lot of time due to a number of government
clearances required.
Mr Noronha emphasised that in order to encourage
hybrid buses the government needs to subsidise these
buses especially for the use of public transport. This he
felt was essential for demand creation as the demand
is not going to come from the private sector but from
public bus corporations. He also added that the current
thinking within the government to bridge fund for
xEV bus initiatives might not be enough because bus
corporations find investment in hybrid/ electric buses
as a high risk investment as the technology is still new.
The government therefore needs to extend funding
support from basic bridge-funding to full funding so as
to encourage demand for such buses.
Mr Norhona mentioned that at TATA Motors
have also been able to get around a key challenge with
batteries and have been able to reduce the weight of
the battery. In case of all-electric buses, the weight
of buses often increases so much that there is hardly
any capacity left for carrying passengers. In one such
all-electric bus which weighed 4 tonnes, the batteries
ended up weighing 3.8 tonnes, he highlighted, which
has been solved in TATA’s hybrid buses. Batteries weigh
400 kg in hybrid buses and therefore there is enough
payload capacity to accommodate 50-60 passengers.
The speaker highlighted that the weight issue becomes
critical in the Indian context as there are stringent
restrictions on gross weight of the vehicle.
Mr Akshay Ahuja, Analyst, India Smart Grid
Forum highlighted that there was a need to develop
charging infrastructure to encourage electro-mobility
in the country. He mentioned that it is important to
standardise charging infrastructure to reduce costs for
setting up of charging infrastructure. The approach
should be to study international best practices and
customise them for Indian context, he said. He
emphasised the importance of developing business
models which made use of electric vehicles easy for the
consumer. For instance, developing pre-paid electric
metering systems within the car, so as to facilitate
payment for electricity on monthly basis.
Mr Ahuja mentioned that it was important that
the distribution companies worked hand-in-hand with
the other stakeholders of electric mobility to develop
electric charging infrastructure. He felt that it was
extremely important that the distribution companies
viewed EVs as an asset rather than a liability since EVs
could be used for applications such as grid balancing,
battery bank etc.
With these discussions and deliberations the
session came to a close with a round of thanks by the
Chair, Mr Wright.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 161
Special Session on Tackling Climate Change by
Legislators: The Road to Paris 2015
In partnership with the British High Commission and R20
Climate change has raised concerns that are common
to humanity. Whilst the impact of climate change
impinges differentially upon different geographies, its
solutions have to be based in collective action, rooted
in agreeable principles.
The special session on tackling climate change by
legislators and sub-national governments brought to the
discussion table, legislators from different countries,
and from different levels of government from within
India. The session engaged legislators’ on their role,
on the road to Paris–COP21. The session also brought
together legislators from different countries, to share
their experiences on climate action and to discuss why a
successful climate agreement matters to them. The role
of sub-national governments and their representatives
and its significance in mitigation and adaptation efforts
at the local level would take different contours.
The session opened with remarks from
Lord John Prescott, over India being a positive player,
in terms of contributions to global debate on climate
change. It was stressed that the definition of the global
legal framework and its enforcement was at the crux
of the climate negotiations. The confidence in global
negotiations was as important as the need to negotiate,
in the first place. It was important to empower
sub-national governments to take action along with
those already existing at the national government level.
Whilst the national governments owing to reasons
of politics, economics, and policy constraints are at
important stages in negotiation, it was important that as
many hands as possible should be brought in to address
climate change. It is the need of the hour that creative
approaches at local levels be of essence in building a
pyramid from a bottom–up approach, thereby aiding
national leaders in learning from local economies’
decision making.
The session attendees deliberated on the need
of legislators to understand technology, whether
ground-breaking or in the near-term acceptable.
It was also repeatedly mentioned that finance is the
key wherein legislators could create the required
regulatory certainty which can assist global finances to
be deployed to greener investments.
Many
representatives
from
sub-national
governments felt that communication to the
constituents was of essence and should be done at the
real local level. The need to understand our planet, its
climate science, and the international negotiations and
national positions that are being brought together to
address climate change, and communicating the same
to local communities would be the key to win over
local communities. The real concern, it was felt, was
to understand the local implications of global climate
change as noticed from constituents’ concerns. This
could help build national positions in a much more
comprehensive manner.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 163
Dignitaries stressed on the need for countries to have a
general law on climate change and congresses needed
to have a bigger role. A general law, for that reason,
would have to be in the form of a framework that
would state the percentage of emission reductions over
time. It would be best if it was to be a participative law,
wherein governance at different tiers would contribute
to the development of the organic law. There needs
to be a law that forces the executive to achieve
the targets.
The important role of parliamentary legislation
in climate negotiations was also underscored in the
session and this was one aspect that needed more
focus from different stakeholders.
Parliament usually lags behind climate change
issues. This is more so of importance since climate
change and its technicalities and its attendant
communication is less amongst parliamentarians.
The countries that have socio-economies more
dependent on bounties of nature are perhaps going
to be tremendously affected by climate change.
164 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Competitive pricing between coal-based energy and
the more expensive renewable energy could be a key
in convincing the constituents over the need to make
the source energy shift. So as long as climate change
negotiations do not come to their final contours, it
was felt, supportive legislations in the nature of energy
efficiency and the renewable energy must be explored
to their fullest. It was important that the world looked
away from the brown way of building and greener
financing would be the key in this regard.
It was also pointed out that apart from the per
capita emissions as an approach to understanding
stakes involved, issues of access to energy in rural
areas were important in many countries. The need to
see economic opportunities in climate mitigation and
adaptation was important as this could attract different
stakeholders in a consultative fashion. As decision
makers, it was important that constituents’ voice gets
reflected in any climate negotiation engagement.
It is important to have a policy framework from
the Central government’s right to the local level and
keeping in mind the diversities of the region, wherein
ecological security needs to be paired with sustainable
livelihood. Interventions need to be scaled up while
reviewing them in a recurrent fashion. Although, local
communities have been contributing to addressing
climate change in many ways, especially those in North
America, yet national governments could learn from
the experiences of the local governments.
Local communities need to look beyond the
upcoming conference at Paris, keeping in mind that
climate action can also be an opportunity for good
governance, without merely looking from political
aspect. A low-carbon development strategy could help
parliamentary legislations in this regard, whilst climate
action efforts had to involve multiple stakeholders
and delivery agents, ministries, and departments
amongst other.
As such, it was important that efforts are not
made in silos. A concrete portfolio of projects that kept
climate issues in mind would be an important aspect
thereto. Local populations need to be educated and
informed as to what climate change means and how
it can be addressed at the local level. In fact, climate
change aspects could also be seen in terms of national
security and state longevity aspects to development.
The need to learn from the hits and misses and
learnings from Kyoto, have to feed into the next
climate negotiation. National governments cannot
combat climate change all alone. Carbon regulations in
contextual frameworks were stressed upon, keeping in
mind ethno-centric diversities, apart from the fact that
climate change and energy access are linked issues. As
such making the constituents aware of climate change
and swaying their opinion at large could be a policy goal
in this regard.
Energy access along with technologies was equally
stressed upon. It was felt that climate change needs to
be seen in the context of climate awareness. Climate
sustainability has to be seen in the important context
of survivability and in this regard, existential issues for
SIDNs bring to the forefront the nature of challenges
that are involved.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 165
Climate Change Adaptation
and Mitigation
Chair
Prof. Achim Steiner
UN Under-Secretary-General & Executive Director, United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP)
Keynote Addresses
Dr Naoko Ishii
CEO & Chairperson, Global Environment Facility (GEF)
Mr Ashok Lavasa
Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India
Panellists
Mr Hideaki Domichi
Senior Vice-President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Dr Peter Holmgren
Director-General, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Prof. Nebojsa Nakicenovic
Deputy Director-General, International Institute for Applied Systems
Analysis (IIASA)
Ambassador Michel Rentenaar
Acting Director for Environment, Climate, Energy, and Water at the
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Netherlands Government
Climate Envoy
The second plenary session on the second day of the
summit attempted to discuss threadbare, the central
question of the potential for developing synergies
between climate change mitigation and adaptation
efforts and also try to develop an integrated approach
to offer a robust response to climate change at the
21st Conference of Parties (COP) to be held in Paris in
December 2015.
Chaired by the Chief Executive of the apex
United Nations environmental agency, the session
had two keynote addresses delivered by the CEO of
the largest public funder of projects to improve the
global environment and the senior-most administrative
officer of the environment ministry in the Indian
government. Other members in the panel comprised
the Country Head of a Japanese governmental agency
promoting international cooperation, two top scientists
respectively representing a global nonprofit forestry
research organization and an international research
institution conducting interdisciplinary research in
the allied fields of climate-energy, food-water, and
poverty-equity, and the climate ambassador of a
European nation.
In his introductory remark as the Chair,
Prof. Achim Steiner expressed the view that 2015
would be a defining year for both, climate change and
development processes. Referring to the findings in
United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP)
Adaptation Gap Report released during COP20 at Lima,
he noted that while mitigation is a key element of the
response to carbon emissions, it is equally important
to recognize the wide differences in the capacity of
individual countries to even respond adequately to
these changes. This poses tremendous challenges but,
along with the risks, also come great opportunities, if
everyone acts collectively rather than pursue narrow
individual interests as corporations, communities,
or countries.
The first keynote address was delivered by
Dr Naoko Ishii of Global Environment Facility (GEF)
with a focus on transformational change. She remarked
that it is important to understand the adjustments
required in natural or human systems to be taken in
response to actual or expected effects of climatic
Cost of prepare is much less
than the cost of repair.
Ambassador Michel Rentenaar
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 169
events, which in turn reduces environmental harm and
creates useful economic outcomes. Concurring with
the recommendations contained in the New Climate
Economy report of Mexican President Mr Felipe
Calderón, she said that there is a need to transform
the three major ills of modern society - large urban
settlements, unproductive land-use, and inefficient
energy systems. Future cities must be designed in
an integrated manner that makes them more livable.
Improper land-use leads to loss in productivity and
deforestation adversely impacts ecosystem services
and livelihoods. She opined that there was a need to
institute policies that enable a shift away from fossil
fuels to renewable sources of energy. As for adaptation,
there is still the absence of an established analytical or
policy framework to properly guide. There is also lack
of information and data on risk exposure of particular
communities. In budgeting for adaptation responses,
planners should undertake development based on local
factors like suitability of site in terms of availability of
infrastructure, natural resources, and human capital.
Involving the private sector is also important for
leveraging funds giving them a feeling of ownership
of assets so created. At the same time, public sector
capacity in disaster risk preparedness must be improved.
Reflecting on India’s approach to the issue of
climate change mitigation adaptation in the second
keynote address, Mr Ashok Lavasa stressed on
the importance of 2015 as the year when both the
Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) framework and
the Climate Change agreement have to be conclusively
finalised. But, it should be seen as an opportunity to
balance the need for development and the need to
have a clean environment. The Paris agreement should
build on the principles of development proposed by the
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Lima COP. Following CoP20, India has launched eight
national missions directed towards climate mitigation
and adaptation, under its National Action Plan on
Climate Change. These include targets for water
augmentation, enhanced agriculture production, and
sustainable habitats. He singled out the National Solar
Mission and the Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency
as being able to address both the adaptation needs and
in some sense the need for mitigation as well. Admitting
that while the proposed.
Intended Nationally Determined Contributions
(INDCs) would be a good starting point for more
climate action, it should recognize the difficulties
developing countries face in terms of progress on
various parameters of the Human Development
Index. He suggests that rather than seeing the INDCs
as a tabulation of targets, they must be viewed
as instruments of trust and thus should contain in
themselves, an inherent element of transparency by
ways of monitoring, reporting, and verification. He
concluded by reiterating the now widely held belief,
as first expressed in the 1990 International Labour
Organization (ILO) declaration, that poverty anywhere
is a threat to prosperity everywhere. On an enquiry
from the Chair about the country’s response to coastal
erosion and sea level rise, Mr Lavassa replied that this
matter is receiving due attention of the Prime Minister’s
Council on Climate Change.
Taking his turn to address the gathering,
Mr Hideaki Domichi of Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) said that after the Triple
Disaster in his country, Japan takes the consequences of
climate change and the IPCC projections of dangerous
scenarios in its Fifth Assessment Report very seriously.
He hopes for Paris to be able to reach a legally binding
pact applicable to all countries. He expressed his
country’s resolve to formulate their INDCs as early as
possible and to offer all assistance to other countries
in this regard, including various Japanese technologies
for a shift towards a low carbon economy. He said
that the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum, a Japanese
initiative in the field of energy and environment, will he
held annually. They also propose to convene a Global
Adaptation Network Forum in Panama this March. At the
same time, they are hosts to the Third UN Conference
on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai. Japan is a major
contributor to the Green Climate Fund set up under
the Cancun Agreement. Japanese earth observation
technologies can greatly enhance adaptation
capabilities, especially in the areas of land-use plan,
water management, climate adaptive seas, or various
other master plans. He informed the audience that in
the year 2017, Japan will launch a weather satellite to
observe the global emission of greenhouse gases in
big cities in Asia. JICA also collaborates internationally
in development projects by offering their latest
technologies and promotes the concept of what he
calls `Build but Better’ for disaster risk reduction and
to tackle growing urbanization.
Commenting on forests and landscape,
Dr Peter Holmgren of Center for International
Forestry Research (CIFOR) opined that climate change
mitigation and adaptation cannot be expected to take
Forests are carbon sinks and money sinks.
Dr Peter Holmgren
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 171
place in isolation. They need to be fully integrated
with social and economic development. The two
must be combined. He pointed out that forests don’t
merely help by providing clean air, but also provide
a number of other ecosystem services like livelihood
enhancement and poverty reduction, medicinal plants
for health improvement, ensuring food security, water
retention in soil, trade of timber and forest produce,
and providing energy for our daily needs. They also
help absorb carbon and release life giving oxygen. He
attributed the recent droughts in Brazil to the loss of
its forest cover. According to him, this is a classic case
of failure to address mitigation affecting capacity for
adaptation. He laments the fact that forestry continues
to be denied its rightful place in the sustainable
development process and believes that without proper
landscape development there can be no sustainable
development. He argues for affordable, fair and longterm finance for investments in sustainable production
systems; systems that deliver both economic returns
as well as enhanced ecosystem services, enrich soils
and use less energy. The Landscape Fund concept
is a new focus of their research. To a question from
the chair about the loss in ecosystem services to the
extent of livelihood enhancement provided by forests,
Dr Holmgren explained that forests provide multiple
benefits and it is left to humanity to make the best use
of their bounty.
Welcoming the opportunity to address another
DSDS, Prof. Nebojsa Nakicenovic of International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) felt that
the year 2015, a critical year, could be the beginning
of the big transformation that could alter the selfdestructive course of our planet. He believes that
deep social transformation is required to achieve the
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necessary decarbonization and adaptation, something
like the industrial revolution that saw the replacement
of animal and human labour by fossil fuel energy,
resulting in stupendous progress and development,
which, however, has come at a considerable cost to the
environment. In order to reverse the trend and stabilize
the climate, he advocates deep decarbonization with
the aim of bringing emissions down to zero by the year
2050. He believes that efficiency improvements can
bring down emissions by 40 per cent. However, these
measures should not be restricted to the area of energy
alone, but should extend to technology, institutions,
behaviour, and all that go together. More mitigation
aimed at keeping down global temperature increase to
less than 2 degrees will mean less adaptation, but both
actions require equal emphasis. He expects Paris to be
a watershed moment in climate negotiations because
everyone is aware by now of the co-benefits of climate
action in terms of reduced air pollution, increased
water availability, greater energy efficiency, higher food
productivity, and better human health.
Explaining his optimism for CoP21 negotiations
to be able to deliver a workable consensus,
Ambassador Michel Rentenaar of the Netherlands
said that climate action and economic growth go
hand in hand. He said that a period of opportunities
awaits if everyone gets it right – the opportunities
for development cooperation, energy access, food
security, human health, and so on are immense. The
new agreement should aim at climate neutrality in
the long term and be binding on all countries with
the government providing the legal framework and
civil society providing the action on the ground. The
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
does seem fair on the face of it, but then a country’s
fiscal situation keeps changing on an annual basis and it
would be wise to account for such variations between
countries while framing targets. Calling mitigation and
adaptation two sides of the sustainable development
triangle, he said that the third side is made up by
the means of implementation, including finance,
technology and capability, without which the triangle
would be incomplete. Developed countries must
commit to providing the funds and beneficiaries must
meet their obligations fully without misuse of finance.
He also stated that full support of what he calls ‘nonstate actors’ including companies, cities, sub-national
authorities is required to supplement government
policies. Although civil society voices are increasingly
being heeded, they are still not part of the process of
drafting the text of the agreement. He hoped that Paris
would mark a landmark change in this respect.
To certain queries raised by the Chair,
Prof. Nakicenovic indicated that since the INDCs
are voluntary pledges, it becomes necessary to build
into the Paris agreement, a transparent system of
monitoring, reporting, and verification. To the audience
apprehension that the falling price of crude oil could
influence the Paris agreement adversely, he said this was
a result of shale gas from the United States replacing
coal and injection of renewables into the market. This
has served to reshuffle the energy landscape and has
also helped to bring down emissions.
2015 is a century scale challenge.
Prof. Nebojsa Nakicenovic
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 173
Dr Holmgren said that adaption takes place from
bottom-up, so policymakers should base their decisions
on ground realities while looking for solutions that
arise from following the scientific method of inquiry.
Elaborating on CIFOR’s Landscape Fund, he said that
it focuses on improved financial infrastructure that
connects smallholders with big investors. Secondly,
more information is required on science, research
and more about what practices on the ground deliver
sustainability outcomes, etc. Thirdly, cost-efficient
verification systems of sustainability outcomes that
are simple enough to be understood and accepted by
everyone are necessary.
Mr Lavasa was of the opinion that the fact that
the need to act is realized by all itself is a guarantor
of success, but INDCs should be formulated giving
due consideration to individual country scenarios and
allocation of finances done accordingly. The question
of finance being huge, the amount already earmarked
should be enlarged to make it attractive for private
sector investors to invest in any new ventures. He
also cautions that since countries are at various
stages of growth, their financial requirements will
also be different and so the principle of common but
differentiated responsibility should keep this in view.
While agreeing with earlier views on the need
for a transparent system of monitoring, reporting,
and verification of national efforts at mitigation and
adaptation, Ambassador Rentenaar said that the Kyoto
Protocol was rigid and applied to only a few countries
but the Paris agreement should be comprehensive to
ensure the broadest possible participation and also in
attaining consensus.
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Mr Domichi felt that in terms of energy consumption,
India would probably outpace China as early as 2020
because of the fact that India is expected to become
the third largest economy in the world by 2050.
Therefore, India’s national plan should weigh options
of what is the best energy mix for the country. He gave
the example of his own country where after the Triple
Disaster, Japan stopped using nuclear energy and is
importing natural gas and oil which hurts the economy.
He insisted that the use of renewables like solar energy
must be promoted on a large scale.
Rounding up the discussion, the Chair observed
that climate mitigation and adaption efforts should be a
permanent part of the development process. Looking
at the events over the last few years, where extreme
fluctuations in crude prices caused price volatility in
all commodities, he suggested that the world should
insure itself against such aberrations. He also stated that
the Paris agreement should aim for climate neutrality
or a zero net emissions target at least by 2050, else the
world’s future may be at stake.
The latest climate negotiations should set an
agenda for the twenty-first century, where the form
of the agreement should be shaped by governments
and the people themselves, fuelled by the boundless
renewable energy of the human spirit.
At the end of the session, it was announced
that TERI and TERI University have been recognized
as the Capacity Building Hub for the UN Sustainable
Energy for All (SE4All) initiative, a web-based platform
to deliver online training programmes and curated
knowledge products. The Chair, Prof Achim Steiner,
was then requested to formally launch the portal.
Thematic Tracks
Safe and Clean Transport for Sustainable Cities
In partnership with IATSS and IIT Delhi
The Thematic Track on ‘Safe and Clean Transport for
Sustainable Cities’ was organised in association with the
International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences
(IATSS), Japan, and the Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi (IIT-D).The track deliberated on issues related
to sustainable urban transport with special emphasis
on road safety, environmental and health impacts, and
designing of safer streets and neighbourhoods. The
session was chaired by Mr S Sundar, Distinguished
Fellow, TERI and Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Executive
Vice President, IATSS and Director and Professor,
Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science,
The University of Tokyo.
Mr Sundar highlighted that there is a need to
promote universal access and inclusive mobility
for meeting the country’s passenger and freight
demand. However, the supply to meet the increasing
demand needs to be environmentally friendly, energy
efficient, and safe. He stressed on the fact that India
is rapidly motorising but so is road traffic incidentsand
informed that road traffic injuries were the sixth
leading cause of death in the country. Highlighting
the equity issue, he pointed out that the most
vulnerable group were the cyclers and pedestrians.
He suggested that combating road safety requires
concerted action at all levels and it should be treated
as a public health issue. 80 per cent of the Indian
cities exceed air quality standards set by Government
of India especially for PM 2.5. Mr Sundar attributed
this to poor quality fuel and poor enforcements.
He informed that the Supreme Court of India has
constituted a committee to monitor road safety. This
committee is closely interacting with State governments
to ensure that adequate measures are undertaken and
road safety is promoted. In the capacity of a member
of this committee, he shared that none of the states
had a structured programme and in absence of any lead
agency, ad-hoc measures were being undertaken. He
opined that continuous interaction is required in order
to prioritise road safety in their agenda.
Prof. Takeuchi, introduced Prof. Kenji Doi,
Professor, Department of Global Architecture,
Osaka University to share insights from their study
on ‘Research Framework on Community Design
for Traffic Safety’. He shared that urban sprawl
determines mobility needs and automobile use and
since India was in the early stages of motorisation,
working towards community based safe and
sustainable transport was the best way forward.
He shared insights from the study which largely focused
on exploring the city design domains considering spatial
and social structure of cities and interaction of transport
and land use along with understanding social needs and
habits. One of the study outcomes as shared by Prof.
Doi has been that the study has suggested directions
for safe, accessible, and socially usable transport with
cooperation of communities and stressed on the point
that safety is a pre-requisite of sustainability.
Prof. Takashi Oguchi from The University of
Tokyo shared his experiences of road safety initiatives
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 177
from Japan. He discussed the role of these initiatives
in reversing the increasing trend in road accidents.
These ranged from undertaking education and training
to applying hardware measures such as fleet control
measures, pedestrian bridges, selective measures at
frequent accident locations, etc. He also highlighted
the role of strict law enforcement and improved
emergency response in reducing the fatalities. For
India, he recommended a combination of hardware
and software measures which could include: pavement
management, , highway engineering, regulation
enforcement, fleet registration control, automated
breaking systems, education and training, etc.
Prof. Dinesh Mohan, Volvo Chair Professor
Emeritus, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, opined
that till now transport policies have been based on
time saving theory which need to be shifted to distance
saving analysis. He gave an example of how giving users
a faster mode of transport translates to the user staying
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further away, which results in the user taking the same
amount of time to travel. Prof. Mohan remarked that
urban safety is intricately connected with climate
change, and if lesser greenhouse gases (GHGs)
emissions is the end goal, then cities will have to be
safer. He cited safer cities as an essential condition
for bringing in sustainability. He cited several reports
and studies which observed safety as the determinant
factor in a person’s decision whether or not to use
public transport.
Prof. Mohan shared insights from a joint IIT D
and IATSS study which involved a six-city assessment.
The study involved analysis of fatalities by road user
type among others. Some findings highlighted that
70–80 per cent of people die outside vehicles, hence
more safety interventions need to be designed for
pedestrians rather than vehicles. He mentioned
that personal risk is higher incase of travelling by
motorcycles (5 times higher than cars) and societal risk
is higher in cars because more people are injured in a
car accident. As part of this study, the team had also
marked fatality locations in these cities and provided
new designs for arterial, connector, and local roads.
In Agra, as part of the study outcome, cross section
designs of roads were prepared and submitted to the
city government along with public safety guidelines.
Prof. Mohan highlighted that a move towards designing
safer streets and neighbourhoods has to become an
integral part of our efforts to move towards a more
sustainable future. Safe streets from crime can also
become safe from road accidents, he said. He also
discussed the concept of crime prevention through
environmental design (CPTED) which emphasises
on certain principles while designing the streets
wherein the design should be such that everyone
should be visible from everywhere. Prof. Mohan also
highlighted how pedestrian scaled retail shops in
cities reduce accidents. He cited that each additional
neighbourhood-scaled retail use is associated with
2.2 per cent decrease in total crashes.
Ms Megha Kumar, Research Associate,
Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI shared insights
from an ongoing study on ‘Improving informal public
transport in Indian cities: Creating new knowledge to
influence policies’. This study has been commissioned
by the Department for International Development
(DFID), United Kingdom. The focus of the study
is on understanding the role and contribution of
informal transport modes in meeting mobility needs;
identifying key issues associated with their operations,
and suggesting solutions for improving these systems
at city, state, and national level. Ms Megha shared that
the vehicles that were being studied in five study areas
could be categorised as: motorised mode: Loosely
regulated and inadequate enforcement; motorised
modes operating outside the ambit of regulations;
and non-motorised modes. She shared that in Jaipur
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 179
and Amritsar, modes such as buses and autorickshaws
despite low in number had high mode shares.
In the study area—Noida, she observed that private
modes were the only mode of transport. In peri-urban
and rural areas, it was observed, during the study, that
due to limited or absent public transport options, the
private modes were currently playing an important role
in terms of filling the mobility gap. She gave examples
of these modes—Kadukas in Punjab and Chakkdas in
Gujarat. In this context, she highlighted that since the
private operated transport modes will continue to
play a dominant role in future, it is essential to make
them safe and clean. She highlighted several issues as
observed during the study which included vehicles not
registered and not complying to any safety regulations;
absence of vehicle fitness, insurance and pollution
under control (PUC) certification. Overloading was
cited as an overarching issue across all modes and cities.
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Other issues highlighted were: Vehicles exceeding
three times the design capacity and low quality of the
vehicle body owing to local manufacturing and retrofitting. As part of this study, the fleet age and fuel
efficiency of these modes was also studied, Ms Kumar
pointed out that vehicles operating in peri-urban
areas were as old as fifteen years. She recommended
that while designing regulations, operational aspects
should be determined by market. She also suggested
a number of recommendations such as enforcing
vehicle registration, insurance, and driving license for
all motorised and non-motorised vehicles, compliance
with vehicle design regulations and type approval for
all vehicles.
Mr Colin Delmore, International Development
Director, Asia Injury Prevention Foundation shared
his experiences from injury prevention measures that
were undertaken in Vietnam. He highlighted that safety
features need to be incorporated in new developments
and that “helmets are a vaccine, with a potential to
reduce head injuries by 69 per cent and fatalities by
42 per cent”. He shared his organisation’s initiative on
designing tropical helmets for South Asian countries
which was implemented through a social enterprise
in Hanoi. He shared the impacts of this programme
and the importance of information, education, and
communication (IEC) in sensitising and creating a social
impact. He opined that by educating children, one can
educate future bike riders and through public service
campaigns, one can create a positive impact.
Dr R K Pachauri, Director- General, TERI,
in his special address discussed the importance
of the session’s theme. He highlighted that onesixth of the global emissions were attributed to the
transport sector and in this context, he highlighted
the opportunity in reducing emissions in this sector.
He shared that since there is a lot of growth expected
in this sector, there was an urgent requirement for
appropriate technologies and strategies in order to
bring in a positive change. Highlighting the co-benefits,
he mentioned that improving the air quality would
also lead to reduction in GHG emissions and suitable
interventions would also contribute towards building
energy security. He suggested that each country should
make a roadmap in a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario
in order to apprise themselves of the future impacts
on air quality, emissions, road space, and congestion
so that they could take adequate measures to improve
the same.
Prof. Hironori Hamanaka, Chair of the Board
of Directors, IGES concluded by highlighting the need
to adopt an integrated approach to achieve safe and
clean transport. He thanked the organisers, speakers,
and all the participants for the valuable deliberations.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 181
Challenges in Introducing Clean Technologies
In partnership with EDF
The thematic track on “Challenges in Introducing Clean
Technologies “, was aimed at developing dialogues in
light of the Climate Agreement 2015–Road to Paris,
towards understanding the role of electricity in the
de-carbonization process of the economy. Following
the opening remarks by Ms Claude Nahon, Senior
Vice President, Sustainable Development, Électricité
de France (EDF), on decarbonizing India’s energy
mix and exploring the possibilities of bringing about a
development agenda, the floor was presented to the
speakers in the session.
In consideration of the climate change concerns,
and given the fact that over 1.3 billion of the global
population lacks access to basic forms of energy, the
adoption of clean technologies becomes imperative.
The use of cleaner low-carbon technologies in power
generation has received much attention across the
world with many countries adopting technologies such
as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Combined
Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) in their power production
processes. To elaborate further on this point, Ms
Marianne Najafi, International Affairs Advisor, EDF–
Direction Stratégie et Prospective, shared particulars
on Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership’s
(GSEP) contribution towards the 21st session of the
Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) and their role in decarbonizing the
electricity sector. In order to achieve 50 per cent
efficiency in coal fired plants from the current 33 per
cent, the power sector requires a reversal in its energy
mix towards a two-thirds share of the renewables
(CCS included), as well as a widespread uptake of
CCGT to enable grid integration of renewable energy.
In order to achieve the same, a clear roadmap that
captures technologies to the next level, breakthroughs
that lower the cost of batteries to manage renewable
intermittency and introducing technologies sought
by digitization must be introduced. She was of the
view that a collaborative effort of governments and
corporations is required to roll out technologies at
the right time, right place, and in the right mix. Dr
Leena Srivastava, Vice Chancellor, TERI University
and Honorary Executive Director, TERI, stated that in
terms of the challenges that India faces in developing
renewable energy, green corridors and smart grids,
the biggest is the issue of policy coordination. Due to
the large number of entities at the Centre, between
the Centre and State as well as between the State and
utilities, the need of policy coordination for effective
implementation between the entities becomes all the
more crucial. Energy solutions to ease the process of
purchase and sale of electricity such as ‘open access’ and
‘renewable purchase obligations’ that offered win-win
situations to government and industry must be further
explored into to resolve any inherent tension. In the
effort towards expanding the renewable energy space,
persisting policy gaps in the solar rooftop policy, issues
on payment security for power evacuation, as well as
the gaps and weaknesses in forecasting and scheduling
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 183
were highlighted as major concerns hampering the
process.
The session saw discussions on the need for
extensive local dialogues on the adoption of newer and
cleaner technologies, their social and environmental
concerns such that there is sufficient trust from the
people. At the same time, Ms Nahon pointed out the
importance for power developers to have the ability to
create value around facilities so as to ensure that the
local settlements also look after them.
The stimulating panel discussion on “How the Power
Generation Technologies can Help Governments to Meet
their Climate Commitments”, raised several fundamental
issues and concerns pertaining to the needs of the
power sector that required immediate addressing.
These included sustainable financing of the renewable
sector, grid balancing, tariff rationalization, emission
reduction, forecasting, policy coordination, and energy
storage among several others. While providing a
positive vision for the renewable energy industry in
India with the ambitious capacity addition plans in solar
and wind, Mr Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government
of India, also highlighted the need to strengthen the
transmission system as well as improve the health of
the financially distressed distribution companies. This is
vital to ensure the efficient absorption of the renewable
energy into the system. Having an appropriate energy
mix with the proper balancing power that can minimise
carbon emission, is needed in order to meet demand
requirements.
On the technological front, the thermal efficiency
(of about 120 units) in the country averages at 32 per
cent, the improvement of which has been initiated by
the Government of India with the transition towards
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ultra-mega power projects, and condition of no
sub-critical plants by the 13th Five Year Plan. This
has been further been encouraged by the PerformAchieve-Trade (PAT) scheme by the Government of
India that mandates carbon emission reduction as
per the country target as was stated Mr Pankaj Batra,
Chief Engineer, Regulatory Affairs, Central Electricity
Authority (CEA). The shift towards ultra-super critical
technologies was indicated to take the efficiency levels
to nearly 40 per cent. However, Mr H L Bajaj, Member
of Board of Directors, PTC & Former Chairman, CEA,
specified that in order for the efficiency to increase
up to 50 per cent, the sector would have to shift
majorly to an integrated gasification combined-cycle
IGCC technology. He added, that to achieve the zero
emission level in power generation, a fuel shift towards
nuclear would be the best alternative. With nuclear
technologies available domestically, India has become
self-sufficient in building reactors. The fuel option
also allows for international cooperation, thereby,
promoting the use of nuclear processes in the country.
Energy storage has been a much contended
issue across the world given the peak and base load
requirement as well as with the increased availability
of the renewable energy in addition to the thermal
capacities. With no or limited storage capacity, due to
prevailing high per megawatt (MW) cost, not only does
the excess generated power go waste, but switching
between thermal and renewable power adds to the
overall cost. Mr Bajaj cited the example of Germany
where the peak requirement of 60 gigawatts (GW) is
met through solar, wind, and thermal power. Germany
has about 30 GW of solar and 30 GW of wind. During the
availability of sun and wind, all their thermal capacities
have to be shut, while during sun down or no wind, they
fall back on thermal. With such sudden and intermittent
requirement of thermal power, to ramp up the thermal
sets in the short time to balance the power demand
load, the boilers are required to be kept constantly in
operation, thus resulting in energy wastage as well as
fixed costs. In India, the issue of storage can best be
addressed by augmenting the pumped storage capacity
that remains majorly untapped.
Major support was expressed by most panelists
towards propagating installation of rooftop solar
photovoltaics in the country. Mr Batra noted that as these
photovoltaics are installed at the point of consumption,
it enables increased savings on transmission and
distribution infrastructure expenditure. The MNRE
launched the scheme with the ambitious target of 40
GW by 2022 in this regard. However, to expedite the
process of setting up the grid-connected rooftop solar
projects, it was deliberated that a conducive policy for
connectivity, suitable tariff policy, and full acceptance
by the discoms must be ensured in the interim.
Supporting the need for off-grid energy options, Dr A
K Tripathi, Director, MNRE, stressed on the need for
decentralized and distributed generation in order to
meet the demand of the rural population. With issues
such as grid-integration of renewables for optimal
balancing, high storage costs, increasing power demand,
and a complex transmission network, a strong power
system that includes up-to-date smart grid software, IT
equipments and standards as well as a system resilient
enough to manage their interoperability was highlighted
as an important aspect by Mr Raghunath Mahapatra,
Vice President and Head—Strategy at Welspun Energy.
The track concluded on the note that while
sufficient efforts are being undertaken by the
government in terms of drafting policies to encourage
technological advancement and increased renewable
energy penetration to meet the power deficit in the
country, much attention must be given to ensuring
overall coordination and the logistical and regulatory
bottlenecks that are more responsible for delayed and
ineffective implementation of policies.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 185
How can Reduction of SLCPs Contribute to Achieving
SDGs and a Successful Outcome in Paris?
In partnership with Royal Norwegian Embassy
and Embassy of Sweden
The Thematic Track commenced with a welcome
address by HE Mr Jan Olsson HE Mr Lars Andreas
Lunde in his remarks stated that the need for SLCP
(Short Lived Climate Pollutant) reduction for adhering
to the target of 2oC global temperature rise. He
quoted ‘Reducing SLCPs can lead the world to the
2oC development while reducing the health effects
simultaneously’. Mr Lunde pointed out that reducing
short lived climate pollutants should be a priority. He
assured the audience that this goal is both technically
and economically achievable. SLCP generally includes
black carbon, methane, ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs). The key motivation, according to him, to
reduce SLPCs include—a more liveable environment,
‘first-aid’ to global environment change, and an
improved food security due to agricultural benefits.
Though, he clearly cautioned everyone that reducing
SLCP is not a substitute for carbon dioxide (CO2)
reduction. By bringing up the outcome of the ‘Climate
Economy’ report—which says that climate goals and
economic development are not mutually exclusive
goals, he established the relevance of 100 smart cities
in India. Cities should be compact and have ‘rapid
transit systems’.
Prof. Achim Steiner stated that it is time to
redefine the DNA of the climate change factor”.
He discussed about various legally binding climate
agreements. According to him, the world is not going
to act because of the top–down global legislations, but
because it makes sense to reduce air pollution looking
at its rampaging effect on human health and society.
Economy and society has to act in harmony beyond
the international boundaries. He also highlighted
the importance of SLCPs by pointing out that if one
works towards local health benefits and reduction
of SLCPs, it helps in achieving the broad and global
climate goals. Throwing light on the 21st Conference
of Parties (COP) to be held in Paris, later this year, he
said that these developments and negotiations must
not be seen as purely legal obligations but it must be
realized that these goals must be achieved because
they make sense. It must be understood that for earth
to live in the planetary boundaries, we need to work
in coalitions towards achieving these goals. Building
on that, he cited the example of United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP)—which began
with just six countries but now has a world-wide
presence, an example of mankind coming together for
collective goals. UNEP now has representation from a
diverse group of stakeholders—agriculture, industries,
regulatory authorities, etc. He concluded by saying that
such initiatives are bricks to build a better future.
HE Ms Ségolène Royal was of the opinion that
developing countries can benefit if they skip the step
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 187
of a more polluted industrial model for which a heavy
social cost has already been paid by the developed
countries. She listed out some facts about SLCPs
such as cardiovascular and brain related diseases and
cancer associated with air pollution. This accounts for
nearly 7 million deaths worldwide. Moreover, studies
have shown that SLCPs have direct links with reduced
agricultural production. She also appreciated the work
done by CCAC in combating the SLCP issue. These
initiatives include work done to reduce HFC emissions,
waste management and ‘action plan green freight’—
which has strong economic and environmental
benefits. Waste sector holds a special relevance in
the climate change issue as it contributes to 3–5 per
cent in the global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions.
Besides climate change, waste mismanagement is also
responsible for soil contamination. Unplanned burning
188 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
of waste contributes a lot to SLCPs. She also added that
all the technical tools are in place but what is required
now is the political will for implementation.
She also shared some of her own experiences as an
environment minister 23 years back. Oil and petroleum
industries have a huge lobby in the market and that is
why the renewable energy, especially solar energy, has
not picked up. A similar kind of lobby is also observed
in the pesticide industry, which has huge implications
on the general public health. In addition to low SLCP
and GHG emissions, renewable sources of energy are
also decentralized which is an extra advantage as this
will reduce the dependence on centralized grids and
provide power to remote areas.
Thereafter, Prof. V Ramanathan described
the science behind the SLCPs and the share in
energy consumptions of the top 1 billion and the
underprivileged 3 billion people in the world. According
to him, most of the total energy consumption of the
world is unsustainably consumed by the 1 billion people
on top while the 3 billion in the bottom are deprived
of clean energy and the situation is going to worsen by
2030. However, it is the latter which pays the higher
price—being most vulnerable. Prof. Ramanathan
spoke about the diverse impacts of SLCPs which vary
from global rise in temperature to immediate health
impacts. Nearly, 79 per cent of the 7 million deaths
from air pollution are in Asia. And 4 million are women
or children. Studies have shown that ozone has direct
impacts on agricultural production. Productions lost
on the account of ozone in India is enough to feed
95–300 million people. He added that cutting down
only the CO2 or SLCPs individually cannot retain the
temperature rise within 2oC. However, the combined
effect of reducing CO2 and SLCPs could restrict the
temperature rise to below 2oC.In a shorter time
frame, only SLCPs can help while CO2 measures show
their effect in longer timeframes only. He then showed
the Californian example of emission reduction without
compromising on economic growth. He concluded
that the per capita cost of decarbonisation, for the
energy consumed by the top 1 billion population, is
about $1,000, while providing clean energy access
to the bottom 3 billion is only $250. He later moved
towards the solution to the problem. The technology
to reduce SLCPs is readily available. The only required
ingredient is the will to deploy it. The identified sources
of black carbon are diesel, cookstoves, and solid fuel
burning. The solutions to latter are simple provision
of efficient stoves and cleaner fuel to the bottom 3
billion. He cited the example of California where the
population and diesel consumption increased but due
to deployment of better technology the black carbon
emissions reduced. Thus economic development does
not necessarily suffer on account of SLCPs reduction.
During the discussions it was felt that there is a
need to bring out the importance of SLCPs in the policy
structure and suggest measures to reduce emissions
and maximize benefits. The same has been reflected
in the presentations regarding European Union
and Norway.
Mr Leif Holmberg, Senior Policy Adviser with the
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, shared his
experiences on SLCPs. He showed the current and
future policies for reducing SLCPs in the European
Union. He stated that a European citizen loses about
half a year of his life due to bad air quality despite a
lot of work on air quality in the past few decades. Bad
air quality in the EU has been responsible for almost
400,000 deaths. More individual impacts have been
observed such as decrease in life span and premature
deaths. The calculated cost of reduction is 60 billion.
He walked through the transition in the focus area of
the policy frame work in EU. In the 70s and 80s, the
primary focus was on acidification of the ecosystem
and forest depletion which changed to health concerns
in the 90s and eventually climate change along with
health concerns in 2000s. He stated that the focus of
air pollution in Europe has shifted to health and SLCPs
in the past one decade due to their growing impacts.
He then spoke about the key policy measures taken
and stated that the new policy packages in the EU can
reduce 58,000 premature deaths by 2030 and save
19,000 sq. km of forest area from acidification. He also
informed the audience about the other protocols in
the EU, for example the Gothenburg protocol which
covers multi pollutants and has multi effects. Formed
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 189
in 1999, the protocol set up ceilings for emissions of
pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide,
etc. In 2012, for the first time, the revised ceilings also
included black carbon. It is estimated that almost onethird of black carbon emissions in Sweden are on the
account of diesel.
Correspondingly, black carbon emissions
went down with the enactment of stricter emission
regulations over the years. He also pointed towards
methane emissions which are slowly grabbing the
attention of the policymakers. The expected policy
interventions may include revision of emission
ceiling from combusting plants, methane collection
from the waste landfill sites, and revision of fuel
and vehicle standards. Finally, he stated that apart
from health benefits like avoiding 60,000 premature
deaths and global climate change control, the
190 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
reduction in the SLCPs emission will have direct
economic benefits.
Ms Hanne Bjurstrøm, Special Envoy for Climate
Change, Norway & Co-Chair, Climate and Clean Air
Coalition (CCAC) shared her experiences from the
studies conducted in Norway.
Ms Bjurstrøm stated that climate change and
air pollution policies should be coordinated. She
mentioned that Norway has introduced huge tax
relief on electric cars and put a ban on landfills.
She shared multiple experiences in Norway which
included tax release on electric cars. Norway has
the highest number of electric cars which is a step
towards reducing SLCPs. The emission inventories
conducted in Norway have revealed that the major
sources of black carbon in the country are diesel and
wood burning at homes. She pointed out that black
carbon emissions from Norway have higher relevance
because of proximity of the country to arctic glaciers.
Therefore, the policy focus in Norway covers a variety
of areas which include agriculture, petroleum, oil, and
also the waste sector. Policies to be deployed must be
thoroughly evaluated. It was observed that in certain
cases policies had a net negative effect on the climate
change. In selected cases it was seen that effects of
the policies were contradictory, for example, policies
intended for immediate health benefit of the general
public were seen to have a negative impact on the
environment. She finally highlighted the conclusions
of the research studies conducted in Norway of
which SLCPs reduction not being a substitute for
CO2 reduction rather a step which would reinforce
the impacts of CO2 reduction was one of them. The
conclusion also included a suggestion that each measure
deployed must be evaluated in terms of its effects on
public health, local environment, and global climate
change. Finally, it was also suggested that countries like
Mexico and Bangladesh doing similar work must also
be assisted.
Prof. Ramanathan added to the above raised
points by mentioning that black carbon is one of the
strongest absorber of sunlight and the problem is much
more complicated. There are certain organic carbons
which are emitted along with black carbon which have
a cooling effect as they scatter sunlight back into the
atmosphere. Building on that he also added that power
plants are generally known for emitting CO2 which
adds to the global temperature, however, they also emit
sulphur dioxide which later transforms into sulphate,
and this has a net cooling effect. He also suggested that
focus of climate change must not be centred on global
temperature increase. Increase in the temperature
holds higher relevance in higher altitudes and latitudes
due to the tremendous effect on the glacier melting.
However, in tropical countries, changes in the wind
patterns and monsoon have more critical implications.
He pointed out that even though almost all the models
suggested a net increase in the rainfall in south Asia,
the actual figure is the opposite. The net cooling effect
of the aerosols emitted in these regions could be a
possible explanation for these unexpected changes in
the pattern. He also elaborated on the point raised by
Ms Hanne, where she mentioned that Norway has the
highest number of electric cars. According to him, if
the electricity to charge these cars is being generated
from coal-based power plants, then gasoline cars are a
better option for the environment.
On a question asked by Mr Sumit Sharma from
TERI on which of the two sources (transport and
domestic) are to be controlled on priority in India, Prof.
Ramanathan responded that handling the residential
sources could be a better option which will have more
far reaching effects as it will not only reduce one–third
of black carbon but will also improve the indoor air
quality. Improved cookstoves, he claimed, can cut
down the black carbon emissions by almost 90 per
cent. However, he highlighted some obvious practical
challenges like the cost of improved cookstoves might
be out of the buying capacity of most villagers in
India. Thus, the top 1 billion—responsible for almost
60 per cent of the pollution must take lead in financing
these cookstoves.
Towards the end, Mr Olsson summarized the
session with the point that if the science of SLCPs is
developing, it is no reason not to act and that everyone
suffers the externalities of SLCPs and thus everyone
must collectively fight to reduce them and its impact.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 191
Asia’s Smart Future Cities
In partnership with ADB
The Asian Development Bank, based in Manila,
Philippines, hosted this Thematic Track recognizing the
enormous challenges posed by rapid urban growth in
Asian cities and its own role as the region’s principal
multilateral development bank. The session aimed to
define salient issues for consideration in the context
of ‘Smart Cities’ of the future and the opportunities
they represent.
In his keynote speech, Dr Bindu Lohani noted
that fuelled by unprecedented economic progress and
migration to cities, Asia’s urban population is projected
to cross the one billion mark in the next couple of
decades and about one-third of those would be the
poor and vulnerable sections of the society. In all major
cities in the developing world, there are visible signs of
affluence in the residences of the rich coexisting with
the abject poverty of the poor living out of their shanties
and slums in unhygienic conditions without access
to proper water, electricity, and drainage facilities.
These less privileged people also need to be brought
into the mainstream of development to make the
city’s growth inclusive and more sustainable in the
long term.
Natural disasters brought about by climate
change are having an adverse impact everywhere
causing widespread destruction to property and loss of
precious lives. In fact, the economic loss due to these
unnatural phenomena is so huge that it completely
wipes out the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
in most cases. It is, therefore, important to make our
cities resilient and the infrastructure strong enough
to withstand the ravages of climate disruptions and
extreme weather events. The impact will be felt more
severely in cities located by the sea or along rivers
which make them more prone to flooding or water
inrush. This last consideration is assuming greater
urgency due to melting of glaciers and rising sea levels
compounded by the total apathy or ignorance of the
government and the indifference of the private sector
about this growing threat.
According to him, Smart Cities should
be characterized by inclusiveness, resilience,
competitiveness, air quality, greenery, a pollution-free
environment and enhanced security. Competitiveness is
important because it is the engine of economic growth,
jobs creation and nurturing talent. Cities compete for
commerce just as organizations and individuals do for
institutional or personal gain, which is a good thing.
Efficient use of technology is essential for intelligent and
integrated urban planning. Cities should thus deploy its
resources wisely. Energy, water, transport, garbage
handling, etc., need to be given special attention. All
this must be underpinned by good governance to
enhance the quality of life of the citizens and to make
the city livable.
Evidently a ‘Smart City’ cannot be built from
scratch. It is the existing cities and secondary towns
that must be retrofitted by addition of new technology
or features to older systems, infrastructure, transport,
buildings, housing, relocation of industries, resettlement
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 193
colonies, and streamlining all municipal functions. The
cities of the future will have to extend over a large area
to reduce congestion, especially in the central business
district, and to cater to a population in excess of
10 million. Green buildings that reduce energy
consumption, ensure continuous piped water supply
and employ renewable energy technologies, such as
solar power, hydrothermal, and wind energy, must
be promoted.
The new cities should be self-sufficient and be able
to meet all likely requirements, in terms of, housing,
employment, education, transport, business, and
industry. The cities should also be financially sound
to be able to provide good quality of services in all
areas of operations. It is here where good governance
can help raise a city’s creditworthiness so that it can
issue municipal bonds, other long-term bonds, and
innovative schemes to finance the city. It is also in this
context that the principle of Public–Private Partnership
(PPP) can be used with benefit where the citizens
themselves are given a voice in the administration of
194 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
the city, in creation of governing bodies, and allocation
of budgets.
ADB’s City Development Initiative for Asia
programme provides funding for feasibility studies
that look at new approaches for improving the living
conditions in Asian cities. With the help of some donors,
it has also launched an Urban Resilience Financing
Partnership Facility, which is to help those projects in
urban areas where climate change adaptation issues
may need to be addressed. Furthermore, the bank
is looking into becoming a Finance ++ financial
institution, one that makes use of ADB funds as
leverage and fosters knowledge sharing and
partnership among cities. Finance ++ is a combination
of ADB’s own finance, leveraging resources through
partnership and providing knowledge to developing
member countries to maximize and accelerate
development effectiveness.
Sharing her previous experience of work
in South Asia including India, Ms Tatiana
Gallego-Lizon provided the ADB perspective on
how it is trying to incorporate a comprehensive
integrated smart framework of urban development
into its operations. She pointed out that currently Asian
cities account for nearly 60 per cent of the population
driving the economy of most countries. With growing
industrialization, Indian cities are poised to contribute
almost 75 per cent to the GDP by the year 2021.
But this growth is not without its problems since it is
estimated that 70 per cent of all carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions come from cities with adverse effects on
the environment and people’s health. However, at the
same time, it provides opportunities for smarter growth
with greater resilience, efficiency, and acting more
responsibly towards our natural surroundings. But
solutions need to be aligned to the city’s endowments,
to its vision and aspirations, and ultimately also to its
vulnerability to climate change.
She believes that a Smart City should plan for the
future anticipating the increase in population, changing
needs and requirements in provision of civic services
and to do it unfailingly year after year. ADB is guided by
its vision of an Asia-Pacific region which is free of poverty
and where countries can improve their living conditions
and quality of life. It has developed a results framework
to assess progress in implementing strategies, which is
reviewed regularly. The results framework holistically
incorporates aspects of the economy, environment,
inclusivity and equity in societies. There must be an
enabling environment for building partnerships with
civil society and the private sector, or PPP. The Smart
City must be able to demonstrate skills, creativity,
knowledge, and the capacity to grow, absorb,
and innovate.
Giving the example of Barcelona which is a dense
city with about 450 dwellings per hectare, she calls it
the epitome of a Smart City which puts emphasis on
innovation, access to digital manufacturing technologies
with improved IT systems, reliable service delivery,
enhanced efficiency, and higher productivity. It has
retrofitted buildings to make them more functional
and more citizen-oriented and uses sustainable and
renewable energies and has connected open spaces
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 195
and parks as a means for people to live better in a
healthy environment.
In India, ADB’s urban operations focus largely on
planning, environmental sustainability, inclusiveness,
and competitiveness. Every project is subjected to
careful screening to ensure that these conditions are
met fully. Other important aspects are good governance,
knowledge, and capacity development, especially
working in partnership with municipalities and urban
local bodies as well as utilities. Innovative financing
schemes for resource generation for undertaking
improvements within the cities themselves are other
critical criteria influencing investment decisions. ADB
is assisting the Government of Karnataka in cluster
development in Bangalore by reviewing the planning,
economic functions or economic planning and aligning
it to spatial and physical planning for maximum
efficiency. For sustainable and green infrastructure
they have initiated metro and commuter rail projects.
This helps reduce harmful CO2 emissions and they are
also looking at improving water services and reducing
water losses. Aspects of promotion of equity and social
integration are also receiving due attention. Textiles
and apparel clusters are suitable areas for inclusion of
women in the labour forces which further helps them
in becoming productive members of the society in a
business friendly environment.
The Bank has also been active in the field of
promoting e-Governance in Karnataka. One initiative
is Nirmala Nagara, a reform programme to augment
Urban Local Bodies’ (ULBs) administrative efficiency,
improve the resource base, and widen public
participation. The project is being scaled up to ensure
that e-Governance can provide for improved ULB
financial management abilities and also provide access
196 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
to information by citizens and enhancing transparency.
Institutions are being strengthened, the IT platform is
being expanded systematically and end-user capacity is
being developed simultaneously. ADB is also actively
supporting other states in India in providing demand
side energy efficiency which looks at potential for
intelligent, cleaner, and more energy efficient systems,
both at domestic and municipal levels.
In his presentation, Mr Toru Hashimoto
described Yokohama as a small city about
150 years old with a population of 3.7 million.
Originally a shipyard, it has now been transformed into
an assortment of business, commercial, and cultural
facilities. Although not a megacity, they have also had
rapid population expansion and have faced problems
of massive traffic jams, a smelly river, flooded streets,
congestion, air pollution, problems common to most
growing cities. However, they have managed the
city in a smart way. Echoing the thoughts of the two
earlier speakers that each city has its own endowment,
ability, and vision, he stressed that resources must be
used wisely. More than being about Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) development,
digital connectivity, and renewable energy, a Smart City
should focus on management of municipal services for
future generations.
Yokohama stressed on integrated and focused
development and selected six projects to be taken up
on priority. These sites included the waterfront, the
city centre, the industrial hub, a new town opposite
the waterfront, a bridge on the river and transportation
including roads, highways, subways, and railways. The
rationale guiding this development was to transform
the city from an industrial centre into a commercial
district and a residential zone to accommodate the
large number of people coming to the city in search of
business opportunities, employment or housing. In fact,
it is now slowly emerging as an important business and
convention centre in Asia. The central business district,
Minato Mirai 21, has several major hotels, office
towers, art museums, and shopping centres and has
attracted worldwide attention for its full assortment
of advanced functions and facilities within a compact
area and initiatives for community improvement in
Yokohama. Yet the area continues to be developed as
originally planned in the 1980s. The Japanese subsidiary
of the French automaker Renault has its offices in
the city. The giant Japanese electronics manufacturer
Hitachi has also set up base in the city and has been
involved in the project.
Cities are now confronted by the new challenge of
climate change forcing them to cap their emissions of
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). This is especially the case
in many Asian countries including Korea, Thailand, and
China which are developing fast. Therefore, vision for
a Smart City should be to use resources wisely so that
social, environmental, and economic values are created
to make cities livable, competitive, and sustainable.
In this regard, citizen engagement should be uppermost.
New technologies are emerging to help reduce man’s
carbon footprint. Simple do-it-yourself (DIY) meters
are available that let households monitor their energy
consumption themselves. Nissan, headquartered in
Yokohama, has introduced a small two-seater car,
windowless and without air-conditioning, that comes
with an IC (Integrated Circuit) card that allows one
to access information on the move. They are also
encouraging car sharing practices at competitive rates
that have become quite popular. He stressed that all
this may help to keep CO2 emissions in check but
integrated, focused citizen participation and dialogue is
more important than usage of these technologies. They
have established YES, the Yokohama Environmental
School, to impart knowledge in these new areas and
maintain dialogue with citizens.
Yokohama takes city-city collaboration very
seriously in order to transfer knowledge or know-
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 197
how and also learn from each other. Under the new
initiative Y-PORT (Yokohama Partnership of Resources
and Technologies), public and private enterprises work
together to leverage Yokohama’s strengths towards
the resolution of various urban problems in developing
countries. Supported by JICA (Japan International
Cooperation Agency), it has collaborated with the
city of Cebu in the Philippines to provide technical
cooperation for sustainable urban development, the
realization of a low-carbon society, and promoting
sustainable mobility. Aided by a private Japanese
company, for the last two years they have also been
working in Thailand for preparing a Master Plan for
Climate Change specific to Bangkok that looks at
transport, energy, waste water, waste management,
and urban green planning through task forces created
for the purpose. Such city-city collaboration always
has mutual benefits. In pursuit of greater city-city
collaboration, Yokohama City hosts the Asia Smart City
Conference every year that seeks to create a network
between cities for sharing information.
198 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
In
his
presentation
on
e-Governance,
Mr Nat Malupillai said that urbanization is happening
fast. Globally, about half the population lives in urban
localities and in India this figure stands at about
33 per cent. These urban agglomerations are hives
of economic activity with a high GDP quotient.
However, access to services is lacking because urban
demand is outpacing the supply of city services. The
city infrastructure and local capacity is either totally
unprepared or absent. Ways to harness innovation and
efficiency of the private sector and turn these challenges
into opportunities for urban renewal must be devised.
Output must be maximized given the limitations of
capacity and resources available.
According to him, a Smart City should be true
to the city’s needs, location, environment, and be
relevant to the area. It should have three essential
elements: inclusive governance, a healthy tax regime,
and be technology driven. Inclusive governance implies
integrated planning and coordinated action involving a
dialogue between different stakeholders represented
by citizens, government, and private enterprises to
create meaningful outcomes for the betterment of
society. A healthy tax base is extremely important for
revenue generation but developing countries lag behind
some of the more developed countries in this regard.
When designed properly, technology can provide
predictable outcomes, ensure equity and efficiency, and
minimize flaws in accidental outcomes.
In practice, three preconditions for improving city
governance are that citizens should be able to access
information easily. It should involve the citizens to flag
issues for consideration and provide reports, feedback,
and suggestions. Secondly, collaboration or citizen
engagement should be enlarged where citizen groups,
rights groups or activist groups but also problem
solving groups are enabled to make useful suggestions,
provide innovative ideas and formulate solutions. Lastly,
the citizenry should be empowered and encouraged
to participate in identification of projects, strategic
planning, preparing budgets and allocations under
different heads. This can help better address issues
concerning matters like property tax, land records,
expense management, public grievance redressal, and
city administration.
Mr Malupillai finds Chennai a good example of a
city with a vibrant and engaged citizen force that uses
multiple channels, such as telephones, SMS, internet
or traditional paper to provide information, raise
issues, and provide feedback on how to solve issues.
GIS technology helps to zero-in on problems in
particular zones that deserve attention, even ordinary
things, such as streetlights, mosquito menace, storm
water drains, etc., Delhi has Himmat, a smartphone
application for improving women’s safety. In Uttar
Pradesh, the Noida Police has launched a similar
mobile app called Nirbhaya. These are good examples
of how local solutions are finding relevance in other
cities. Another example where technology is being
used to increase citizen collaboration can be found in
the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM)
which uses the social networking site Facebook to
issue status reports, obtain feedback, and monitor
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 199
civic concerns. This helps to increase transparency and
engage ordinary people more intimately. Information
and best practices are available in the public domain
and even BESCOM benefits from these suggestions at
no cost.
Technology is certainly helping improve governance
and decentralization but there still remain pockets
where internet connectivity and mobile networks have
not penetrated. Offering such connectivity to all will
make inclusive governance even more far-reaching.
Open data sharing in an automated way can improve
planning and problem solving. Continuous R&D,
innovation, skill development, and capacity building is
required to bring about extensive municipal reforms
meaningfully. He suggests creating city laboratories
to explore innovation and to attract and retain the
right talent.
Yet another important factor is the means of
financing. ADB provides various loans and grants
but organizational ability, skills, and efficiency of
private companies to improve performance and raise
additional funds should also be brought in. Technology,
sharing data, skills promotion, and good fund-raising
mechanisms are important factors for Smart City.
Effective policies and a strong leadership must lead
this effort.
Calling himself an early votary of Smart Cities,
and providing the Government perspective on
e-Governance in another presentation, Prof. Jagan
Shah observed that, whereas cities in the West have
reached a point of stagnation in growth, the sheer pace
of India’s urban development is leading to unplanned
development that threatens valuable natural resources
and the quality of life of citizens. India has the twin
challenge of converting some of its existing fully
200 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
developed cities in a smart way by discovering the basic
fabric of a city that makes it integrated, interconnected,
and intelligent in production and delivery of goods
and services. Simultaneously, new industrial and
construction projects will spawn greenfield cities that
lack any infrastructure, which calls for a different
approach altogether. It does seem difficult on the face of
it but changes in habits, lifestyle, procedures, adoption
of new technologies, efficient use of energy, resource
conservation, and avoidance of waste are some simple
measures that can be adopted with benefit.
National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) has
conducted a study jointly with International Council
for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and the
Global Green Growth Institute to arrive at a qualitative
assessment of green growth strategies in 10 Tier II
cities in India covering critical sectors, such as land use
and density, urban ecosystem and biodiversity, energy,
housing and buildings, urban transport, water and
sanitation, and urban solid waste management. The
findings show that there has been enormous growth
in the number of statutory towns in India but almost
a doubling of the number of census towns. Statutory
towns are places with a municipality, corporation,
cantonment board or notified town area committee.
Census towns have a minimum population of 5,000 and
a population density of at least 400 per sq. km. Another
constituent of urban areas are outgrowths, satellite
towns that may come up near a city or statutory town.
Analysis of basic data shows that there is tremendous
scope for initiating improvements in all the strategic
sectors mentioned above.
A study by The World Bank has determined that
extensive road development is extremely important
for the economic growth of a country. This improves
connectivity and creates infrastructure that actually
produces value. But India’s task is much bigger.
Projects in the pipeline include the Delhi–Mumbai
Industrial Corridor, the Eastern Freight Corridor, and
the Sagarmala project that connects all the ports. The
intent is to create 100 Smart Cities. The US has offered
to help with three and Singapore with one. The road is
long and there are several hurdles to overcome. India is
low on competitiveness, and has a legacy of inefficient
and poorly managed cities, development is energy
intensive and there are capacity constraints. Over and
above this, governance is fragmented because of lack
of convergence between departments and agencies.
Medium and small towns are being neglected and there
is a widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Technology has an important role to play in
all this. The Unique Identification Card aggregates
personal data biometrically and links it to the delivery
of public utility services. ICT services including GIS give
us speed, capacity to handle complexity and power of
data analysis. There is more and more data available.
Mobile devices have become commonplace and teledensity is high. The programme of e-Governance that
has been embarked upon, will pay dividends in time by
contributing to making a city smart such as managing
water supply, sanitation, mobility, and the likes. We can
learn from good practices in other cities like Nagpur,
Ahmedabad, Pune, and Bengaluru.
Role models need to be selected very carefully.
There is the sprawling example of Atlanta in the USA
and the compact city of Barcelona at the other extreme.
Cities should be compact, integrated from the planning
stage itself with technologies and other provisions. It’s
a great opportunity to look at urban development along
with economic development, social development,
sustainability, and resilience goals and to generate the
funds required for all this development. But cities will
have to compete with each other and meet specified
criteria of city development in areas, such as clean air,
improvement in sanitation, zero discharge of solid and
liquid waste, municipal finance, creation of jobs, and
projects that trigger economic growth.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 201
Responding to the chair’s invitation to questions
from the floor, a participant said that there is a
need for dialogue and interaction directly with the
neighbourhoods because they have the connectivity,
social data, and they are the end-users. Another said
that given the institutional, financial, and technical
constraints, discretion must be exercised in what
cities should try to do. A lady in the audience voiced
her apprehensions about conflicts between national
and local policies or local laws and the repeal of all
programmes undertaken by previous administrations.
Another member of the audience asked about the
location of Smart Cities, whether industries would be
present so that jobs are available.
While appreciating the use of analytics in collection,
compilation, and analysis of data, another question was
about the availability of facilities and infrastructure to
make the projects impactful. A participant commented
that perhaps the cart is being placed before the horse
by launching Smart Cities without first educating
citizens at all levels of maturity. Another remarked
202 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
that emergence of Smart Cities will see an influx of
migrants and the need for more resources giving rise to
inequities. The last question was from a senior member
of a reputed Indian multinational company working in
the area of water, energy, and mobility who said that
the emphasis should be on good governance and that
the mayoral system, such as the one that exists in
Bengaluru, where their tenure is limited to one year, is
not adequate to sustain reforms.
In response, Prof. Shah agreed that co-design
and participatory approaches are important aspects
where you involve communities and neighbourhoods.
As for selection of Smart Cities, integrated, intelligent
planning looking at spatial and physical considerations is
desirable. The government should be both responsive
and responsible to build trust. He said that urban and
regional planning should be the hallmark of a Smart City
and feels that it is up to the states and cities themselves
to choose their pattern of development but industries
should be located close to where logistics support
is available.
Mr Malupillai also agreed that neighbourhoods should
be involved in this initiative. He gave the example of
Janaagraha, a not-for-profit organization in Bengaluru,
that aims to strengthen democracy in India by working
for citizen participation in urban local government.
More such initiatives should be institutionalized. This
will lead to greater accountability. He also noted that
the notion of Smart City is not so difficult to achieve
if there is good governance. Resources need to be
managed more efficiently.
On being requested to share the Yokohama
experience, Mr Hashimoto said that firstly there
should be a planning and coordination unit, a task force
for everything. Secondly, city-to-city collaboration
will permeate to lower levels and this will promote
exchange of knowledge and best practices. To
him, a Smart City must be inclusive, competitive,
and sustainable.
What was perhaps left unsaid in the entire
discourse but is noteworthy nonetheless is that China
has newly established the Asia Infrastructure Investment
Bank (AIIB), another multilateral development bank
which will provide financing for roads, railways,
airports, and other infrastructure projects in Asia.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 203
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Chair
Dr Prodipto Ghosh
Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change, India
Resource Management and Good Governance
HE Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik
Former Prime Minister, Norway & President, The Oslo Center for Peace
and Human Rights
Tackling Climate Change—Opportunities for Developing Countries
HE Dr Bharrat Jagdeo
Former President, Guyana
The session was devoted to discourses on two topics
germane to achieving sustainability in the context of
climate change mitigation and adaptation. The session
was chaired by Dr Prodipto Ghosh. The keynote
addresses were delivered by HE Mr Kjell Magne
Bondevik and HE Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.
The chair Dr Prodipto Ghosh said that both
the topics of the keynote addresses are of extreme
relevance to the current political context. He strongly
feels that unless natural resources are priced correctly
to actual users it will not meet the conditions necessary
for attaining sustainability. Pertinent examples are
the arbitrary allocations made in the case of telecom
spectrum and coal blocks by the previous government
in India that has been the cause of much acrimony
and heated political debate leading to cancellation of
licenses. With regard to the second thematic address
and using the shipbreaking industry as an example he
said that while recycling is accepted as being more
environmentally benign than production from basic
raw materials, certain groups consider some processes
hazardous to human health but careful analysis proves
the fears to be unfounded. Dr Ghosh also spoke about
the subsidy on fossil fuels, such as coal and petrol in
India. He emphasized that social sustainability is an
important pillar to tackle climate change.
Speaking on the topic Resource Management and
Good Governance, HE Mr Bondevik said that sound
and responsible management of natural resources
involves three main challenges that revolve around
ensuring: (i) revenues from these resources benefit the
entire population, (ii) these resources are extracted
in accordance with best industry practices, and
(iii) that resources are exploited in an environmentally
sustainable way. What comes in the way of these
objectives for the public good is rampant corruption
in the exploitation of earth’s natural resources by a
small venal group pursuing their own selfish interests
at the expense of the community. Lack of legislation
in developing countries and effective checks on money
transfer only adds to the problem. To counter these
malpractices, he suggests maintaining maximum
transparency and accountability in every financial
transaction dealing with mining of mineral resources
which are the result of accumulation over millions of
years and, therefore, are a source of huge revenues.
He comments that this exploitation should have a more
long-term perspective because future generations must
not be denied their legitimate right to benefit from the
planet’s natural resources.
He informs the participants to safeguard the
economic well-being of future generations in the event
that their natural resources are exhausted, Norway
The ‘curse of natural resources’
must be turned into a blessing.
Dr Prodipto Ghosh
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 207
has set up the Government Pension Fund Global, the
biggest sovereign wealth fund in the world, with a
capital of $850 billion. It is meant to provide a financial
safety net when the country’s petroleum reserves
eventually run out. The government allows only the
interest to be used for developmental purposes while
keeping the endowment untouched.
He further said that climate change and
environmental degradation pose substantial threats to
every country. These processes have the potential to
undermine important gains in poverty alleviation, basic
food and water supply, and human health, particularly
in the most vulnerable developing countries. Though
the poorest countries historically have been the
least responsible for climate change, they face the
most severe consequences of its effects. A balanced
and moderate production rate will be in better
compliance with sustainable environmental and climate
considerations. But by the help of new technology it
is possible to extract natural resources quickly and
efficiently. Mining companies, oil companies, and
other companies engaged in the extraction of natural
resources will, for obvious business interests, push
for the most efficient operation and optimum returns.
However, key economic, social, and environmental
considerations make it necessary for authorities to
regulate both the pace and how the operation should be
organized from the start, throughout the manufacturing
process and ultimately to how the company will tackle
disposal of effluents from the process of manufacture.
Climate funds can transform
developing countries.
HE Dr Bharrat Jagdeo
208 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Mr Bondevik cautions that sustainable and responsible
management of natural resources under proper
supervision is important otherwise it can lead to
protracted conflicts as has been experienced by some
African countries such as Angola, Congo, Liberia, and
Sierra Leone.
Belying the resource curse theory that countries
with an abundance of natural resources achieve less
progress, the chair remarked that Norway has been a
singular exception as it has employed its vast petroleum
reserves in a sustainable manner.
On the subject of Tackling Climate Change—
Opportunities for Developing Countries in the context
of the upcoming Paris accord, HE Dr Jagdeo said that
countries have come a long way since the Copenhagen
summit and one can be more hopeful of an ambitious
agreement this time. Perhaps the most encouraging
sign is that this time the United States of America (USA)
is in the vanguard of the fight against global warming
with President Obama pledging to cut greenhouse gas
emissions by 26–28 per cent by 2025 and also enjoining
China to follow suit at the last Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) meeting, the primary economics
forum comprising countries in the Asia-Pacific Region.
The US has pledged $3 billion to the Global Climate
Fund and Australia is also expected to contribute
significantly to the fund. The US is also undertaking
several new initiatives in renewable energy following
the reciprocal visits of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and President Barack Obama to each other’s
countries. China has agreed to cap its emissions by
2030 while the European Union will also be cutting
greenhouse gases by a minimum of 40 per cent in the
next decade or so.
Dr Jagdeo further said that a positive development in
the run-up to the Paris talks (Conference of Parties—
COP21) is the agreement on the principle of Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs),
whereby countries will propose the steps they will
take to reduce emissions. They would also have to
address other issues, such as how they will adapt to
climate change impacts, and what financial support
they need from, or will provide to other countries
to address climate change. All this will naturally
require huge financing and member countries should
be ready to do what is asked of them in the matter
of providing monetary resources. What’s more, this
financial commitment must extend over several years
for achieving the desired progress on the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate mitigation
agenda and this aspect must be the focus of every
connected meeting so as to build consensus and
prepare the ground before the COP21 in December.
Dr Jagdeo informed that a report prepared by a
high level advisory group for the UN Secretary General,
of which he was a part, finds that it is possible to raise
$100 billion per year from public and alternative sources
of financing. Another report prepared by a committee
under this chairmanship for the Commonwealth
Secretary-General says that if climate funds are made
available in a transparent manner, it could help a lot
of the developing countries address many of their
concerns and even deal with resource management.
He said that his country receives substantial
climate funds from Norway which they have used to
build a hydropower plant that supplies over 90 per cent
of the needs for power and has helped transform the
economies of a great number of villages. Guyana is also
setting up a centre for biodiversity studies as a priority
area with the funds received from Norway. He feels
that such assistance can present huge opportunities for
developing countries and can help to catalyse change.
To a remark from the floor that rather than
financial flows being able to provide a quick-fix for their
lack of development and that they should instead focus
on institutional change and capacity development,
Dr Jagdeo answered that he would like to see climate
finance flowing at scale as countries in the Caribbean
have limited budgets and can ill-afford to divert funds
to non-specified activities.
To another question about involvement of young
people in finalizing the text of the agreement, he said
the voice of civil society will be given due credence
at Paris but it may be premature for young people to
be allowed to decide national priorities. In Guyana,
they prepare the ground for new climate legislation
by involving a wide spectrum of civil society so that it
has legitimacy.
Mr Bondevik also believes that politicians
must connect with the people to bring about a
change in attitudes especially in matters related to
climate change.
Political leaders must
connect with the people.
HE Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 209
SPECIAL ADDRESS
Mr Piyush Goyal
Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for
Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India
According to him, India is on the horns of a dilemma,
having to balance its development imperatives with
concerns for its environment. Expanding infrastructure
and improving living conditions in the country will
require more electricity from fossil fuels which, is
not environment-friendly. The fact is that today, India
consumes less than one-tenth of the coal than the US
consumed more than 150 years ago when its growth
was being fuelled by rapid urbanization and an evergrowing network of railroads.
It is these considerations that have forced India
to promote renewable energy technologies in pursuit
of sustainable development. The Solar Mission, one
of the eight important missions under the National
Action Plan on Climate Change launched in 2009, has
been deployed to scale up grid connected solar power
from 20 GW to an impressive 100 GW by 2022. Today,
renewable energy in India accounts for six per cent of
the total energy use of one trillion units of electricity.
It is envisaged that while the consumption level would
double to 2 trillion units in the next five to six years we
can have 15 per cent of energy coming from renewable
sources, which would translate into about 300 billion
units, i.e., a five-fold growth in renewable energy
production and output.
The rooftop solar programme is being accelerated
from its immediate objective of 40 GW and solar
parks are being set up all over the country with the
potential to generate 20 GW of electricity. Being a
tropical country, India is blessed with nearly 300 days
of bright sunshine annually and with the falling cost
of solar technology, such ambitious goals are quite
within India’s reach. At the same time, wind energy
generation is being scaled up to 60 GW from the
present 22 GW. These interventions are expected to
give rise to entrepreneurship development in remote
parts of the country by encouraging the uneducated
and unemployed youth to set up off-grid and microgrid solutions.
The ministry has also embarked on an extensive
programme of replacing streetlights throughout the
country with LED (light-emitting diode) lighting which
provides clean white light and is more efficient and
environment-friendly than halogen or incandescent
lamps in terms of lower energy consumption, longer
lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size,
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 213
and faster switching capability. Simultaneously, the
ministry seeks to bring about improvements in fans,
air-conditioners, and industrial uses of electricity. All
these measures can result in savings of 300 billion
units of electricity or a net realization of $10 billion in
monetary terms.
The Minister reaffirmed the Indian government’s
commitment to not only successfully realize the
ambitious renewable energy programme, but also
save and protect the environment, ensure rivers
are clean and continue to be perennial, and avoid
ecological damage by carrying out Environmental
Impact Assessment studies before setting up climatesensitive projects.
During the session, doubts were expressed by
a member of the audience about the efficacy of the
programme for promoting solar energy. The Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy has undertaken an
exercise to track and analyse the issues in fulfillment of
Solar Power Purchase Obligation and implementation
of the Solar Renewable Energy Certificate framework
in India. The Minister agreed wholeheartedly with
the suggestion that the monitoring and verification of
Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs) should be
done on a monthly basis instead of annually, as is the
present practice. The Electricity Act is being suitably
amended to incorporate an element of Renewable
Generation Obligation, based on the concept that
all those who generate electricity through thermal
power should be obliged to also supplement it with
renewable energy.
A distinguished member of the audience and a
staunch advocate of renewable energy, the former
214 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and
a serving member of the House of Lords, Lord John
Prescott, sought clarity on the Indian government’s
stance with respect to monitoring and verification of
the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to
be declared by individual countries at COP21 in Paris,
December 2015.
To demonstrate the government’s seriousness
on promoting renewable energy in the country, the
Minister gave the example of the Prime Minister’s
home state of Gujarat which already has the largest
solar park in Asia at Charanka, a village in Patan
district, about 350 km from its capital city,
Gandhinagar. He further added that the Government
does not just make grandiose schemes but looks for a
result-based approach.
As an illustration of this resolve, he spoke of the
new Jan Dhan Yojana, a financial inclusion programme
which aims to bring under its ambit, underprivileged
sections of the society, still left out of the banking
system, by providing them a bank account that comes
with a debit card, a free life insurance policy, and an
accident insurance policy that has already covered
115 million homes in a short period of four months
and has also been appreciated by Queen Maxima
of the Netherlands and the President of The World
Bank. The programme is to be extended across the
length and breadth of the country.
Government stands committed
to a better tomorrow.
Mr Piyush Goyal
Ministerial Session 2
Financing Transformational
Change and Achieving SDGs in Africa
Chair
Dr Fatima Denton
Director of the Special Initiatives Division of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA)
Panellists
Mr Idrissa Balde
Technical Advisor to the Hon’ble Minister Mr Abdoulaye Balde, Minister
of Environment, Senegal
The Hon’ble Jayeshwur Raj Dayal
Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development, Disaster and Beach
Management, Republic of Mauritius
HE Hon’ble Saviour Kasukuwere
Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Zimbabwe
HE Ms Tumusiime Rhoda Peace
The Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union
Commission
The second ministerial session on the second day of
the Summit was chaired by Dr Fatima Denton, the
Director of the Special Initiatives Division of the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
She is a lead author of the IPCC and an acknowledged
expert on issues of climate change, food security,
gender, and governance. The panellists consisted of
delegates representing the environment portfolio in
the governments of Senegal, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe
along with the Commissioner for Rural Economy and
Agriculture of the African Union Commission.
Mentioning that although the title sounds
deceptively simple and contains words easily
understood by everyone, the Chair pointed out
that the challenge is to enable inclusive growth that
touches every member of society and to find the
means of implementation to attain this goal. Rich in
mineral wealth, development on the African continent
is characterized by production of raw materials with
little or no value addition. For Africa to transform into
a green economy, she suggests that the country should
explore its agricultural business, energy resources,
plentiful water supply, and promote agriculture on a
large scale.
Being invited to present an overview of what
the African Union Commission is doing to drive this
structural transformation, HE Ms Tumusiime Rhoda
Peace said that the African economy is predominantly
agrarian, which is mostly rainfed, and hence can be
severely impacted by climate disruptions that give rise
to varying rainfall patterns and increasing frequency of
droughts. Their concerns on the social, economic, and
environmental contours of sustainable development
have been incorporated in the final document of the
Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.
Further, the African Union Agenda 2063 is a shared
strategic framework for inclusive growth and
sustainable development for the next fifty years. It has
been brought out by the African Union Commission
and is supported by the African Development Bank
and UNECA. It is expected that the document issuing
from those deliberations, The Africa We Want, will be a
valuable tool for policymakers on the international stage.
She expressed her hope that the third UN Conference
on Disaster Risk Reduction at Sendai in Japan, to be
held in March 2015; the UN Conference on Financing
for Development in July at Addis Ababa, and COP21 in
Paris in December 2015, will accord special attention
to climate finance that will be transformative in the
sense of enabling the achievement of the Sustainable
It cannot be Politics-as-Usual.
HE Hon’ble Saviour Kasukuwere
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 217
Development Goals (SDGs). As Africa engages in
these global negotiation processes, it is also engaged
in country- and regional-level processes to implement
programmes and projects to adapt to climate change,
increase resilience, and reduce the vulnerability of
households, communities, and nations.
Detailing the critical areas for a post-2015
development agenda, The Hon’ble Jayeshwur Raj
Dayal identified the discrete elements of environmental
sustainability, natural resources management, and
risk management of natural disasters, finance and
partnership, human centered development, peace
and security, science and technology, innovation
and structural economic transformation as being
crucial to the SDGs. It is, therefore, very important
to reorient and redesign policies and strategies for
development to one that is all-inclusive and sustainable.
Stressing on the fact that achieving the SDGs for
Africa will only be possible if the financing support is
adequate, predictable, sustainable, and transparent, he
recommended a mix of sources ranging from official
development assistance, foreign direct investment, as
well as an enhanced domestic resource mobilization
process from the public and private sectors. For
bringing about a transformative socio-economic
development in Africa, he advocates a paradigm shift
in the relationship between African states and the
international community. Several institutional changes
and financial incentives have been introduced to
make the business environment in the country more
attractive to investors. As a Small Island Developing
2015 will be a reference point in history.
Mr Idrissa Balde
218 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
State (SIDS), it also suffers the ravages of climate change
regularly. As recently as January this year, the southern
Indian Ocean island of Mauritius was hit by a Category
5 tropical cyclone Bansi, with storm surges reaching up
to a height of 50 feet. These externalities often imperil
their hard-earned development and thus the country
views human capacity as the most important element
to gear the country towards a future that is prosperous
for all, where economic success will be characterized
equally by equity, ethics, and social justice. He ended
by saying that without international solidarity and
enhanced financial support, Africa and SIDS would not
be able to meet the SDG targets.
Beginning on a sanguine note that the future of
Africa is bright, HE Hon’ble Saviour Kasukuwere
attributed his optimistic belief to the commonly held
worldview of a resurgent Africa and the fact that
the so-called Dark Continent has earnestly started
addressing some of the key issues to do with health,
fighting poverty and hunger in society. He would like
COP21 to address the unscrupulous exploitation of
Africa’s natural resources and cheap labour by Western
nations which have to a large extent contributed to
Africa’s underdevelopment. It therefore becomes
incumbent upon them to fund Africa’s climate
mitigation and adaptation programmes. As a via media,
he suggests that there should be universal acceptance
to compensate them for the huge quantities of raw
materials extracted from there and exported to all
parts of the globe. The international community should
agree to a levy that will allow for a fund which can be
used by the African continent to address issues to do
with poverty, agriculture, hunger, and suffering. The
money should go back into the African Development
Bank and into the coffers of the African Union, so that
it can be used to begin changing and transforming the
lives of the people of Africa. The continent faces four
clear challenges: increasing access to energy, expanding
agricultural production, effective forest protection,
and improved biodiversity conservation. He would
like to see the developed world sincerely come to the
negotiating table in Paris to ensure that the promises
that they have made earlier are fulfilled. If not, then the
best way forward is to agree on a levy which looks at
the current exploitation in all its details.
Mr Idrissa Balde of Senegal raised a query on
the importance of finance for realizing the SDGs. He
questioned whether just by committing finances to
fund climate change action, would the countries be on
the road to achieving sustainable development. He held
the opinion that sustainable development will not be
achieved unless the post-2015 agenda is aligned with
each country’s independent vision. He mentioned
that the international community has an obligation to
work towards inclusive development, a development
that does not just embrace the present generation
but future generations as well, and a developmental
sort of response to multiple challenges that range
across poverty, health, education, etc. Senegal’s
main rationale in the area of environment is geared
towards resource efficiency and the efficient use of
natural resources. This is reflected in three sectoral
objectives—to improve the knowledge base of the
environment and natural resources, to redouble efforts
in the fight to curb environmental degradation and to
strengthen institutional and technical capacity. Under
the leadership of President Macky Sall, a small town
in Senegal, Tambacounda, has been developed as a
model of sustainable development. He also referred
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 219
to Plan Senegal Emergent, which is a policy document
that underpins the country’s approach to sustainable
development, wealth creation, and structural
transformation. Underdeveloped investment climate,
declining competitiveness, and weak governance
systems have prevented the private sector from
helping to stimulate the national economy. Moreover,
natural disasters, such as droughts and floods have
slowed growth and increased the vulnerability of
the entire economy. Senegal is expected to regain
economic momentum with the implementation of the
Plan Senegal Emergent.
Recapping the discussion, the Chair said that
all speakers had agreed that the outcome at COP21
should be a fair and equitable treaty, one that has
ambitious targets for emission reductions. Building
strong partnerships is a necessity. There was also
unanimity in the suggestion that there should be a
levy to the extent of 10 per cent for all raw materials
shipped out of Africa to finance its mitigation
adaptation needs.
To a question from the floor about incentive and
subsidy in the agriculture sector for foreign investors,
HE Ms Tumusiime pointedly said that any business
venture that values incentives and subsides above the
commercial angle is itself starting off on the wrong foot.
She said, however, that there are many opportunities in
Africa for investing in agriculture. Most of the countries
provide tax incentives, facilitation procedures, singlewindow clearance for investment, etc., but there are
rules and regulations to be complied with, which may
differ between countries.
To another question about protection of African
wildlife, HE Hon’ble Mr Kasukuwere replied that
Zimbabwe and the African Union as a whole take the
220 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
issue of biodiversity conservation quite seriously and
it is an intrinsic part of their economic development.
To sustain tourism, a real money spinner for Africa and a
lifeline for many struggling economies on the continent,
they try to ensure that their wildlife is protected. He
spoke of Zimbabwe’s Community Areas Management
Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE)
which gives local communities control over wildlife
management. This has the triple benefit of encouraging
tourism and creating employment while helping to
promote wildlife protection. On the question of a
10 per cent levy on all African exports proposed by
him, he said that the principle must be made a part
and parcel of the sustainable programme that will help
Africa achieve the objectives set for climate change
mitigation adaptation.
In response to a question about youth exchange
programmes between the continent of Africa and the
Indian sub-continent, HE Tumusiime replied that such
interaction is not restricted to education alone but also
extends to cultural and socio-economic cooperation
thereby enabling cross-fertilization of understanding
cultures and appreciating the different values of each
other’s societies. This view was reinforced by The
Hon’ble Mr Dayal and he added that the programme
of student exchange between Mauritius and India was
working very well.
On promoting increased south-south partnership,
he commented that the prerequisite for success in any
partnership is trust and goodwill. Beyond that, all that
is required is collaborative effort.
The future is waiting.
The Hon’ble Jayeshwur Raj Dayal
Climate Change Satyagraha Concert
The Climate Change Satyagraha Concert was a
splendid rendition by a young troupe of The Velammal
International School. The group presented a musical
journey through the length of the country spreading
the message of ‘save earth from the crisis on the
planet’. The concert enthralled the audience with the
tunes of ‘live a life of love always’ and was received very
well by all.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 221
222 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
DAY 3
In Conversation With
Professor Jeffrey D Sachs
with Moderator Mr Nicholas Dawes
The session focused on the importance of the
year 2015 in achieving sustainable development
goals (SDGs) in relation to climate change and was
moderated by Mr Nicholas Dawes, Chief Editorial
and Content Officer, Hindustan Times. Professor
Jeffrey D Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute &
Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General (via
video) and Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI
& Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate,
provided their expert opinion and tried and linked the
millennium development goals (MDG) process with
the discussions on climate change and SDGs. They
spoke about finalizing an agreement on climate change
and emphasized on developing a meaningful financial
agreement by citing the importance of the three major
conventions to be held in 2015 at Addis Ababa, New
York, and Paris. Dr R K Pachauri concluded the talk
by emphasizing on the need to accompany transition
in energy supply along with transition in consumption.
Professor Sachs commenced by highlighting
the importance of the year 2015 for sustainable
development and this is perhaps the best if not only
chance for the present generation to change the course
of global diplomacy and global economy towards
sustainable development. The development agenda
is packed on the one side and is treacherous on the
other; plus there is an opportunity to make some big
and important agreements. The fact is two crucial
processes come together this year: the MDG were
set already in the year 2000 to finish in the year 2015,
so there was already a decision that the year 2015
would be a transition year to new objectives. During
the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit in 2012, the
member states of the United Nations (UN) decided
that post-2015 development agenda should be based
on sustainable development, that is, on a philosophy
of combining economic, social, and environmental
sustainability. The climate negotiations are also
culminating this year in Paris, which is because of a
different timeline that also ends this year.
Failure to reach an agreement in Copenhagen in
2009, the governments of member states set a new
timeline to try once more to reach an agreement
under the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC). In 2010 in Cancun, they looked
forward to the 21st Conference of Parties (to be
held in December 2015) to be the moment when an
agreement is reached.
There are two crucial events in the space of just
two months—in September, the UN member states
will adopt new SDGs and in December, the same
governments will meet in Paris to finalize an agreement
on climate change. According to Professor Sachs
however this is not enough; the developing countries
argued that to achieve SDGs as well as a meaningful
climate agreement, there needs to be financial
arrangements that underpin sustainable development,
mitigation, and adaptation.
So, developing countries asked for a third
process, and that is, a summit on financing sustainable
development, which was set for July 12–15, 2015 in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So if all the Summits are to
be added up, there are three high level Summits
taking place in just six months: Financing for
Sustainable Development in July, Adopting Sustainable
Development Goals in August, and Finalizing a Climate
Agreement in December.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 227
Professor Sachs opined that the year 2015 has an
extremely crowded agenda. There are 193 member
states that are part of all these three negotiations.
If countries get it right, it will change the course of
global economic growth with the physical planetary
needs, not only those of the climate but biodiversity
management of ecosystems and the fairness of the
economic systems part of sustainable development.
In conclusion, Professor Sachs remarked that where
the world is right now, basic parameters are shaped
but are not firmly in place. For the SDGs, there are
17 highlights that have already been designated but
now the work is to get those goals into smaller, more
meaningful numbers and to combine these with the
targets and indicators and a process of accountability
to make the new SDGs more meaningful.
For the financial summit in July 2015, the basic
understanding is that the Summit will combine several
different objectives
❖❖ to assure the future of the Official Development
Assistance or the aid process
❖❖ to define climate financing
❖❖ to mobilize private capital to scale up tremendously
in sustainable infrastructure in both the rich and
the poor countries
❖❖ to try to reform the regulatory framework of
international finance to cut down sharply on
corruption, the illicit flows, and the financing of
unsustainable investments
In December, everyone hopes that governments agree
on the 2oC upper limit on warming as the absolute
limit on the permissible extent of human-induced
climate change based on the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) evidence that Dr Pachauri
228 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
and his colleagues have developed so persuasively and
effectively over the years.
Governments have accepted the 2oC limit
on warming, but they have not yet implemented a
framework to accomplish the same. The true test of
the December agreement is whether it truly will enable
the world to stay below the 2oC upper limit.
Mr Dawes commented that Professor Sachs views
present a compelling picture of the level of emergency
that arises when you have such complex machinery and
are trying to mesh out objectives in an extremely short
time frame. Mr Dawes questioned Professor Sachs
on whether the paucity of time, as described by him,
was sufficient to come up with a set of commitment
that are clear and hard enough to get a realistic result
both in September and December of 2015, and also on
other hand, ensure a $100 billion is really going to flow
in genuine resources and commitments from the rich
countries rather than in high sounding numbers that do
not result on the ground.
Professor Sachs responded by saying that he did
not have an answer to either of those questions though
$100 billion per year is certainly smaller of the two
problems. World economy is valued at $100 trillion,
so a $100 billion is not really that big an amount. The
rich world has a combined annual income of nearly
$50 trillion per year; so on the basis of that, a very
modest amount needs to be mobilized. The funds can
be generated but the question is whether the world
can agree on a framework that is truly bold. A coaldependent country like India wants to ensure that
there is a framework for development that is rigorous
and that can bring India definitely out of poverty,
that can continue rapid economic growth, and yet is
also consistent with the world’s planetary needs and
fundamentally, the answer to that is a transformation
of the energy system from a fossil fuel–based energy
to a low and near-zero carbon energy system by midcentury that would be based on solar, wind, geo-thermal
hydro power, nuclear power, and potentially carbon
captured and sequestration plus–related technologies,
such as electric vehicles that would harness that energy
in a clean way.
The UN project led by Professor Sachs for its
Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-Moon called Sustainable
Development Solution Network (SDSN) has been
working with teams around the world including a
team at TERI, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
Ahmedabad, and other teams in 15 major emitting
countries to identify the technological pathways that
will enable India to attain rapid economic growth and
combine it with a deep decarbonization. It is firmly
believed that this is possible if the world also invests
heavily in technological breakthroughs.
To make sure that the performance standards
of the low carbon technologies really come out
effectively, and so in addition to a pathway of deep
decarbonization, SDSN is also calling for a major scaling
up of the research development and demonstration of
low carbon technology systems whether its electric
vehicles, mass solar storage of renewable energy,
or other such technologies. India, China, and the
United States together must make technological push
alongside the commitment to deep decarbonization.
He concluded his response by summarizing that
what is feasible in the end is that the goal is not to
stop growth but to enable growth that is safe, which
requires a technological transformation requiring global
partnership, which needs to be built into the agreement
in December.
Mr Dawes questioned Dr Pachauri on what his
understanding was of how things work in a major
developing economy like India and what he thought
are the levers that have to move or can move between
now and the end of the year. Dr Pachauri agreed with
Professor Sachs and opined that both growth and
development need to be redefined and that there
needs to be a partnership between the north and the
south. According to him, one important part of that
partnership needs to be the fact that countries in both
north and south have to strike together as much for
creating common solutions as for implementing them
in their own territories. One of the terrible distortions
for instance in India is that anyone who has earned
enough money wants to live just the way people live in
North America and development cannot be achieved
in this country as long as everybody’s aspirations in
the country are on buying a more powerful bigger car,
on having several air conditioners in their homes and
therefore, appropriate transportation systems need to
be decided upon.
He questioned lack of infrastructure for cyclists
and pedestrians in our cities when it is happening in
some very enlightened cities in the countries of the
north. He also pointed out that buildings could be
constructed in a much more energy efficient way that
would consume only a portion of the energy being
consumed.
Dr Pachauri’s submission, thus, is that transition
is going to be extremely difficult but is certainly not
beyond reach. This is what has been reported in the
Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the UN IPCC; for
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 229
instance by 2050, if the 2°C limit is to be maintained,
then emissions need to be reduced by 40–70 per cent
on the 2010 value, and it is going to be a tough challenge
but it is something that can be done with the options.
Of course the transition to a newer pattern of energy
supply has to be accompanied by a similar transition to
a newer form of consumption of energy in every sector
of the economy and that means there would also have
to be some changes in the structure of what is built as
an economy.
Dr Pachauri is a little concerned that under the
UNFCCC it had been decided that 2013–15 would be
a review period when there would be a discussion on
whether 2°C is what we adopt or 1.5°C or something
different. He is confident of a strong agreement at Paris
and the possibility of being in line with the emission
scenario estimated in the IPCC as giving an assurance
of no more than 2°C increase by the end of the
century. He believes that indications are that it will be,
but it is not something at which the world should stop.
The Agreement will have to be constantly reviewed,
constant scrutiny of where we are with respect to
the 2°C and perhaps there will also be questioning of
whether the set limit of 2°C is good enough. With the
2°C pathway that has been set a sea level rise of around
26–55 cm will still persist at the end of the century
and that’s really good enough. And sea level rise will
continue beyond the 21st century and so something
needs to be done for the future of all living species on
this planet.
Professor Sachs then supplemented Dr Pachauri’s
viewpoint that the 2° upper limit would in itself be
dangerous when the present trajectory is 4-6° warming.
In other words, the planet is on a catastrophic rate of
230 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
warming right now and many people think that the 2°
upper limit is already unachievable. However, certain
people are of the opinion that it is achievable. The
current trajectory is horrifying because on the current
trajectory, the world food supply could actually be
ruined not to mention the sea level rise, the storms,
the loss of biodiversity, and all of the other calamities
that would come with the present business-as-usual
trajectory. That is why countries have to be sure that
at least they can keep it under the 2°C. Additionally, to
further amplify what Dr Pachauri said, Professor Sachs
said that some of the world’s richest cities such as Oslo,
Stockholm, or Copenhagen are on a path to zero net
carbon emissions because they are determined to get
there; so one can be rich, prosperous, and zero carbon.
Mr Dawes sought both Dr Pachauri’s and
Professor Sach’s reactions to the convergence of the
multilateral discussion on one hand and on the other
discussions that are happening between countries
and within countries such as the US announcing their
agreement with China and whether India should itself
commit to a peaking year for emissions. He went on to
seek Dr Pachauri’s views on the patchwork initiatives,
individual commitments, and bilateral deals taking place
and questioned whether they are a risk to the global
process or are they necessary to ensure things inching
forward.
Dr Pachauri responded by saying that in his
opinion all kinds of initiatives are needed at this stage.
He wouldn’t pit one against the other and to further
corroborate, as has been said in the AR5 of the IPCC
report, one can’t achieve what all countries are setting
out to do if individual group and entities—whether it’s
countries or companies—try to work only to advance
their own interest. What is really required is the
multiplicity of efforts. Civilians at all levels are needed
to optimize the benefits from whatever action is taken.
Professor Sachs opined that all major economies
of the world that is India, China, the US, and the
European Union need to be in agreement that they
must abide by the 2°C upper limit. Therefore, all must
choose a path of deep decarbonization but, at the same
time must also cooperate technologically so that goals
can be achieved and development of any country is
not hampered or blocked. He further reiterated that
India needs growth, development, and needs to be
assured that it can both decarbonize and achieve its
development objectives. That is the purpose of global
cooperation. Professor Sachs further reiterated that
everyone needs to be very clear about this year and
put in place new creative mechanisms for research and
development and diffusion of low carbon technologies
at the maximum rate and urged every country to
engage in detailed calculations of how to make that
path to deep decarbonization. He believes that
governments should prioritize this activity and indulge
in analytical work and find opportunities to achieve the
path to decarbonization with the available resources
and technologies. Dr Pachauri agreed with Prof Sachs
and added that the core benefits would be substantial
for any country, for energy security and for a much
better environmental condition, and it would translate
as higher employment opportunities at local levels.
Mr Dawes concluded the session by commenting
that what Dr Pachauri and Professor Sachs described
is a process that is easily captured as a set of 17 goals
initially to be drilled onto a tighter list with few specific
targets, but it really entails a transformation, that is,
political, cultural, economic, and technical of the kind
that the global community has never attempted before.
He said that there was an extraordinary challenge
ahead of everyone and he appreciated the theme being
set and discussed with such urgency and hoped that
by the end of year countries emerge with a sense of
clarity and measurability to create the kind of on-going
dialogue and progress if the 2°C upper limit needs to
be met.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 231
TERI–U Brain TV Partnership
Visual Communication For Sustainability
Prof. Kodama, Founder, UBrainTV, Ms Nobuko
Kashiwagi, Vice-President UBrainTV, along with Dr
R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI & Chairman,
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made an
announcement about the TERI–UBrainTV Partnership.
Since knowledge and research institutions have a
much larger responsibility that transcends the mere
production of knowledge, there has to be a sustained
effort towards information dissemination by which the
larger public benefits from the knowledge created.
The unprecedented developments in information
and communication technologies in recent years has
made outreach possible far beyond expectations.
TERI has indeed been practicing this through various
means of outreach, including the audio-visual
medium. TERI has a dedicated Film & TV Unit, which
produces high-quality films on various issues related to
sustainable development.
Further efforts are being put in through a new
partnership with UBrainTV, a young and dynamic media
organization, based out of Japan and the UK. All the
organizations are creating a website (TERI-UBrainTV.
com) which will bring together various voices and
stories on climate change and sustainable development.
Climate Change:
Ethics, Equity and the Poor
Chair
Ms Ekaterina Zagladina
President, Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace
Laureates
Panellists
Dr Rajiv Kumar Gupta (IAS)
Principal Secretary (Water Supply Department), Principal Secretary
(Climate Change Department) & Managing Director, Gujarat Narmada
Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited
Dr Arvid Hallén
Director General, The Research Council of Norway
Ms Naina Lal Kidwai
Chairman, HSBC India & Executive Director on the Board of HSBC
Asia-Pacific
Dr David M Malone
UN Under-Secretary-General & Rector, United Nations University (UNU)
Dr Jukka Mönkkönen
Rector, University of Eastern Finland
Mr Suman Bery
Chief Economist, Shell International
The first plenary session of the concluding day of the
summit was devoted to the all-important question of
ethics and equity in climate action that does not neglect
the interests of the poor who are the most vulnerable,
the so-called environmental refugees, but strives to
focus primarily on their needs and aspirations.
Underscoring the paramount need for climate
justice as the poor are the most vulnerable of all sections
of humanity to the ravages of climate disruptions
whereas they are the ones least responsible for it,
the chairperson Ms Ekaterina Zagladina invited
the panel to outline the ethical implications and the
moral basis that should govern our response to global
climate change.
Using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s (IPCC) description of human induced
damage to the environment as an unsustainable
ecological debt for future generations to inherit,
Dr Rajiv Kumar Gupta takes a holistic view of the
climate change debate and sees it more as a moral
issue since it means the protection of the interests of
future generations. In support of his thesis about the
ethical considerations that should guide any discussion
on the subject, he noted that the Hindu scriptures also
embodied all aspects of the universe and life embedded
within it. They emphasized the importance of the five
elements—earth, air, water, sky and solar energy—and
maintained that all life systems on earth are based on
the harmonious functioning of all these five elements.
Sustainable use of all these natural resources has
been consistently advocated in all the ancient Indian
religious texts. Recalling Mahatma Gandhi’s concept
that we are custodians of God’s creations and must
act befittingly with trust, he says that no individual is
entitled to more than his or her own proportionate
share of earth’s resources and the remaining portion he
holds in trusteeship for the benefit of others. It follows,
therefore, that the role of political leadership is to
ensure that the vulnerability of the poor communities is
reduced with respect to the impacts of climate shocks.
Government should be deeply committed to deal with
challenges of climate change and create large scale
infrastructure to tackle these problems. To illustrate
his point, he cited the case of Gujarat where such
Sustainability is a moral issue.
Dr Rajiv Kumar Gupta
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 235
interventions have helped it augment water availability
with resultant beneficial implications on health and
food security for the poor at large.
Dr Arvid Hallén acknowledged that reflections
on poverty and equity are extremely relevant and
important questions in the climate context. Adding
that social and economic justice ought to be a part of
every policy field, he said that ethics is an indivisible
part of every social issue. Calling widespread poverty
no less a challenge than climate change, he said that
the global community must address the issue of
differences in wealth creation between countries and
unequal wealth distribution within countries in all its
dimensions. According to him, both these dimensions
must be taken into account when addressing poverty
within the climate change context. To succeed with
mitigation and adaptation policies, the question of
236 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
social and economic justice must be considered very
carefully. He finds it troubling that while the richer
countries have been the major contributors to climate
change, it is the developing countries and the poor
residing there who suffer the most. Additionally, it is
the developing countries that are being asked to slow
down their own pace of development and implement
measures for sustainable growth. He concluded by
saying that major efforts in technology development
is the need of the hour but it also needs to be
complemented with political frameworks and social
innovations which to a large extent must be policy
driven. And, from a research policy perspective, strong
interlinkages between the natural and technological
science part of the issue and the social science
component is required. He hopes that climate change
policy will be less about distributing burdens and
suffering and more about developing solutions and
new opportunities.
Ms Naina Lal Kidwai focused on water being at
the heart of climate change impacts. In support of her
argument she cited the Global Risk Report of the latest
World Economic Forum which has identified water
as the top risk to global growth. Another risk that is
ranked among the top five risks in that list is the rapid
spread of infectious diseases on the scale of epidemics,
which is also related to water. The gap between
demand and supply of clean water is widening and
projections are that by 2030, India will go from being
a water stressed country to a water scarce economy.
She believes that it is critical that government, not-forprofit organisations, and corporates work together
to deal with this issue urgently. As an example of the
usefulness of such cooperation, she spoke of the town
of Moradabad near Delhi where the government,
the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), local nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and the citizens
came together to institute steps to prevent the
pollution of their water sources by its flourishing
small-scale metal industry. She pointed out that from
an ethical point of view also it is important to make
available adequate piped water supply because it can
provide economic opportunities by saving time which
otherwise would be spent in collecting water. Referring
to the Swachh Bharat programme of the government
for better sanitation, she lauded its objectives and
called for the CSR mandate and implementation skills
of corporates to ensure its success.
Dr David M Malone agreed with Prof
Jeffrey Sachs who had said in a preceding session
that countries are woefully short on achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on the
funding commitments. Japan and countries in Europe
and North America have been going through a period
of slow growth and so they cannot be expected to
meet their monetary commitments fully. He, therefore,
questioned the ability of countries to tackle the 17
SDGs and as many as 169 underlying targets. However,
he does see some hope in the COP21 at Paris being
able to come up with some satisfactory arrangements
because following from the Lima conference what
is being proposed now is voluntary commitments
and not the mandatory requirements of the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) process that was
an outcome of Kyoto and which failed for that very
reason. Giving the example of China, he is strongly
of the view that development will occur only if it is
driven from within and no amount of international aid
can make a difference. Similarly, India’s success should
be attributed more to enlightened policies and less
to international assistance. China will act on climate
change in its own interest as the level of air pollution
in its cities has reached alarming proportions. India
will also act on climate change in the interest of its
citizens as Prime Minister Modi has made it clear. The
United States has been quite innovative in combating
climate change and so it is with other countries. At
the same time, he is enthused by the accelerated
pace of development seen in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. According to Dr Malone, perhaps the most
important factor in meeting the difficult challenges of
climate change is citizen engagement and involvement
No government wants to
poison its own people.
Dr David M Malone
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 237
of local and international NGOs, to make a substantial
difference that benefits all.
Stressing on the importance of a scientific basis for
finding solutions to complex environmental problems,
Dr Jukka Mönkkönen wants scientists to conduct
more research into the issues surrounding the vexed
problem of ethics, equity and the poor in the context
of climate change mitigation and adaptation and evolve
fresh approaches that shed new light on these topics.
Terming the 20th century as the age of natural sciences,
he said that it has helped add to knowledge in fields
spanning the entire spectrum of disciplines from atomic
physics to cosmology. It has enlarged understanding
of nature, and how it affects humans. But today
humans have begun to affect nature itself. The field of
environmental engineering is a case in point. Human
induced climate change has had adverse impacts on our
238 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
health, economy, social issues and on all forms of human
life. He believes that our actions on climate change
must confront serious ethical issues of fairness and
responsibility across individuals, nations, generations,
and the rest of nature. Growing knowledge about
natural phenomena must be matched by knowledge
about social phenomena. Knowledge of the physical
world must be matched by knowledge about the
constructed world. He sees real opportunities for
developing the natural sciences, the social sciences and
humanities together, an opportunity for greater multiand inter-disciplinary scientific approaches. He calls for
more research and better modelling capabilities.
Mr Suman Bery rebuts Prof Jeffrey Sach’s notion
that fossil fuel companies are opposed to a transition to
newer forms of energy. Such a transition has happened
in the past as can be seen in the development of
compressed natural gas (CNG) and other less polluting
fuels. But the question is one of technology and finding
cheaper alternatives. He made it clear that because
of their efficiency, hydrocarbons will remain the fuel
of choice in transport and industrial applications for
some more time to come, as also in energy and power
applications. More research and resources must go into
technologies for carbon capture and storage. Evolving
standards for putting a price on carbon can help make
the transition. Faith is being reposed in renewables
but most of the applications are for electricity supply
and issues of storage and distribution have to be
resolved. Reiterating Dr Hallén’s view that equity
really has multiple dimensions—national, international
and poverty related, he also agreed with Dr Malone’s
view that development is really largely internally
driven. Admitting that developing countries are morally
bound to reconcile the imperatives of growth and
development with that of the climate, he indicated that
better infrastructure services and rising affluence will
see the demand for white goods grow manifold in the
coming years in these countries. The political class in
emerging economies, therefore, will find it increasingly
difficult to convince the electorate to temper their
expectations and aspirations. He ended by saying
that developed countries have a moral obligation in
designing credible, robust carbon pricing schemes to
stimulate innovation and also providing initial support
to CCS to encourage both investment and efficiency.
To a question as to how can climate change be
adapted to, Ms Kidwai said that research, technological
innovation, finance, and cooperation between all
stakeholders is essential. Dr Malone also emphasized
the importance of research to build accuracy into
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 239
our projections of the future. To another question
about bridging the skills gap in developing countries,
Dr Malone replied that technology travels so quickly
nowadays crossing borders effortlessly and at little cost.
As he sees it, India has been especially innovative in
producing inexpensive generic drugs and making them
available all over the world. Mr Bery said that India
must be open to international trade and be ready to
adopt new technologies. As for skills development, he
is of the opinion that a sound education at the primary
and secondary levels is as important as vocational
education. To the apprehension that government
may introduce mandatory requirements in the name
240 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
of ethics and equity, Dr Gupta said that while official
policies are important, the change should come from
within the individual. Government can facilitate the
process by imparting knowledge in particular areas at
the school level itself. Dr Hallén added that politicians
are for setting regulations, industry must innovate,
and academia set and develop the technology and
knowledge base for change.
Science alone cannot save us.
Dr Jukka Mönkkönen
Thematic Tracks
Oceans and Seas: Governance and Management
of Coastal Ecosystems
In partnership with UNDP
The Thematic Track on ‘Oceans and Seas: Governance
and Management of Coastal Ecosystems’ was organized
in collaboration with United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in order to help in the exchange
of knowledge and information on a common
platform about various approaches being adopted for
integrated coastal ecosystem management, lessons
learnt, challenges faced, and options for effective and
sustainable coping practices for effects of climate
change on coastal parts of the region.
The session was chaired by Dr P G Dhar
Chakrabarti, Distinguished Fellow, TERI. He
emphasized that even though the oceans occupy
about 71 per cent of the earth’s surface, there exists
an inadequate knowledge about the ocean ecosystem.
Coastal and marine areas are under continuous stress
and given that they contribute to the national economy
and have ecological richness, they have not received
adequate attention and protection. About one-third
of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is sinking in
the ocean and it is acidifying the ocean environment.
Additionally, coastal ecosystems and dependent
communities are facing more threats in face of changing
climate, which makes them more vulnerable. The main
threats that are imposed on coastal areas due to climate
change include sea-level rise, sea water intrusion,
coastal flooding, salt water intrusion, and inundation of
coastal lands.
This was followed by the broadcast of a short movie
‘Losing Ground: Two Cities and their Tryst with the
Future’, produced by TERI’s Film and Television Unit,
on the impacts of climate change on infrastructure
and assets in coastal cities. The film highlights the
climate vulnerability of two Indian cities: Panaji in
the state of Goa which is a major tourist destination
and Visakhapatnam also known as Vizag which is the
largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and also
its commercial hub and a financial capital and is also
developing into an industrial hub. The documentary
maps out the vulnerability of infrastructure services in
these two cities and highlights TERI’s approach towards
mainstreaming climate risk management in the planning
processes of these cities. The movie was well received
by the participants and panellists, and also served as a
theme for the discussion.
Dr Chakrabarti emphasized that the coastal
ecosystem is an important connecting link between
land and sea, and is a source of food, energy, and
livelihood for the local communities. The coastal
regions have always been a preferred choice
for human settlements, and today they support
44 per cent of world population living within 150 km
of the sea.
Dr Divya Sharma, Fellow, Sustainable Habitat
Division, TERI, started by showing photographs of
Panaji and Vishakhapatnam, the two coastal cities, and
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 243
proceeded to share the outcomes and experiences from
the year-long study ‘Climate Resilient Infrastructure
Services’. She shared a few key points of the work
done on the two coastal cities of India—Panaji and
Vishakhapatnam and commented that both the coastal
cities are vulnerable to sea-level rise. Vizag has been
facing severe erosion of beaches by tides from sea. She
added that coastal erosion has also affected marine life
as hundreds of Olive Ridley turtle eggs were washed
out of their nests in Vizag. She stated that the study for
the two cities took into account the different climatic
impacts and variability scenarios for west and east
coast of India. She discussed that in the case of Vizag,
infrastructure and urban land use planning is impacting
the entire scenario. She stated that inadequately planned
manmade constructions have resulted in making the
city more vulnerable. Discussing about Panaji, she
said that Panaji is one of the best coastal ecological
spaces in India; however, it is projected to face severe
damage to its ecological system. Panaji faces the threat
of severe and recurring flooding, like Visakhapatnam.
The destruction of mangroves on khazan lands (saline
244 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
floodplains), sewage, and garbage in water creeks,
destruction of sand dunes, and obstruction of the city’s
natural drainage due to construction exacerbated by
the pressure of the floating tourist population makes
the city’s infrastructure even more vulnerable. Also,
she explained about mangroves which act as a wave
breaker and reduce the net erosive energy of waves,
and stressed on the need to protect khazan lands which
also protect the city from ocean tides, which is under
the threat of urbanization and other land use changes.
Dr Sharma said that there is a need to identify how
to protect critical infrastructure such as hospitals,
schools, energy and telecom lines, transport facilities,
sewerage and drainage, and industry. The next step
towards sustainable coastal cities is to monitor changes
in the landscape. This can be done using geographical
information systems to superimpose various maps to
see how the area is changing. She concluded by saying
that there should be a proper implementation of
Coastal Regulation Laws (CRZ) laws and development
and planning should be inclined towards long-term
sustainability of the coastal cities.
Ms Bhadra B, Deputy Mayor, Kochi Municipal
Corporation, gave a comprehensive presentation on
the coastal management system in Cochin City. She
stated that costal ecosystem is complex as well as
rich in diversity, however inefficient sewage systems
along with untreated waste water drained into the sea
degrades the ecosystem. She reiterated that changing
climatic conditions are making coastal ecosystem
more vulnerable. She mentioned that Kochi Municipal
Corporation had started a participatory management
framework for ecosystem conservation and shared her
view that ‘We are the Real Guardians of our Ecosystem’.
She explained that people’s participatory approach
helps the communities have a sense of ownership. She
concluded by adding that participation of communities
to conserve costal ecosystem is more important than
imposing rules and regulation on them.
Mr N Vasudevan, Chief Conservators of Forests,
Government of Maharashtra and CEO, Sindhudurg
Project, Mumbai said that for better management of
coastal ecosystem, micro-policy level issues need to
be sorted. Coastal ecosystem has plethora of laws
which could end up making its efficient management
more complicated. He also stressed on the fact that
with the climate change impacts being felt, one has
to be extra cautious, as sometimes the adaptation
measures taken become more of a problem than a
solution. However, well-planned adaptation measures
are required in coastal areas to prevent degradation.
He was of the view that we all must take caution and
should be focused about climate change and its impact
on costal population. He provided a brief about an
ongoing mangrove project in Mumbai and explained
mangroves are important instruments of climate
change mitigation. He further explained the carbon
sequestration ability of mangroves and how mangrove
plantation sequesters carbon more than the rainforest.
For sustainable management, it is important to have
community participation and in order for effective
participatory management of natural resources tools,
incentives should be made available.
Dr Yugraj Yadava, Director, Bay of Bengal
Programme – Inter-Governmental Organisation
(BOBP-IGO), started his address with the fact that
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 245
India is rich in coastal and marine resources along
with the huge population of fishermen. He suggested
that there is massive sea food extraction by this
population and the export of sea food brings in millions
of rupees to the economy. The coastal and marine
ecosystem lacks governance and management and
needs vast improvement from both Central and State
governments. There is great need for an alignment
between the policies and programmes of the Central
and State governments in order to bridge the divide
between them. Since fishery resources are finite and
increase in population and demand are anything but
finite, thus posing a threat to this resource, Dr Yadava
stresses that the resource is managed in a sustainable
manner so that it continues to be available for future
generations. He stated that ‘ Land divides but Sea unites’
and hence, there should be a strong regional cooperation
with coastline neighbouring countries for management
of the resource. He introduced an important change of
approach i.e., from landscape to seascape approach, an
ecosystem approach for management. He concluded
by emphasizing on the need for the sector to discipline
246 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
itself so that the environment and its resources can be
in pristine condition.
Mr Sudarshan Rodriguez, Senior Programme
Coordinator, Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
addressed the ‘chalta hai’ approach, as Indians are
not keen to learn from their mistakes. He added that
if CRZ laws had been implemented efficiently, the
intensity of loss from tsunamis could have been very
less as compared to the widespread destruction that
took place. Another issue he pointed in the context
of coastal ecosystem was addressing the land rights of
the coastal communities. He raised the point that the
local fishermen community do not possess or own a
house rather they are like tenants without legal rights.
He added that even though a legal system is critical,
ownership is also critical because people can degrade
or exploit resources. He mentioned that solutions
do exists but there is a need to find the right kind of
solution through political will, citizen engagement,
and decentralization of the system. He suggested that
corporate sector should also be involved in coastal
ecosystem management and they should willingly
take initiatives in such projects and programmes.
He also recommended that it is important to create
mechanisms that can equalize power and help in
dissemination of updated information.
Ms Tomoyo Nonaka, Chairperson, Gaia
Initiative, Japan highlighted the phrase that we are all
living creatures who are allowed to live by Mother
Earth. She added that we are not in the middle of a
crisis but in fact are on the tipping point of the crisis,
rather at the point of no return. She was of the view
that a focus should be laid on Gaia (Mother Earth)
for future generations. She stated that in the 21st
century the company as well as the consumer should
focus on the axis of value for life. She introduced an
important method of electricity generation through
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion using ocean’s
differentiation of temperature with stable output
and without emissions. She introduced her project,
the OTEC power plant, in Okinawa which is part of
the Okinawa Prefectural Deep Sea Water Research
Institute, and as the goal of the institute is to research
the deep-sea water, the power plant’s primary role
will be as a research and educational tool. The plant is
able to generate up to 50 kilowatts of electricity from
a thermal expansion turbine. The turbine is propelled
by temperature variations provided by warm surface
water and cold deep-sea water. This station is the firstof-its-kind in the world, generating energy in a clean
manner. She concluded that we are all interconnected
and the earth is still waiting for us to wake up, so we
need to be conscious of our actions not only for the
sake of our generation but for the future generations
that are to follow. There is a need to put cutting edge
technology into our ancestor’s wisdom to face the
crisis that we are in and together we can make the
world a better place.
The panel discussion concluded with a general
consensus that the participation of communities need
not be limited to ‘community-based’ approaches,
rather they need to be ‘community-led’ or ‘communitydriven’ approaches, providing a sense of ownership
to the communities. One of the benefits of working
through local community-based organisations is that
it lowers the transaction cost involved and it also
allows for scaling up of successful cases and lessons
learnt. This approach provides platform for policy and
advocacy work with significant impacts in terms of
social and environmental governance, which leads to
informed decision making. A holistic community-led
management approach should also incorporate use of
adaptive management tools; participatory planning with
all stakeholders; ensuring horizontal and longitudinal
integration and coordination of stakeholders across
different levels; use of a combination of instruments,
such as social, regulatory, and technical measures.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 247
Urban Transport and Climate Change—Policy Challenges
for Indian Cities
In partnership with TOI Norway and Climatrans
India is experiencing rapid economic growth, increase
in urbanisation and growth in car ownership. Recent
assessments indicate that the transport sector in India
is the second largest contributor (after electricity)
to the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Moreover, Indian cities are vulnerable to climate
change impacts: extreme precipitation can lead to
flooding and disrupt the transport system, while heat
waves can have severe health impacts. In particulars,
megacities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are facing
rapid population growth, traffic congestion, increasing
GHG emissions and serious air pollution rates. Such
large cities with large and complex transport systems
are also vulnerable in terms of transport infrastructure
damage and breakdowns due to future climate change
related weather events.
The Thematic Track was co-organized by the
Institute of Transport Economics (TOI) Norway and
TERI with support from the Research Council of
Norway. The session brought together leading experts
from the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), Climate and Clean Air
Coalition (CCAC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Delhi, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, and
School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Delhi.
The opening session was chaired by Dr Prodipto
Ghosh, Director, Earth Science and Climate Change
Division, TERI. Dr Gunnar Lindberg, Managing Director,
TOI and Mr Stephen Perkins, Head of Research,
International Transport Forum, OECD, highlighted
trends and presented scenarios for the growth of
the urban transport sector. Indian perspectives were
provided by Climatrans research partners Prof.
Sanjay Gupta, SPA and Dr Ashish Verma, IISc. These
experts highlighted the policy dilemma faced by
the Indian transport sector: while public transportoriented growth can lead to major reductions in
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, it will also create a
big mobility gap that needs to be bridged. Providing
mobility brings to the fore important trade-offs—for
instance, motorcycles perform well with respect to
carbon dioxide emissions but poorly on unburned
hydrocarbons. Though per capita vehicle ownership in
India is currently much lower than in Western countries
it is projected to increase rapidly. The required growth
in the urban transport sector should follow a pathway
that is low carbon and climate resilient.
This Thematic Track also launched a new research
project ‘CLIMATRANS—Coping with Climate:
Assessing Transport Sector Strategies for Climate
Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Indian Cities’
funded by the Research Council of Norway. Dr Farideh
Ramjerdi, Climatrans Project Manager & Senior
Research Economist, TOI, explained that over the next
three years, the project team will assess climate change
impacts in urban areas in India and study mitigation and
adaptation strategies required for the urban transport
sector, with a focus on Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 249
These technical presentations were followed by a
panel discussion on the policy challenges for transport
in Indian cities in the context of climate change. This
session was chaired by Mr S Sundar, Distinguished
Fellow, Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI, and the
panellists included Ms Hanne Bjurstrøm, Special Envoy,
Ministry of Climate & Environment, Norway; and
Co-Chair, Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce
Short-Lived Climate Pollutants; and Prof Geetam
Tiwari, MoUD Chair Professor for Transport Planning,
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi. The
panellists outlined their vision of a sustainable megacity
for India and defined the role of the transport sector in
this vision. They addressed questions such as:
❖❖ What kind of policies are essential for low carbon
growth of the urban transport sector in rapidly
growing Indian cities?
250 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
❖❖ H
ow can urban transport infrastructure be made
more resilient to climate change?
❖❖ What is the role of the transport sector in
providing accessibility to the labour market and
integrating disadvantaged socio-economic groups
into society?
❖❖ How should urban transport be financed?
❖❖ What are the main barriers to achieve climate
change mitigation and adaptation objectives?
❖❖ What kind of governance mechanisms are
required to effectively integrate climate change
concerns into transport policy?
One of the major barriers to the implementation of
sustainable transport policy is the highly fragmented
institutional arrangement for transport in India. Strong
policy incentives can work—as shown by the examples
of promoting the electric vehicle market in Norway and
congestion charges in Stockholm. However, policy setting
is often carried out in an ad-hoc and piecemeal manner.
It is very difficult to cater to the highly complex
travel patterns in India. The aspirations of people for
car use have to be balanced by providing mobility
through buses. Surveys show that the Delhi Metro
accounts for only 3 per cent of trips in Delhi, while
most people walk and bicycle despite hostile conditions
on the roads. This points towards the need to develop
the transport sector in a manner that is responsive to
the needs of the urban poor rather than being overly
concerned about congestion for private cars.
But regular commuting or patterned travel, which
accounts for a very large portion of transport demand/
emissions in Indian cities, needs to be shifted to mass
transport by ensuring adequate investment in mass
transport and providing the same effective level of
service as private transport. One clear message from
the session was that India can do things differently. Large
and growing Indian cities need more efficient models.
There are opportunities for getting the prices right.
The government should consider subsidizing public
transport. There is a potential role for telecommuting.
There is scope to improve fuel quality and efficiency
norms. Local authorities should have stronger powers
to make regulations and the autonomy to raise funds.
There is a need for further research and
investigation to know which policy initiatives will be
effective in inducing a shift to public transport. In fact,
transport policy needs to be integrated with land use
planning, social housing, and economic activity. The
session ended with recognition of the increased need for
mainstreaming mitigation and adaptation measures and
looking forward to the findings of the Climatrans study.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 251
Are We on Track to Deliver
Sustainable Energy for All by 2030?
In partnership with SE4All and The World Bank Group
Mr Gyan Chandra Acharya initiated the discussion
by describing sustainable energy as one of the three
pillars of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All)
initiative launched by the United Nations in 2012 to
provide access to energy for all. More than 16 per
cent of the world’s population lacks access to proper
electricity and almost twice that figure, about 3 billion,
still rely on wood, coal, charcoal, and animal waste for
cooking and heating. As he points out, inefficient energy
use harms economic productivity, and fossil energy
related emissions worsen the dangerous warming of
our planet.
Sustainable energy is an investment in our
collective future. That is why the United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the
SE4Allinitiative. Energy runs industries and promotes
growth by creating new markets and generating
employment. Businesses can stay open longer and
children can study after dark. Clinics can store lifesaving vaccines and hospitals can function better.
Sustainable energy can help countries leapfrog over the
limits of the energy systems of the past and build the
clean energy economies of the future.
SE4All is focused on achieving three objectives:
enabling universal energy access, doubling the share
of renewable in the energy mix and enhancing energy
efficiency to twice its current level. An issue for any
set of goals is how to measure progress towards their
achievement. SE4All has designed a Global Tracking
Framework (GTF) to measure the progress achieved
against defined goals. SE4ALL has compiled a global
data platform comprising more than 180 countries.
Success in achieving these goals depends critically
on raising large amounts of capital, estimated at about
750 billion dollars annually. Many Development Finance
Institutions (DFIs) supported by The World Bank are
working on innovative ways for raising finances but if
more finance is to flow, policymakers need to do their
part as well by creating a suitable policy and regulatory
environment in all these countries. RISE (Readiness for
Investment in Sustainable Energy) is a new initiative to
develop global indicators across the three focus areas
of SE4All.
Equally important is transfer of technologies,
especially clean technology, and international
cooperation to ensure that developing countries
are enabled to transition to renewable and other
technologies. Sufficient attention must be given to
vulnerable countries like the small island developing
states, lesser developed countries, and especially
those in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the
Pacific region.
Giving a fluent preview of the UN SE4All GTF tool,
Ms Vivien Foster said that a large consortium of 23
agencies is presently collaborating on this exercise. To
make it possible to track progress, SE4All has compiled
a global data platform from the full range of available
household surveys and national energy balances
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 253
prepared by the International Energy Agency or by the
UN for smaller countries covering a 20-year period
extending from 1990–2010. SE4All aims at universal
access to energy, doubling the rate of improvement
in energy efficiency from 1.3 to 2.6 per cent
per annum and doubling the share of renewable in
energy consumption from 18 to 36 per cent.
Focussing on the period 2010–12, it is found that
the only indicator for measuring access to energy at
a global level is the percentage of population with an
electricity connection but the quality of supply can vary
hugely depending on the reliability of service, voltage
fluctuations, and other characteristics like affordability
and complaint handling. Solar lanterns, solar home
systems, and mini grids can be used for certain kinds of
uses. Not only electricity access, but the SE4All initiative
also looks at energy for cooking in terms of the fuel and
appropriate technology or the actual cookstove, which
determines its performance and health implications.
A pilot study was conducted in the city of Kinshasa,
capital of Zaire, now known as the Democratic
Republic of Congo. Adopting conventional means of
measurement gives a figure for electricity access of
about 90 per cent but it comes out very low when
considering all the seven attributes of electricity access
including reliability, peak capacity, hours of service,
voltage fluctuation, outages, affordability, and legal
issues. The story is quite similar in many developing
countries. Hence there is ample scope for improvement
on this first pillar of the SE4All initiative, viz. increasing
electricity access.
The results show that the rate of electrification
has been rising steadily but still falls well short of the
rate required to achieve universal access by 2030.
Of crucial importance in this effort will be the action
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taken by a group of about twenty countries, together
called the ‘high impact countries’, which is home to the
highest population without access to energy or modern
cooking fuels. Countries in Asia and Africa, like India,
China, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the Congo fall in this
category, accounting for about two-thirds of the global
electrification deficit and four-fifths of the global deficit
in access to non-solid fuels.
In fact, in the case of cooking, the number of
people using solid fuels has actually gone up. India’s
performance with respect to non-solid cooking
fuels, such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) during
the review period has been quite encouraging but a
significant proportion of the improvement has been in
urban areas. It is important that the rate of electrification
keeps pace with the growth in population. China has
also been showing steady progress on this front.
The second pillar of the SE4All initiative is energy
efficiency, measured as the ratio of input to output.
For this purpose, the GTF tool looks at the compound
annual growth rate of primary energy intensity to the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Purchasing Power
Parity (PPP) terms. In the case of renewable energy,
the main priority will be to improve the ability to gauge
the sustainability of various forms of renewable energy,
particularly traditional biomass. There should be
improvement in the rate of energy intensity. There are
inefficiencies to be reduced all along the supply chain.
About four-fifths of savings come either from industry
or transportation with relatively smaller contributions
from other sectors.
Upper middle income countries account for
double the savings than high income countries with East
Asia making the highest contribution. The top three
energy consumers are China, USA, and India, the third
though to a much lesser extent. A few major economies
like Saudi Arabia and Brazil are indeed becoming
less energy intensive. The report finds that about 20
countries have reduced their energy intensity by a
good 2 per cent which is getting closer to the target of
2.6 per cent.
Renewable energy is the third pillar of the SE4All
initiative. In addition to new sources, such as solar,
wind, and hydro, it also includes traditional uses of
biomass which often leads to unsustainable effects,
such as deforestation, air pollution, and premature
death. As economies modernize, growth in modern
renewable energy sources like hydro, wind, and solar
must be faster than the rate of energy consumption.
Electricity generation from renewable sources on a
massive scale will promote sustainability.
Different regions offer entirely different
opportunities. For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa it
is almost entirely bio-energy that is increasing; in East
Asia, hydropower is making the largest contribution
while wind farms are being developed in several
European countries and are also coming up in India.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 255
Developing countries must be given access to clean
technology products to meet the specified objectives.
Investment in renewable energy has tapered off
a bit because of policy reversals in Europe but the
good news is that since 2010 there has been a steep
drop in the unit cost of solar energy and somewhat
less for wind. The need is for financing new energy
infrastructure by attracting greater private institutional
investment to meet our energy and climate goals.
Methods of harnessing economic development to
address the immense challenge of increasing access of
energy and reliability of energy sources for hundreds
of millions of people that currently lack it must
be developed.
When Mr Mohinder Gulati, invited reactions,
one was the importance of social entrepreneurs in
the SE4All process, specifically for rural electrification
in countries like India, salient details emerging from
the study on renewables, and efforts at providing
an enabling framework for global and regional level
handholding and capacity building to ensure that this
permeates to the national and sub-national level
as well.
Mr Acharya said that energy access presents
a formidable challenge in South Asia, sub-Saharan
Africa, and the Pacific countries. While lighting
and cooking needs do demand close attention,
livelihood enhancement that contributes more to
economic activity should also be focused upon. Social
entrepreneurship will play an important role in all
this, be it handicrafts, sewing or developing business
linkages with urban centres nearby.
Responding to the question about interesting
findings from the study on renewables, Ms Foster said
that renewable energy is receiving much attention but
256 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
the greatest gains are coming from energy efficiency;
electricity is attracting more investment than other
equally important constituents of sustainability and
traditional biomass continues to be used extensively.
Agreeing that improving the measurement of energy
access, handholding, and working closely with
countries on the ground are all important, she said they
are planning to do a global energy access survey for
large energy access deficit countries.
Two other questions were about solar home
systems, solar lanterns, and Pico systems of low capacity,
which are small photovoltaic off-grid systems, as well
as energy efficient improved biomass cookstoves based
on solid fuels that are not being considered as part of
energy access, and the imperative of greater emphasis
on decentralized energy in many parts of the world.
Ms Foster replied that instead of relying merely
on government statistics which are always
underestimated because they ignore decentralized
energy, all their data is culled from household surveys.
Although the GTF tool is only able to measure nonsolid fuels, the final version to be published soon tries to
capture all interrelated factors in an integrated fashion.
In his presentation on financing the SE4All
initiative, Mr Gulati said in order to fulfill the three
objectives of the SE4All programme—access,
renewable, and energy efficiency—it is necessary
to double the current level of investment of around
750 billion dollars a year. He, however, emphasized
that this amount is adequate only for meeting
the three objectives mentioned above. The total
energy sector investment in the world is about
2–2.5 trillion dollars a year and the bulk of that would
be in fossil fuel infrastructure including extraction,
refining, and transportation.
They have an advisory board which has constituted
four committees on Access, Renewables, Energy
Efficiency, and Finance. The Finance Committee is cochaired by the Chairman of the Bank of America and
the Chairman of the Brazilian National Development
Bank but it also has representation from the African
Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, and
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) as also private
sector participation through Citibank, Goldman Sachs,
BlackRock Inc., and some others.
They have had very broad-based consultations
which show that recommendations vary widely
between countries and that affordability is one of the
major barriers to access. Secondly, power utilities
in the developing world are not very efficient both
operationally and financially. Lack of capacity and
creditworthiness of microfinance operators is also an
issue. One solution is to tap domestic banks in the
region with surplus capital. Equity markets can be
explored. Reforms in the energy sector and energy
policy are essential to leverage private sources of
funding. The international architecture must ensure
that the technology is accessible and affordable.
Some countries have access to bonds and
syndicated loans but that market is very small as of
now. Moreover, the tenure of the financial instruments
in developing countries is also not able to provide
long-term loans required for financing infrastructure.
Financial markets in the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of
countries are able to raise a lot more capital than
developing countries.
Four other financial mechanisms being considered
are green bonds, co-lending from DFIs, private sector in
emerging markets and aggregation of small and microenterprises. Green bonds are a new development for
overall expansion of the capital markets which will
eventually bring in new liquidity. These bonds are a way
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 257
by which the issuer commits to using the proceeds of
the bond for specific objectives related to the green
sector. It is expected that the green bond market,
presently at 35 billion dollars, will see an exponential
increase to about 100 billion dollars per annum.
Their estimates show that in 2010 global GDP
was 63 trillion dollars, the physical asset base in farms,
land, manufacturing, and infrastructure was 210 trillion
dollars and sovereign financial holdings stood at about
300 trillion dollars. Together with holdings in banks the
asset base of the global economy is substantial. The
issue is redirecting capital to where it is needed most. It
is seen that presently most of the FDI flow in portfolios
is between developed countries which should change if
the SDG agenda is to be completed.
The committee has identified lack of bankable
projects as a major bottleneck and recommends
a project development facility at various levels—
international, national, and sub-national—to help
prepare bankable projects. To attract investment,
developing countries need to improve public
governance. Power utilities can reduce technical and
commercial losses, improve bill collection, make the
subsidy better targeted and transparent and gradually
adjust the tariffs to efficient cost recovery levels.
He stressed that only the true cost of service delivery
should be recovered from consumers and losses due to
leakage and theft because of poor governance should
be absorbed by the government.
Observing that the presentation had proved that
the required funds can be mobilized, the chair invited
questions from the audience.
A moot question was regarding which sector
would take the onus of delivering the SE4All objectives,
production of electricity and its responsibility overall—
258 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
the private or public sector Another question was on
how to combat reduction of household air pollution
considering that clean cooking energy is one of the
weakest sections for sustainable energy. The chair
queried on whom responsibility be bestowed for
identifying opportunities and gaps.
To the first question, Mr Gulati replied that
partnerships between the public sector, private sector,
civil society, citizens, and academia need to be created
so that each group works together. Given that public
resources are limited, maximum finance needs to be
sourced from the private sector. However, they should
act in a socially responsible manner and try to make
services affordable.
Conceding that the problem of indoor air pollution
due to inefficient cooking practices needs to be tackled
urgently, he said that WHO estimates that it causes
4 million avoidable premature deaths every year. But
since it is primarily the womenfolk who engage in
this activity, the problem is not getting the attention
it deserves because decision-making rests with
men in traditional societies, even in a matter chiefly
concerning women. In response to the last question,
he said that they are trying to mobilize partners like the
Asian Development Bank, The World Bank, and other
bilaterals to help in preparing country action plans and
also look at prioritization of investments and financing
requirements in individual countries.
The last presentation again made by Ms Foster was
a concise exposition of RISE, a new tool that measures
the enabling environment for Readiness to Invest in
Sustainable Energy, targeted mainly at policymakers.
Funds are important, of course, but policies, regulations
and an enabling environment are no less important so
that the money is used productively.
The RISE indicators have been developed through
a long, exhaustive process involving objective
consultations, literature reviews, and discussions with
experts within and across institutions. RISE looks at
the actual attributes of a policy from the standpoint
of 28 indicators and 85 sub-indicators which fall into
four main categories: the planning system, policies
and regulations, pricing, and subsidies and procedural
efficiency, or ease of doing business.
The RISE pilot study was conducted in 17 countries
including low income countries, nations in the middle
income band like India and Chile and high income
countries such as Denmark and the USA. The USA and
India are both federal in nature and many policies are
framed at the state level. For the purpose of the study,
therefore, they looked at federal and state regulations
in New York State in the USA and Maharashtra in India.
In the case of energy access in planning, it is
important that countries have a national electrification
plan but it should also consider off-grid electrification
in addition to the central grid. The plan should also
be updated regularly. Policies and regulations are no
less important especially for mini-grids, household
home system standards, pricing and subsidies, and
simplified procedures.
The study reports good planning in 83 per cent
of the countries surveyed but a quarter of them
were not updating and refining their findings
The price of electricity also varies widely, from
2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in Ethiopia to
90 cents per kWh in the Solomon Islands. The
enabling environment for mini-grids is also a cause
for concern. Countries like Tanzania take up to
1.5 years to grant a license and which may cost as much
as $6,000. There are similar problems in procuring a
household electricity connection in the countries under
review varying in time from a week to a full year and in
cost from $10–500 depending on the country.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 259
India does well on all these parameters while Liberia
in West Africa is at the bottom of the RISE scale.
Policies and regulations for mini-grids and solar home
systems are also compared. Indicators for renewable
energy include location and quality of renewable
energy sites, well-defined targets and an effective
action plan, efficient transmission networks, planning
for expansion, resource mapping, and incentives
provided. All this information should be available
in the public domain to attract investment. Other
important factors influencing country performance are
sustainability, affordability, accessibility, predictability,
and creditworthiness. The study found that while more
than four-fifths of the countries had set targets, less than
one-fifth of them had done proper resource mapping.
A similarly comprehensive set of indicators exist
for measurement of energy efficiency like performance
of utilities, providing correct and complete billing
information to consumers, appliance standards, energy
labelling, renewable purchase obligations, building
energy codes, and incentives to invest in energy
efficiency. India scores relatively well in these areas
with the advanced economies of Denmark and the
USA heading the list
The floor was thrown open for the final
Q&A session.
A question was raised on how finances required
for energy efficiency investment in industries and
infrastructure be raised and improvise the performance
of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs). Another query
was that India’s energy policy announced in 2007
estimates that even in 2032, as much as 85 per cent
of the energy would be produced from coal based
reserves and so the share of renewable energy will
not be so dominant. A third question was that while
260 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
things might look good at the national policy level that
is not the case at the state level where there are several
ambiguities. Yet another question was about perception
and attitude of financial institutions, private sector
banks, and DFIs to provide finance to the private sector
for investments that promote sustainable development
rather than looking merely at the commercial aspects.
A member of the audience reiterated the question
posed by the session theme itself, whether sustainable
energy will be available to all by 2030.
Answering the first question, Mr Gulati said that
achieving energy efficiency in ESCOs is difficult now
because of problems of low price, lack of investment,
and limitation on scaling up. Secondly, actual, specific,
technical information may not be available at the
consumer level. Further, incentives for investing in
energy efficiency are absent especially at the household
level. As for access to technology, there has to be
the supply chain to make technology and equipment
available to consumers. Access to finance also affects
capital investment in ESCOs.
In response to the penultimate question,
Mr Gulati said that awareness, sensitization, realization,
and attitude must percolate through to all sections of
society. Accepting that the profit motive is central to any
business, he said that it is possible to have technologies
and business practices which are both profitable and
sustainable if one is environmentally responsible and
socially conscious. It must become a shared concern
and a shared activity.
Fielding the questions, Ms Foster said that as
regards ambiguity in the RISE indicators at the state
level, for large countries like India, China, and USA,
state level or sub-national data ought to be included.
Representative data on access on state level energy
balances of renewables and efficiency required by the
GTF could also be used. The need is also for larger
teams in each state to go into the plethora of issues
around these new approaches. On the question of
India’s energy mix, she was of the opinion that as India
develops, its energy needs will also grow but the share
of renewables is quite low at present. Hence, the
ambitious goals set for the country may not be able
to achieve their full potential. India should exploit its
huge resources of hydropower. To reduce the carbon
footprint of the power sector, it should tap into gas
and nuclear energy. In response to the last question on
the subject of the session, she said there is always a lag
between the timing of an event and when the data is
available but definite progress is being made.
In his turn, Mr Acharya said that the SE4All
initiative is an important one as the UN Secretary
General and The World Bank are supporting it and it
can prove to be the golden thread that connects the
three essential dimensions of sustainability—social
inclusiveness, economic growth, and environmental
protection. It is encouraging that there is strong
support at the global level, growing interest at the
national level as also the commitment at the local level.
What is required to be achieved now is scaling up and
improving the rate of growth.
Acknowledging all the presentation in her
concluding remarks, and as a member of the Executive
Committee of the SE4All initiative, the chair pointed
out that the three goals were arrived at on a consensus
basis by inviting countries to participate to the best of
their abilities and according to their context. It was
stressed that they are not uniformly applicable to all
countries. It is for each country to determine which of
the three goals and to what extent is applicable to them.
The RISE indicators and the Global Tracking
Framework will help quantify progress, give
guidance, create competition, and compel
countries to act. Countries can also learn from each
other’s experiences.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 261
Bio-economy and Sustainable Development:
Revisting the Policy Agendas in the North and the South
In partnership with VITO
Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen proposed that humanity’s
true problem is not economic but ‘bioeconomic’
wherein economic processes lead into entropic
flows of energy and matter which were fundamental
bioeconomic factors that need to be considered when
looking at human presence within a finite biosphere.
The concept of ‘bio-economy’ revolves around a
technology transition, especially biotechnology, which
uses bio-resources. Bio-economy is also envisaged to
have broader socio-economic implications to achieve
the goals of sustainable development. It is important to
understand that while biomass is a renewable resource
at the local level, it is not an unlimited resource and
for several ecological processes, bio-resources are
also not substitutable. At the moment, a narrow
industrial and rent-seeking perspective dominates the
bio-economy agenda.
Recognizing the need of transition from the
narrow industrial perspective of bio-economy to a
‘bioeconomic’ perspective, VITO (The Flemish Institute
for Technological Research), Belgium and The Energy
and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi organized a
track event that sought to set an India–European Union
(Indo-EU) agenda for bio-economy especially from the
perspective of innovation policy and industry.
The Thematic Track sought to stir a discussion
around multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder
approaches to a sustainable bio-economy agenda
that takes into cognizance social, ecological, and
economic processes. The session was conducted in
the form of a structured panel discussion comprising a
chairperson, with an expertise in technology policy and
economic development, and a panel of experts. The
discussion commenced with a welcome address and an
introduction of the Chair. The Chair then introduced
the panellists and set expectations from the discussion.
A presentation prepared by VITO and TERI on the
Indo-EU bio-economy collaboration was shown. The
interventions made by the panellists were directed to
addressing the objective of the discussion. The Chair
then invited questions and comments from participants
in the room and distilled key points of relevance
emerging from the discussion.
Ms Shailly Kedia, Fellow, TERI, gave a brief
introduction to the session in which she stated that bioeconomy revolves around technology especially around
biotechnology which involves the sustainable utilization
of bio-resources. Currently, a narrow industrial
perspective dominates the approach to bio-economy;
therefore there is a need to bring a broader scope of
sustainable development in the policy agendas. The
objective of the session was to articulate inputs for the
Indo-EU research agenda to contribute to a roadmap
of bio-economy and sustainable development. There is
a need to go beyond vertical science and technologyled cooperation to a much more issue-based horizontal
cooperation. Some questions that the bio-economy
discourse needs to consider include:
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 263
❖❖ W
hich critical needs of India, can a bio-economy
address? What approaches are needed for a bioeconomy vision in India?
❖❖ How can policy and technology development
agendas around bio-economy go beyond the
domain of life sciences?
❖❖ How can policy agendas around bio-economy
go beyond profit motives to address societal and
developmental needs?
❖❖ How can processes go beyond top–down
technology development and knowledge transfer
to more horizontal participatory knowledge
exchange?
❖❖ What do sustainable development imperatives
entail for the Indo–EU technology cooperation
agenda?
Dr Pronab Sen, Country Director, India, International
Growth Centre; Chairman, National Statistical
Commission, set the context for the session by opining
how bio-economy discourses often get side-tracked into
a technology approach. Technology that utilizes natural
resources must focus on addressing resource depletion
keeping in mind the requirements of future generations
and the basic tenets of sustainable development. He
hoped that the Indo–EU framework reflects these
concerns. Policies must address the question of what
damages speciation and what measures must be taken
in order to preserve biodiversity.
Dr Ludo Diels from VITO, who has also worked
on the SAHYOG Indo-EU partnership, states that
informed bio-economy comprises, both, economy and
technology. The Indo-EU bio-economy has undertaken
a strategic research agenda with a strong involvement
of the industry. The genesis of this session was the
strong collaboration between the Department of
264 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and the
European Commission.
Bio-economy implies food production, chemicals,
materials, and also biomass for energy in an integrated
approach. The European Commission has focussed
on bio-economy since it provides linkages to rural
development and industry and this is reflected in
the Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme which
focuses on implementation through innovation and
where the industry is working strongly with the public
sector in initiatives such as setting up of demonstration
laboratories. Bio-economy is a priority for India as well
and has even been mentioned several times in India’s
Five-Year Plans. Bio-economy links well with rural
development—with huge amounts of biomass, waste
generation, and its management. Coupled with energy
shortage, these concerns become strong drivers
towards a bio-economy approach. Food security is also
another key aspect for the bio-economy agenda.
On February 10, 2012 a joint declaration was signed
between India and the European Union in which
five focus areas were identified for research and
development, which are:
❖❖ Health
❖❖ Energy
❖❖ Water
❖❖ Bio-economy
❖❖ Information and Communication Technology
(ICT)
These then formed the Framework Programme
Seven of the European Commission together with
DBT to launch a common call on a future strategic
research agenda, which led to the SAHYOG
(Strengthening Networking on Biomass Research and
Biowaste Conversion — Biotechnology for Europe
India Integration) programme. SAHYOG is a strong
collaboration between multiple partners. In India, it
was coordinated by TERI while ENEA (Italian National
Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable
Economic Development) coordinated it for Europe.
Objectives of SAHYOG are:
❖❖ To make estimates of inventories of biomass and
bio-waste availability
❖❖ To make a strategic agenda of recommendations
for policy
❖❖ To organize stakeholders’ meetings including
academia and industry
❖❖ To describe state-of-the-art in terms of
ongoing projects
❖❖ The recommendations from the stakeholders will
finally lead to the roadmap
Some of the findings from the study showed that the
utilized agricultural land in Europe was similar to India.
However, the arable land is larger in India. The forest,
meadow, and pasture cover in Europe is 177 mha while
in India it is 68.4 mha. In Europe, agriculture and forestry
is balanced whereas in India agriculture dominates over
other land use. In India, forests are largely protected
and lesser in comparison to Europe. India is high on
biodiversity, has an extensive coastline, and agriculture
is largely subsistence-based as compared to Europe
which adopts intensive agricultural practices.
Inventories have also been made for feedstock
in Europe whereas, in India, since data is not available
therefore the inventories are largely based on
estimations. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and waste
water were found to be some of the major issues being
faced by India.
A survey was conducted which included
identification of stakeholders and their views on the
different recommendations based on—feedstock
supply, by-products and waste, bio-refineries, policy
products, and markets. In India, more responses
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 265
were gathered for environment and agriculture,
whereas in Europe the responses were more based
on chemistry, materials, and biotechnology. Food
was underrepresented and in future, it should be
a focus area along with food processing. Storage
and capacity-building for food processing should
be addressed.
The feedstock levels were shown for India and
Europe and certain recommendations were elaborated
upon, such as the need:
❖❖ To optimize agricultural practices and look for
regionalized solutions
❖❖ To develop new crops suitable for marginal and
abandoned lands for example, water and salt
resistant crops
266 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
❖❖ T
o improve phenotyping to improve crop
performance
❖❖ For research and development of micro and
macro algae (water-based)
Regarding waste, the study reported the need to
improve collection and harvesting with a focus on
logistics. There is also a need for technologies that can
help valorize waste into energy or useful materials.
On bio-refineries, the study identified the need for
technologies based on raw materials of 2nd generation
lignocelluloses crops and a need for demonstration and
implementation of such refineries; and for anaerobic
digestion, need for low cost multi feedstock for gas
upgradation. A pre-treatment technology is being
proposed that helps to increase the production.
Europe is exploring the potential of elephant grass and
switch grass. Similarly in India, the potential of bamboo
can be explored as a biofuel. At production, conversion,
and consumption one needs collaboration. There
is a need for adaptive regulations and policies. Bioeconomy must be nested in a sustainable development
framework. All must be involved in the programmes
especially the rural communities. Government
programmes must be linked such as the Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan and cleaning of the Ganges. There
is a need for participatory exercises and to look at
bio-economy within a framework of sustainable
development. Links with science and clean technologies
is needed to promote entrepreneurship. Industryresearch linkage is very important.
The framing presentation was then followed by a
panel discussion.
Dr Satnam Singh Ladhar intervened by putting
forth the context of bio-economy in the state of Punjab.
Post-independence, there was mass migration and
the government allocated land to people in order to
create opportunities for them. There was a feeling of
starvation for nearly two decades post-independence
and then in the 1960s the Green Revolution
was undertaken when the economy moved to a
surplus state.
Punjab cultivates paddy on 2.8 mha of land resulting
in an output of more than 10 million tonnes of rice and
20 million tonnes of paddy straw. Most of the paddy
straw is being indiscriminately burnt. This had led to a
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 267
loss of nutrients in the soil which are burnt along with
the crop residue. Around 20 million tonnes of paddy
straw is almost equivalent to about 10 million tonnes
of coal and can supplement the energy demand in the
state. The government is actively working on policies
around paddy straw management and utilization so as
to consider this resource as an economic opportunity—
earning instead of burning.
There are efforts to incentivize market linkages
for paddy straw since it has a revenue potential. There
is a need for people-friendly technologies. However,
due to high silica, potassium, and chloride contents
in the paddy straw, generally clinkerization problem
occurs in boilers and private entrepreneurs are not
particularly keen in setting up biomass based power
plants. The government is promoting research and
development in this field with an aim to utilize 1 million
tonne of paddy straw to generate 200 MW of power by
2017. Currently, 52.4 MW is being generated through
biomass which uses a proportion of paddy straw.
There is a potential to leverage fuel needs of 3,000
brick kilns in the state and link these with the available
paddy straw for which research and development
is being undertaken with respect to combustion
behaviour so as to ensure its proper utilization on full
scale. Storage of paddy straw has also been identified
as a concern. There is tremendous potential in
utilizing this biomass and for the same inter-linkages
with different institutions is pertinent. All issues have
been stated in the draft policy and white paper. The
Punjab government is looking for new technologies in
collaboration with TERI to work towards a strategy to
mitigate climate change.
Dr Sen, Chairman, National Statistical Commission
& Country Director, International Growth Centre,
268 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
India, commented on the diversity of the situation in
India. In a state like Punjab, there is a concern with
surplus biomass whereas in other states, there is a
deficit of biomass. The seasonal factors, and utilization
processes pose a logistical challenge in the management
of waste. Aggregation and transport implies a high cost,
needs local solutions such as community level digesters.
Overall logistics are not sound for the scale of
biomass interventions. There is a need for institutional
structures along with self-sustaining propositions. India
introduced the Electricity Act in 2002 which allowed
for decentralized power generation and distribution.
However, in practical application it has not worked.
Legislations are enablers; however for them to be
implemented there is a need for a policy framework in
which it operates. India must learn from the institutional
experiences of European micro-grids and decentralize
energy systems.
Dr Renu Swarup, Department of Biotechnology,
Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India,
shared her thoughts that policy and science must talk
in order to meet the economic ends and ensure a bioeconomy. India has a large biodiversity and biomass
base. She agreed that it is essential to link life sciences
outcomes to the economy. The National Biotechnology
Development Strategy of 2007 brought out the need
to bring together science and technology and research
more towards commercialization. There is a need to
engage industry through public private partnerships
and research and academia. Economics is driven by the
norms of demand and supply which must be discussed
and the biopharmaceutical sector has been positioned
with these aspects.
Waste to value is another crucial aspect which
is closely linked with the Government’s Swachh
Bharat Campaign. This initiative of the government
has been undertaken to focus on research
infrastructure, investments been made and human
capabilities built Different models of governance
have to be brought in along with different models
of research. Institutional structures must support
research and ensure mainstreaming such research.
India has introduced the biofuel policy, under which
the DBT brought out the bioenergy vision document
which states a target of 20 per cent blending in
biodiesel and bioethanol as mandatory by 2017.
India is currently behind these targets which must be
addressed. Biomass-based ethanol and algae waste
when used as a feedstock has tremendous potential
which must be harnessed.
DBT has also set up an institutional framework for
bio-energy and bio-policy. Four centres of excellence
for bioenergy have been set up namely—Institute of
Chemical Technology, Mumbai; Indian Oil Corporation,
Faridabad; International Centre for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology, New Delhi; and an IIT bio-energy
centre which consists of biologists and engineers,
who can take forward the agenda of synthetic biology.
The objective is to have multiple stakeholders from
research, academia, and industry in order to bring out
the synergies for commercialization. To build human
capacity, there is a training component at the Centres
of Excellence; there is also a bio-energy overseas
fellowship programme, and an Indo-US partnership
which plans on introducing a fellowship in niche areas
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 269
such as synthetic biology. For algal biomass, there
is currently a need to create a repository, which has
now been done in Institute of Bioresources and
Sustainable Development, Imphal. There is also
a marine biodiversity repository at Bharathidasan
University, Tiruchirappalli.
In order to harness the commercial potential,
multiple measures have to be taken to create an
enabling ecosystem. Costs must be rational so that
logistics can be integrated in the supply chain. There is
a need for adequate incentives that make the business
proposition financially sustainable. International
partnerships are crucial and there is a need to bring
global technologies, scientists, and entrepreneurs on
a common platform for biomass-based economies.
270 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Product development chain must be linked with
market access and these linkages will be key to bringing
in adequate commercialization into the bio-economy
sector. In this context, the Indo-EU agenda has been
crucial and can be further leveraged in setting up the
right partnerships for growth in the sector.
Dr Sen stated that commercialization can happen
only through synergies and collaboration and will also
need to engage the respective ministry.
Dr R K Pachauri remarked that the session was
inspired by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen’s broad vision
for science and technology. He emphasized that a
science and technology agenda, including research and
development, must be integrated with environment,
economic, and societal issues. Unless this is done,
all efforts will largely remain futile as they will not
consider the outcomes of sustainable development.
A recommendation has been made to introduce a
Bio-energy mission on the lines of the existing ‘Solar
Mission’, in the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate
Change, which must address negative externalities
like agriculture residues and harness resources. The
power sector must be open to use fuels from alternate
resources and for the same, regulations and policy will
play a critical role.
The role of traditional knowledge is also
important. Bamboo, a vital resource is used for a
variety of purposes. In housing, during earthquakes,
bamboo structures are capable of withstanding the
stress. Handicrafts made of bamboo, being developed
in the North Eastern states, are sold in European
markets. There is a need to marry modern market
forces with traditional skills and capabilities, only
then can a substantial change be made. Science and
technology must therefore have a bioeconomic vision
for India and the world for which policy interventions
and regulations will be important.
Ms Henriette Faergemann, Counselor for
Environment, Delegation of the European Union, with
her expertise shared the contours of the European
Union (EU) Policy. She brought to light the challenges
being faced by the EU. The depletion of natural
resources, effects of climate change, and the need to
provide food security, and demographics pose unique
challenges for the EU. Renewable biological resources
from land and sea can help meet these challenges.
Bio-economy has huge potential for innovation and
this is recognized by EU. Forest residue use must not
compromise the long-term productivity of the forests.
The carbon and nutrients must be retained in the
soil. The EU bio-economy strategy, adopted in 2012,
promotes production systems that reduce greenhouse
gases and mitigate the impacts of climate change such
as droughts and floods. There is a need to reconcile
food security with increasing demand for energy.
Member states are finding innovative ways to use
forest resources. Limits to bioresources must be kept
in mind, and hence there is a need to optimize through
cascading use of bioresources whereby the same
biomass for different applications will allow maximize
economic benefit and also energy recovery at the
end of the lifecycle. Healthy bio-economy therefore
demands that ecosystems are managed sustainably.
The EU invests in research in this area since it sees
it as a source of job creation and value addition. Bioeconomy has the potential to bring in economic, social,
and environmental benefits. For the same, there is a
need to focus on productive land, soil, and ecosystem
out of which land is the most scarce resource.
She stressed that the use of biomass should be
promoted within sustainable limits. Both Europe and
India are the most intensive bio-economy users in the
world and it is important for both to embark upon this
journey together.
Mr Denis Dambois, Head of Research and
Innovation, EU Delegation to India (and an expert in
intellectual property rights), highlighted the existence of
many concrete opportunities for research cooperation
between India and the European Union (including its
member states). He commented on the success of the
EU-funded SAHYOG project. The EU collaborates with
India through the European Commission programmes
and also through the bilateral initiatives of most of the
28 individual EU member states. He spoke about the
European Commission’s new Horizon 2020 research
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 271
Framework Programme (total budget of which exceeds
€70 bn), mentioning that under its predecessor — FP7
(7th Framework Programme) — mobility fellowships
were granted to 1,600 Indian researchers and about
200 collaborative projects which included at least
one Indian research team. Under the rules of the
new Horizon 2020 programme, EU funding is still
available for individual Indian researchers, but in the
case of collaborative projects, Indian participants need
to engage with funders from the Indian side such as
ministries and departments in order to secure funding.
India plays a key role in the bio-economy agenda
since it wishes to intensify its activities in this sector.
This interest is also present in the EU; under the
Horizon 2020, several of the ‘societal challenges’ have a
focus on bio-economy. This new approach shows EU’s
interest in practical interventions rather than a focus
on narrow scientific research. The Work Programme
(identifying calls for proposals to be launched in the
future under Horizon 2020) will soon be updated for
2016–17; Indian researchers are encouraged to check
this document, so as to be able to find partners and
submit proposals in time.
Dr Sen stated that the issue of participatory
knowledge exchange has not been discussed
so far. The repository is centered around
communities. Some resources are taken up and they
undergo transformation.
Dr Alok Adholeya, Director, Biotechnology &
Management of Bioresources Division, TERI, shared
that there is a need to look at bio-resources as an
opportunity which needs an enabling framework.
Currently, a major challenge is waste that cannot be
reused. It is also important to know if India is ready
for a bio-based economy and the challenges and
272 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
drivers for the same. In cities, municipal solid waste
poses the biggest challenge and there is a need to
find technologies for municipalities that can create
ways to manage or utilize waste. There must be both
top–down and bottom–up approach. There is a need
for food storage processing which can be facilitated
through knowledge exchange, a favourable intellectual
property regime, and collaborations. The current
swine flu outbreak is an outcome of not handling biobased resources properly. Brazil is also facing an energy
security challenge and is moving towards nuclear energy
without solutions for managing the nuclear waste.
There is a need to look at ways to harness biomassbased energy in an economically viable way. There are
several impediments in harnessing bioresources. There
is a need to meaningfully utilize bioresources which
requires technologies that are available for use by the
industry. An enabling policy and regulatory mechanism
is essential.
The floor was thrown open for the final
Q&A session.
Mr Nitya Nanda, TERI, questioned Dr Ladhar
on why Punjab has chosen rice as its primary crop
considering it is not native to the region, is water
intensive, and further poses the challenge of managing
its residue. In West Bengal, it is the traditional crop,
therefore the residue is utilized well. Can measures
be taken to remove the electricity subsidy given to
the farmers?
Mr Nanda asked Dr Sen if there can be a policy to
stop procurement of rice from Punjab.
Dr Sen responded that cropping decisions are
the prerogative of State governments and hence
they can decide whether it is in their interest to stop
cultivating paddy.
In response, Dr Ladhar stated that a diversification plan
is in place for Punjab and currently it is being piloted. To
bring out 12 lakh ha of land out of rice production is a
challenging task. Even though it is not a traditional crop,
yet due to its high productivity and minimum support
prices, it is difficult to persuade farmers to opt out of
its production. However, there is no market for the
surplus grains that are produced and a large quantity
is wasted. To adopt vegetables can also be a strategy
but it has its challenges since there is paucity of cold
storage. If electricity subsidy were to be removed in
the agriculture sector, then diesel pumps will be used
by farmers. To check excess ground water use in
paddy cultivation, a policy has been put in place that
does not allow sowing of paddy before 15th of June,
thereby reducing the pressure on the depleting water
resource with the beginning of the monsoon season.
Another question by Prof. Rita Pandey (NIPFP) was
on the supply side constraints which link biodiversity
and community management of bioresources. She also
commented that there is a need to discuss these issues
from a bottom–up approach of valuation and benefit
sharing for local communities instead of a top–down
national policy.
On this, Dr Sen stated that the scope of the
current discussion has not covered the issue of stock
and for that another discussion would need to take
place, even though it is pertinent in the context of
the bio-economy.
A youth delegate from Tokyo asked to shed light
on the benefits of an Indo-EU programme on which
Dr Dambois stated that they were looking for more
pragmatic and action-based approaches through their
societal challenges approach. There are also policy
inputs like in the case of the SAHYOG project.
Dr Suneel Pandey (TERI) questioned the need for a
database in the form of an online portal. In response,
Dr Swarup stated that this could be an opportunity
for TERI to develop such a database. Dr Sen also
intervened stating that he was not aware to what
degree bio-resources are put to use and that specific
surveys could be designed to build such a database.
Martin from Austria, an exchange student at
TERI University, questioned how politicians and
policies in India aim to address issues on biofuels
to avoid the mistakes that were made in the past.
Dr Swarup responded stating that India is clear on its
biofuel policy that it will only use non-food second
generation crops and will consider use of waste and
second-generation biofuels over food crops.
In summary, suggestions were made for the
draft Indo-EU bio-economy agenda with key points.
The current recommendations are good, however in
addition the following points must also be considered:
❖❖ Involvement of agencies that are users of technologies
❖❖ Demand- and supply-side mapping for which
communities must also be engaged
❖❖ National level stock taking of our resources on the
supply side
❖❖ Need for the bio-economy vision to go beyond
science and technology to connect to the economy
and sustainable development issues
❖❖ Need to develop participatory approaches for
engaging with different stakeholders including
industry, governments, research organizations,
community, and civil society
❖❖ Need for an enabling policy environment, industry
research linkages and promote entrepreneurship.
The session concluded with a vote of thanks by
Dr Piyush Joshi (TERI).
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 273
What Next for the IPCC?
In partnership with CDKN
It is widely recognized among the scientific and policy
making community that there exists sufficient scientific
knowledge in appropriate form to establish beyond
doubt that climate change is a real and immediate
global threat. Much of the credit for bringing climate
change to the top of global policy agenda goes to the
work done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). The fact that political leaders have
agreed to a goal of limiting temperature rise to below
2°C from the level at the time of industrial revolution
is due to the objective synthesis of vast scientific
knowledge and careful communication of findings of
the various IPCC assessment reports. It appears that
on the face of it, IPCC has achieved its original purpose.
But the question remains whether the role of scientific
community is over in the context of climate change.
And by extension, whether the role of the IPCC as an
intergovernmental body to provide scientific evidence
for policy action on climate change is over as well. In
addition, there is a live debate on the usefulness of
the IPCC process through which scientific findings are
politically approved. In the backdrop of these issues,
a timely and relevant question to explore is: what
lies next for the IPCC. The IPCC has already begun
a process to discuss some of the relevant aspects of
this question.
To contribute to the IPCC’s deliberations,
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi
in collaboration with the Climate & Development
Knowledge Network (CDKN) organized a roundtable
discussion on the theme ‘What Next for the IPCC?’
on February 7, 2015 as a separate Thematic Track
of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2015.
Many IPCC authors along with senior researchers from
international research institutes and senior officials
from United Nation agencies and private sector
organizations participated in this roundtable discussion.
Ideas for Future Work of the IPCC
The participants suggested a wide range of ideas
through which the IPCC can make itself more useful,
efficient, and credible. The ideas discussed were
concerned not only with the process of the IPCC
reports but also the timeliness and context relevance
of their content and outreach.
The IPCC Process
Three main concerns regarding the IPCC process
emerged from the discussion.
First, there is a need to better understand
the political implications of IPCC reports. Many
commentators have written critically about the
political approval process of the IPCC summary for
policymakers arguing that it undermines the scientific
credibility of the reports. Responding to this concern,
it was suggested that the IPCC process should ensure
that the reports are not politicized but are sensitive
to political implications of the findings presented. To
this end, it may be useful to set aside some time for
the IPCC authors and the political representatives
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 275
of various governments to engage in ‘constructive
conversations’. It was also suggested that being an
intergovernmental body, there is a need for dialogue
among the policymakers on the issue of what role the
IPCC should play in coming years.
Second, there is a need to improve credible
scientific information on developing countries.
Although, successive reports of the IPCC have included
increasing number of developing country scientists in
the IPCC process as well as citations of research from
developing countries, yet the scientific information
on developing countries is inadequate. The gap in
knowledge is particularly significant on adaptation
related issues. The IPCC should develop appropriate
procedures that encourage more peer-reviewed
publications on developing countries and also allow the
authors to proactively seek credible information from
sources in developing countries including the use of
knowledge available in local languages.
276 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Third, there is a need to rethink timing of
publication of major IPCC reports for improving
contribution to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
process. The main IPCC reports are finalized right
before the key UNFCCC sessions where major
decisions are expected. This leaves very little time for
communication and gestation of the nuanced scientific
updates. Hence, the timing of publication of various
IPCC reports or updates should be synchronized with
the UNFCCC process keeping in mind that sufficient
time for communication and outreach is available.
The Content of the IPCC Reports
Having acknowledged the important role played by the
various reports in providing a scientific basis for building
a political consensus on the urgent need for taking
actions to address climate change, the participants
noted that there is an increasing need to provide more
granular and timely analysis and necessary data that can
facilitate designing of climate actions at various levels
of decision making and implementation. An immediate
reference is the development of Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions (INDCs) towards the post2020 agreement expected from COP21 in Paris later
this year. Following specific suggestions were made:
❖❖ The time gap between the consecutive
comprehensive IPCC reports is large. Hence,
shorter and focused annual updates will be useful.
❖❖ From the perspective of substantive improvements
in climate models, the time gap is not sufficient.
The current time frame does not allow scientists
to update models and maintain consistency. The
issue of consistency between different working
groups is also an area of concern.
❖❖ To facilitate evidence-based climate action,
scientific and unbiased evaluation of what works
and what does not is required. More importantly,
from a long-term perspective, developing a
yardstick for implementation and evidencebased guidance on how to monitor, report, and
verify implementation is critical. An important
component in this analysis would be to provide
comprehensive assessment of impacts of climate
actions as well as identification of existing policy
gaps that need to be bridged for enhancing impact
of ongoing actions.
❖❖ Science-based policy faces a fundamental
challenge of data availability. The IPCC should, in
the long run, proactively build necessary database
to facilitate climate policy formulation at different
levels of spatial interventions. In addition, the
IPCC should also provide guidance and develop
methodologies for efficient data collection and
capacity building tools to do the same.
❖❖ IPCC reports are too global. More regional and, in
some cases, country focused reports are needed.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 277
❖❖ W
ith more frequent and special reports,
the process will need some adjustments to
ensure appropriate integration and adequate
communication. Even at the current structure
more integration is desirable between various
working group reports.
❖❖ The next IPCC report may consider to also
include an assessment of the implementation and
impact of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).
❖❖ With reference to the Least Developed Countries
(LDCs), which are particularly vulnerable, the
IPCC should provide Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
that can help them identify specific actions and
help national level research.
❖❖ While it is important for the IPCC to remain
non-prescriptive, special reports on possible
solutions and technologies will be very useful for
the policymakers. It will be helpful to provide
continued assessment of transformation, i.e., if
things are changing, how they are changing.
278 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
❖❖ U
ncertainty at the level of detail is central to
climate change. There is an ever increasing need
to not only understand ‘uncertainty in models’ but
also the ‘models of uncertainty’. This is a challenge
for the content of the IPCC reports as well as for
communicating its findings without compromising
on scientific integrity.
Outreach of IPCC Findings
The participants very strongly emphasized the need to
improve communication and outreach of the findings
of the IPCC assessments. A targeted and sustained
strategy on outreach and science communication must
be designed to spread awareness about climate change
among general public and to update policymakers
with the changing landscape of policy challenges in
context of climate change and development interface.
Most importantly, it was emphasized by many that
ensuring relevant scientific knowledge reaches right
policymakers in an accessible manner, is critical for
successfully tackling challenges of climate change.
Following suggestions were made to improve
communication and outreach of IPCC products:
❖❖ Customized reports corresponding to the specific
concerns and needs of policymakers.
❖❖ The IPCC should use social media to spread
awareness on climate change. In particular, a
Twitter summary of IPCC findings could make
general public interested in finding more about
climate change.
❖❖ IPCC reports tend to be huge and affect
readability. There certainly are considered and
screened summaries; yet, shorter and context
specific reports can play an important role in
communicating IPCC findings.
❖❖ In order to better grasp the general public’s
attention as well as policymakers’, communication
of impacts that are already taking place is
important. This goes well with the day-to-day
functioning and requirement of media, which
will enable the IPCC to better utilize mass media
establishment for outreach of its findings.
❖❖ The outreach strategy has to be cautious of the
fact that the IPCC does not have the mandate
to give solutions. Integrity of a scientific
process is paramount for IPCC’s work. Hence,
communication strategy should not sensationalize
scientific findings and must present them in their
full scientific complexity.
❖❖ For better impact of IPCC findings, IPCC
should also participate in other international
political processes. For example, vulnerability
and risks related to agricultural productivity are
also relevant for negotiations related to food
security under the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) process.
❖❖ IPCC so far has been a good case for science
playing a key political role. However, a routine
public relations strategy may result in losing
credibility. Communication of IPCC findings
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 279
should be careful in categorically communicating
boundaries of scientific facts, role of socioeconomic factors and climate action. To illustrate
these better, IPCC may consider publishing a few
case studies.
❖❖ In order to ensure that outreach exercises do not
compromise on the scientific integrity of IPCC, a
feedback mechanism also needs to be in place. This
will also help connecting the specialized scientific
knowledge with experience on the ground.
❖❖ An important objective of IPCC’s outreach
strategy should be to enhance transparency and
removal of mistrust and bias among its various
audiences. This is particularly relevant for special
or annual update reports that review policy
decisions and their implementation.
280 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
❖❖ A
n important role the IPCC can play in assisting
many developing countries is to cooperate with
them in establishing institutional frameworks for
better utilization of local scientific resources for
policy making.
While making the above observations and
recommendations, the participants did acknowledge
that these suggestions by no means implied that the
successive IPCC reports have shown no improvements.
In fact, responding to the suggestions, the Chairman of
the IPCC informed that between the Fourth and Fifth
Assessment Report, qualitative changes have taken
place. Two-thirds of AR5’s total references are new
references, yet, the need for greater communication
and in the process improving transparency are of
critical importance.
Ministerial Session 3
Is Action on Climate Change
Imperative and Urgent?
Chair
Ambassador Ajai Malhotra
Distinguished Fellow, TERI & Former Ambassador of India to the Russian
Federation
Keynote Address
HE Ms Ségolène Royal
Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, France
Panellists
Dr Heherson T Alvarez
Commissioner, Climate Change Commission & Former Secretary of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Philippines
Hon’ble Leo Brincat
Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate
Change, Malta
The Hon’ble Jean Charest
Partner, McCarthy Tétrault & Former Premier, Québec & Former Minister
of the Environment, Canada
HE Dr Maciej H Grabowski
Minister of Environment, Republic of Poland
Mr Suresh Prabhu
Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Government of India
Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy
Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (IC) &
Parliamentary Affairs, India
HE Dr Oyun Sanjaasuren
Former Minister for Environment and Green Development; Member of
Parliament of Mongolia & President of UNEA
Mr Kamalesh Sharma
Commonwealth Secretary-General
The final ministerial session on the third day of
the summit reiterated the absolute necessity of
acting on climate change promptly and the need to
evolve an agreement that meets the interests and
concerns of all sections of people. It also aimed to
develop modalities by which the costs and benefits of
environmental protection can be shared. The session
drew on the experiences of several serving and former
ministers of environment, apart from other members
of government.
Introducing the topic, the Chair, Ambassador Ajai
Malhotra, said that it is a well-accepted fact that human
activities on earth are causing climate disruptions, that
affect all and that reforms need to be put into action
immediately to reverse the trend. He noted that 2015
provides a unique opportunity for concerted action
because three United Nation conferences are taking
place in quick succession—the third International
Conference on Financing for Development in July in
Addis Ababa, the September meeting in New York to
finalize the Sustainable Development Goals and 21st
session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) in
Paris in December. Underlining the urgency of the task,
the Chair said that the longer the delay in taking action,
the higher will be the financial burden and greater the
climate disruption.
In her keynote address HE Ms Ségolène Royal,
Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and
Energy, France, said that the pressures of urbanization,
energy demand-supply gap, health complications in
densely populated areas caused by vehicular pollution
and indoor air pollution due to inefficient methods
of cooking should impel everyone to confront these
problems squarely. She calls for the involvement of all
stakeholders in this huge task even though they may be
constrained in their own particular ways. Opportunities
must be seized when new knowledge, environmentfriendly energy technologies, and new jobs are created
Earth is also our motherland.
HE Ms Ségolène Royal
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 283
in all industries incorporating green growth strategies.
It provides new opportunities to innovate, develop
new activities, and generate more employment.
Improvements in energy efficiency at all levels will
mean greater purchasing power for the people and a
much smaller import bill for the country. As a followup of the Lima Call for Climate Action, the adoption
of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions
(INDCs) to be presented by each country at Paris is
a positive sign. All 193 Parties to the Convention have
been asked to submit their contributions in the first
quarter of 2015. France has set a target of 40 per cent
reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030
and achieving a 32 per cent share of renewables in their
energy mix. Another important factor is good financial
mechanisms for leveraging both public and private
capital. Varied initiatives are required which go beyond
traditional institutional frameworks and all-round
action in key areas of climate action. She applauded
the quick progress India is making in this area. She
further commented that the energy and enthusiasm
everywhere is evident—two Nobel laureates and
the UN Secretary-General at DSDS this year, world
leaders marching together in New York for unified
action on climate change and citizens in major cities in
different countries taking to the streets in a show of
solidarity. Ms Royal emphasized the need to save the
planet which is also our motherland. Building on the
outcomes of past meetings, she hopes for COP21 to
deliver an equitable and fair agreement.
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
284 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
Explaining the vulnerability of the Philippines to
climate change, Dr Heherson T Alvarez said that
they regularly experience severe cyclonic storms that
bring destruction and death - Typhoon Haiyan, that
ravaged large parts of Southeast Asia in 2013, causing
8,000 deaths and has been one of the strongest tropical
cyclones recorded so far and Typhoon Hagupit, which
struck in December 2014, lasting for seven days. The
Philippines experiences almost 20 typhoons of varying
intensity annually. He emphasized the pressing need
for action as climate change will undoubtedly spare
no country. Flooding, sea level rise and droughts are
intensifying in many places, biodiversity loss and soil
degradation is increasing rapidly, agriculture production
is being impacted severely and food shortages are
becoming quite common. Manmade pollution has
led to ecological decay affecting nature’s self-healing
mechanism. There is an urgent need to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions if global temperature rise is
to be limited within 2°C. Stakes of negotiating global
biodiversity subsistence are high indeed.
Underlining the need for urgent attention, Hon’ble
Leo Brincat raised two issues of immediate concern—
the best way forward and the degree of commitment.
These overarching issues subsume many interrelated
questions concerning scope of agreement, capacity
development, finance requirements and monitoring
and review of individual contributions, each with their
different climatic zones, levels of wealth, economic
activity, and varying degrees of exposure to climate
change itself. As was also observed in a preceding
session, he remarked that science alone should not be
depended upon to see us through. The involvement
should be at all levels of society. Malta will host the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
(CHOGM) a few days before COP21 and climate
change is high on their agenda. He is of the view that
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG) processes should run in parallel and not
overlap. Malta has taken several initiatives to promote
debate and research on future generation concerns.
Appreciating the progress India is making through its
emphasis on solar technology, smart cities and green
growth, he calls for greater involvement of civil society
in all fields of human endeavour.
Hon’ble Jean Charest, who was the leader of
his country’s delegation to the 1992 Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio, stated that the
success of a meeting depends first and foremost on the
commitment of the host country. He was of the opinion
that the participation of two important French ministers
in DSDS gives hope for the meeting scheduled to take
place in Paris. Climate change is affecting them too and
in quite dramatic ways. The Quebec province is a cold
land and extreme weather causes untold hardship. Old
trade routes are not navigable anymore and there is
competition for access to resources. As a result, one
has to move rapidly. He draws some comfort from
the fact that certain climate agreements have been
concluded bilaterally, as the United States of America
has with Canada and China in separate agreements. .
At Paris, he wants the developing countries as well as
the major economies to show the way. He requests
greater engagement with sub-national governments
and civil society organizations since their involvement
in actual implementation is crucial.
With useful experience of two previous COP
events behind him, HE Dr Maciej H Grabowski
feels that the negotiating process should first of all be
transparent and inclusive for reaching a satisfactory
outcome. Though there may be differentiated
responsibilities, yet there is a common objective and
the process should allow for different paths to get to
the eventual destination. Another important factor is
education and awareness generation on climate change
policy and practice continuing into the future. The
role of civil society or soft power, as he calls it, is also
indispensable.
Responding to the theme of the session, Mr
Suresh Prabhu said that since climate is changing
rapidly, the need to act is urgent if we are to reverse
the tide. The more we delay on this front, the more
will be the cost of abatement. For him, it is geopolitics
that holds the key to a successful outcome at Paris.
He said that it was encouraging to know that the US
has now come on board. As a leading country on the
European continent, he feels that France should bring
to bear its influence on other EU nations. He also said
that India is committed to taking voluntary action as is
China. He hoped to see a build-up of momentum in
specific regions for garnering support. He was also of
the opinion that Mauritius could take the lead in hosting
a meeting of Small Island Developing States, and that
the United Kingdom and France should do the same
in Europe.
While agreeing on the need for conclusive action,
Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy focused on the need for skills
development in a country of more than a billion people
so that they are able to handle issues of environment as
We are at a tipping point of very real risks.
HE Dr Oyun Sanjaasuren
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 285
well. Comparing the statistics of skill levels in various
countries, he finds India at the bottom with the biggest
gap in human resource development. He underscores
the availability of a trained workforce to carry out the
mandate of the National Solar Mission and provide
help with projects in infrastructure development, the
construction industry, or in other spheres of activity.
HE Dr Oyun Sanjaasuren, Former Minister of
Environment and Green Development of Mongolia,
expressed her belief that 2015 can be a watershed
in climate negotiations with the SDGs and INDCs
firmly in place. Concrete goal setting with a sharp
focus can help bring about transformation in society.
As the President of the United Nations Environment
Assembly, a governing body of UNEP, she has been able
to enlarge the membership to include all 193 Member
States of the United Nations and these issues figure
prominently in their meetings. She feels an urgent need
for action because ever increasing population growth,
demand for food, energy and water in the coming
years will require far more resources than the earth
can sustain. Mongolia has also been unduly affected by
climate change. Calling it the most sparsely populated
country in the world, its nomadic herders who depend
on pastures and livestock are impacted considerably.
Hence, they rely on traditional knowledge for adopting
sustainability in their lifestyle. A single sheep provides
a family its requirement of milk, wool, meat, and felt,
which is compressed animal fibre. The felt is used to
insulate their dwellings or to make footwear for use
in winter. Even animal excreta is used to line walls
of cattle shelters or also as flooring. She suggests
that in this reduce-reuse-recycle era of civilization,
traditional knowledge can be combined with clean
286 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
development technologies for optimal results. They
adopted a green development strategy the previous
year and now hope to learn from the experience of
other countries experiencing severe cold like Mongolia
where temperatures can dip to minus 30°C.
Calling the Commonwealth the most diverse
organization in the world, including as it does all
continents, countries of all sizes, all types of economies,
its Secretary-General, Mr Kamalesh Sharma says
that it has often been the torchbearer in matters of
climate change. He said that the Langkawi Declaration
at the CHOGM, preceding the Rio conference had
first alerted the world to the dangers of rising sea
levels and a gradually warming climate. Similarly their
2009 conference in the Port of Spain predates the
Copenhagen conference and was attended by several
important world leaders and the UN SecretaryGeneral. It also laid stress on the finance aspect of
sustainable development which later found expression
in the Copenhagen declaration. Some other important
contributions of the Commonwealth are their index
of vulnerability and resilience, counter cyclical loans
that take effect automatically when fragile states
face disaster, capacity building in these countries
for accessing climate finance and fostering climate
resilient island partnerships. Mr Sharma said that
decisions should be guided by both ethical and practical
considerations. He further added that the most
vulnerable states are at the receiving end of nature’s
fury and are also affected by crises in other lands as aid
stops flowing, thereby affecting their recovery, health
improvement and education efforts. He hoped that the
Paris conference would see the enormous value that
the Commonwealth can add to the negotiating process.
11th Sustainable Development Leadership Award
The award was presented to the Former President
of European Commission & Former Prime Minister
of Portugal Dr José Manuel Durão Barroso by Mr
Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Railways, India
and Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI &
Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change Dr Barroso appreciated India as a country with
a rich culture and heritage. He said that the European
Commission agreement is highly ambitious in reducing
the amount of greenhouse gases by 40 per cent and
important goals have been set for an increase in energy
efficiency. He highlighted the challenge of a global
agreement between different countries. Dr Barroso
added that energy policy goals were also a part of the
sustainability goals in the European Union.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 287
Special Presentation
Scientific Visualization for Understanding Energy and
Climate Data as Prerequisites for Policy and Action
Dr Tim Foresman, Professor and SIBA Chair in Spatial
Information Institute for Future Environments—
Science and Engineering Faculty Queensland University
of Technology, gave a presentation on climate change
and how technology can be leveraged to understand
the data and social trends in order to adapt to the
288 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
changing sustainability trends. He emphasized on the
social responsibility of an individual to bring about
sustainable development. Dr Foresman urged the
scientific community to use science and technology in
understanding the trends of human development and
adapting to these trends.
Valedictory Session
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Interaction
with Faith Leaders for a Sustainable Future
Chair
Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati
President, Divine Shakti Foundation & Secretary-General,
Global Interfaith WASH Alliance
Video Message
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi
Setting the Context
Mr Takashi Kiuchi, Chairman, E-Square Inc.
Panellists
Dr Kuriakose Bharanikulangara
Archbishop of Faridabad
Father Dominic Emmanuel
Former Spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese
Diwan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan
Head of the Ajmer Sharif (Ajmer Dargah)
Acharya Shri Roopchandra Muniji
President, Manav Mandir Mission
Narrating an apocryphal story of three selfcentred
men caught mid-sea in a boat with a leak which
would eventually drown with all aboard, the Chair
Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati said that the story
was symptomatic of our condition today. She said that
the boat of our collective existence, today, is leaking.
Emission of greenhouse gases occurring in one part
of the globe affects the lives and livelihoods of people
located elsewhere. She spoke of a group of visitors
from Brazil who said that they had been suffering heat
waves and water scarcity of late because of large-scale
deforestation in the Amazon rainforest which had led
to less oxygen and more carbon dioxide in the air.
The reduction in ecosystem services provided by
forests gives rise to severe environmental pollution
with far-reaching effects.
Ven’ble Bhikkhu Sanghasena
Founder and Head of Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre,
Ladakh and Mahakaruna Day
Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji
Co-Founder/Chairman of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, President
of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh
Shri Giani Gurubachan Singh
Chief Jathedar of the Golden Temple (Akal Takht)
The theme of the concluding session of the summit was
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakkam, a Sanskrit phrase from the
Upanishads meaning that the whole world is one family.
It says that any harm to any life form also harms humans,
just as it would do in any family bound by common ties.
It is obvious that this principle is sacrosanct for peaceful
coexistence and should guide all our actions if we
are to progress as a civilization. The panel consisted
of faith leaders from India representing all the major
world religions.
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 291
Allowing for assurances from rational men of science,
government bureaucrats, and corporate leaders that
environmental degradation can still be reversed, she
said that though there may be the technologies, policies,
and plan of action to achieve sustainable development,
change in thought, behaviour, and mindset needs to
be catalysed. And faith is the biggest motivator. Calling
on the wisdom of the religious leaders, she asked
them to explain the one core teaching from their
religion that can help mankind sustain material and
spiritual advancement and ensure the prosperity of
future generations.
Reciting
verses
from
Sanskrit
hymns,
Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji said the
answer lay in the session theme itself, Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakkam, that is, the whole world is one family.
It is for us to make this family strong, stable, and
sustainable. Worship your own and respect all, is the
adage we should follow according to him. We should
keep our mind open to noble thoughts from all
directions. Today, the world has become a marketplace
where we are all out to exploit one another instead
of helping each other as members of one family.
Another distinctive characteristic of a family is
the concern for coming generations and to make
adequate provision for their future. This principle
should also extend to our actions in preserving the
planet and handing it down unspoilt to those who
come after us. Only then can we keep this world
sustainable, stable, and strong.
Live simply so that others may simply live.
Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji
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Giving the Christian perspective on sustainable
development, Dr Kuriakose Bharanikulangara
explained that the pontiff Pope Benedict the XVI’s
concept in an encyclical Caritas in Veritate says that
we have inherited from our ancestors a nature and
environment which is clean, green, and healthy and
therefore, we have a moral responsibility to hand
it over to the next generation the same way. The
Church advocates intergenerational justice in climate
and sustainable development discussions and the
United Nation charter also allows for the active role
of faith-based organizations in all spheres of human
development. The highest consideration is man and
we must care for the poor and the needy, the
destitute and the homeless and give them clean
water, good food, and basic education by starting at
the lowest level and working upwards according to
the principle of graduality. CSR can certainly help in this
humanitarian deed.
At the World Toilet Summit 2015 held in New
Delhi, the co-founder of the Global Interfaith WASH
Alliance, Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, had
agreed to work with the head of the Ajmer Dargah
for constructing toilets at Ajmer Sharif for use by
pilgrims. The Chair noted that this was a rare instance
of cooperation between two religions in the service of
Don’t make CSR a business.
Dr Kuriakose Bharanikulangara
the people. She then invited the latter to ponder on the
current predicament of the human race.
Citing from the Surah Rehman text of the Quran,
Diwan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan said that Allah has
given us beautiful rivers, water, forests, clean and fresh
air, and a healthy environment for our enjoyment. If we
destroy or damage it, we will be killing ourselves. He
said that it was time to start an environmental revolution
for providing a better and cleaner environment to the
next generation. We should start educating the people
on how to save our planet by maintaining a clean
environment, where there is pure water available for
everybody. He advised that we should heed the words
of religious leaders in this regard. He also stressed on
the importance of educating the people, starting with
children in schools.
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Shri Giani Gurubachan Singh from the Sikh tradition
said that there is but one father, the almighty God. We
all are his children. One is big, one is small, someone
is weak, someone is strong, but we should not forget
that we all are members of one family. God has created
us with love and so we should love all. Their sacred
text also mentions clean air, pure water, and a good
environment as the three essentials for a harmonious
existence. Man is responsible for pollution of the
air, water, and environment and should avoid their
despoliation. He also said that it is the responsibility
of the government to protect the environment and
prevent pollution of our air, rivers, and land. Since we
are all part of one big family, we should act accordingly.
He said that we should practice catholicity in outlook
and preach universal brotherhood of man.
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Propounding the Jain principle of sustainable
development,
Acharya
Shri
Roopchandra
Muniji said that their patron Saint Mahavir, the 24th
tirthankara, taught that Ahimsa or non-violence is
the eternal religion. The practice of non-violence is
the highest human value. Here the meaning of nonviolence is to act with the goal of common welfare by
viewing all beings as equal and respecting all. We should
have reverence for life, not just for our own, but for all
life forms. We should respect other people’s thoughts
as much as our own. We must be equally careful in
speech because even words can be misunderstood.
Ahimsa is the key to safeguarding plants, trees,
forests, air, and water. This will ensure that humanity,
the environment, and future generations are rid
of pollution.
Calling Buddha one of the greatest environmentalists of
his time because he spent an entire lifetime in the forest
and attained enlightenment under a tree, the Ven’ble
Bhikkhu Sanghasena said that even today monks and
nuns lead an austere life in communion with nature.
Today, our urban development is anti-environment
friendly. However, as more than half the world’s people
bear allegiance to one form of religion or the other,
religious leaders can influence their followers and bring
about great changes in the minds and attitudes of their
followers on sustainable development issues. He said
that in their ashram, they encourage development
of solar applications, practice use of locally available
materials for construction and promote a plastic-free
environment. Synthetic non-biodegradable plastic is
the root of most of the pollution on land and water.
On being asked to give concise prescriptions
that can act as a panacea for all of mankind’s ills,
Dr Kuriakose’s reply was: “Change in lifestyle,
consumption patterns and to live more in touch
with nature”. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji
gives three ways out: “Live simply, live consciously,
and let information be the inspiration that leads to
implementation of our common goals”. Acharya Shri
Roopchandra Muniji said that “nature’s bounty is for
us to cherish, but we should take from it only what
we need”. Diwan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan said that
“Prophet Muhammad has said in the Quran that it is
cleanliness that will save humanity”. The Venerable
Bhikkhu Sanghasena said that “happiness comes from
contentment and so our wants should be few”.
Rounding off the discussion, the Chair said that
faith can move mountains, but today it can help us
keep our mountains, rivers, top soil, groundwater, air,
and earth in place. While encouraging vegetarianism to
avert climate change, she appreciated that the summit
itself had been vegetarian and plastic-free.
Delivering a special message on the occasion,
Mr Takashi Kiuchi said that his interest in ecology
was aroused more than fifty years back through books
like Silent Spring and End of Growth. Kiuchi-san extols
the Japanese concept of shimi-jimi, which is about plain
living, noble thoughts, humility in speech, and acting
honourably. He finds it puzzling that though we have
been dealing with issues of sustainability for many
years we are still struggling for answers. We get so
engrossed in our daily lives that we lose sight of who
Religion and science must come together.
Ven’ble Bhikkhu Sanghasena
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 295
we really are and the interests of those around us.
We must lose our indifference to mundane matters
and make deep changes in our daily lives. He feels the
ruling class can lead this transformation in the common
interest. He ended by appreciating the many inspiring
messages from the dais and the substantive discussions
at the conference which can help initiate the muchneeded change.
Delivering
her
message
by
video,
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi said that nature
itself is a manifestation of Godhead, of His everlasting
power. We should thus respect and love nature.
Instead, today human beings are exploiting nature and
each other. Nature reacts in harsh ways when her
rhythm is disturbed. Every natural disaster is a warning
of God’s wrath that we ignore at our peril. We need to
act immediately. Wind, water, trees, and other animals
are our external organs and must be looked after well.
We have a sacred duty to hand our planet down to the
future generations in a pristine manner. However, going
against the precepts of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakkam, we
are treating the world not as one united family but as a
diverse economy producing, consuming, and discarding
at will. This quest for limitless growth is proving to be
a cancer which will ultimately lead us all to extinction
because we fail to get to the root of the problem.
296 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
As is often said, poverty anywhere is a threat to
prosperity everywhere.
She further said that man-made pollution is poison
for the human race and all other life forms. And that
we need to be alert and aware. She said that meetings
alone will not be enough to enable transformation and
that we will have to get our act together. We need to
inspire youth as they can contribute a lot in this area.
We should be planting at least ten trees for every tree
we cut down. There is a need to inspire people to
practice farming or create tree plantations on a large
scale in schools and colleges. She stated that if we are
able to get sponsors for such activities, these greening
measures would surely be taken up in a big way, and
some important changes could be brought about. She
also suggested that our lives should be of some benefit
to the world. We should sincerely love and console
at least one life, for at least a moment, without any
expectation of reward.
The Chair praised the decision to include a panel
of spiritual leaders and said that it had helped in bringing
together people from every walk of life, every sphere,
every country, and every culture. She expressed that if
we are going to save the world and if we are going to
create and leave a world for the future generations, we
can only do it together.
Presentation of Awards
Young Researchers’ South Asian Symposium
on Sustainable Development
Ms Preeti Aggarwal
Mr Mohd. Zia-ud-din
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 297
Mr Rupak Kumar
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Concluding Remarks
Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI &
Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Distinguished leaders of faith who are gathered here,
distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we now come to
the end of this Summit. I want to tell you that we have
been favoured by such a galaxy of distinguished persons
who took part and imparted their knowledge and gave
us so much food for thought that I really cannot count
all of those who have contributed richly to the success
of this Summit. We had 12 former Heads of state
government, 16 ministers from overseas, a number of
ministers from the Government of India, sub-national
leaders including the hon’ble chief minister of Meghalaya
as our distinguished guests. The inauguration of DSDS
2015 by the Former Prime Minister of France and
President of COP21 was particularly significant indeed.
In addition to the plenary sessions, we had 17 thematic
tracks covering a range of issues including sustainable
mobility, short-lived climate pollutants, oceans and seas,
energy for all, clean technologies, and bio economy.
We also had the High Level Corporate Dialogue
(HLCD) themed Delhi to Paris: Corporate Vision for
Climate Change on February 4, 2015.
It is important to find solutions to our
global problems. It is not, merely, a challenge for
governments, civil society, researchers and academics
but itwould also require increased involvement of the
corporate sector. We had more than 45 CEOs and
over 120 senior colleagues from the business fraternity.
They talked about 10 core issues including climate
change adaptation, etc. All these actions points will
be formulated into a vision document which will be
developed in the months leading up to climate talks,
COP21, in December 2015, in Paris. The summary of
the deliberations was also shared through the bulletin
which was produced every day. We spent four days at
the Taj Palace Hotel and the amount of care that we
have received in the arrangements from the staff merit
DSDS 2015 Proceedings 299
acknowledgement. May I request Mr Taljinder Singh,
General Manager of the Taj Palace Hotel to please
come up here on the stage as all this has happened with
his leadership and I would like to give him and his staff
a huge round of applause. You have given us wonderful
fare and all we can give you as a token is a small little
piece of these herbal and medicinal plants that we
produce up in the mountains. These are produced
by farmers, very poor farmers, but this is something I
hope you would make use of.
Finally, our gratitude to our valuable sponsors
of the thematic tracks, the HLCD, and of course the
entire summit because they came forward to support
us and made everything possible, I hope all of you will
be with us next year. We are yet to finalize the theme
of the summit next year. I gave my colleagues two
choices, People, Plant, Profits and the other one was
Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Development.
But I think given what we have heard and learnt in
the past three days, perhaps what we would focus
on is something that essentially covers the road
beyond Paris. Because while of course we will get the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) this year in
the UN general assembly, we hopefully will get a good
agreement in Paris but that will only give us a roadmap
on what more needs to be done beyond. So possibly
we will end up with something like if I am not out-voted
by my colleagues. I will conclude by narrating a very
300 DSDS 2015 Proceedings
short story from a very dear friend John Gummer, Lord
Deben Britain. He used to be an environment minister
during Ms Thatcher’s time and he was very concerned
about the problem of sea-level rise with climate change
since he was looking after coastal defence.He wanted
some money spent on strengthening the British
coastal defences to deal with sea-level rise. But the
treasury did not agree so he decided to appeal to the
Prime Minister and he spoke to her and told her that
this is the problem that he foresaw and therefore some
money should be provided and according to what he
says, Ms Thatcher told him, John you and I are the only
ones in the cabinet who understand climate change and
that makes us a majority. So we will let you know the
theme for next year and I have to tell my colleagues
that we would define majority some more different
from what will be decided on today in the elections
for Delhi.
So venerable faith leaders and Sadhviji who
moderated this session so remarkably, I cannot express
my gratitude to you in adequate terms. Thank you
so very much for crowning this Summit with this
absolutely fantastic closing session. And thank you
very much ladies and gentlemen, we will see you next
year. As Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was present
with us at the inaugural session, famously concludes by
saying “we will be back”, to you I would like to say “you
will be back”. Thank you very much.
D S D S 2 0 1 5 PA RTNER S
Supported by
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Government of India
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