I was recently invited to a Business Forum on Climate Change organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with ITC, a corporate sector organization. The CII-ITC together have formed a center of excellence called the Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CESD) that works on connecting the sustainability issues with the business world. And this forum was just that – How businesses can work towards Low-Carbon solutions and develop Carbon Markets and Climate Finance?
Here are some of the one liners picked up at the forum by various speakers that were found on Twitter – essentially tweeted by me (@greenaturally) and CESD (@cesd):
- Small investments can have big impacts – Head of WelcomEnviron Initiatives, ITC Ltd.
- Economy is at the 100% subsidy of nature – a good definition to explain Sustainability (instead of viewing sustainability as 3 circles intersecting at a common area, this brings the 3 circles concentric to one another)
- Climate Change is more about politics and less about science these days – Sr. Counselor at CESD
- Business needs long term clarity on policy direction post Durban scenario – Exec. Director at CESD
- The future will shift focus from mitigation to adaptation – Head, Climate Change at TERI
- Are we consumers ready to pay a premium for low carbon products? – Partner, Climate Change at E&Y
- Investments in energy efficiency today and tomorrow will build a market for the future – DG, BEE, Govt. of India
All the above statements lead to one common consensus – That altering the way we do our current business is the only way to combat, mitigate and adapt to climate change…only if we manage to keep politics outside. But politics can’t be separated from business – they are blood brothers and always find themselves clashing and cajoling each other and if nothing works, crying together.
Irrespective of the Durban outcome that was discussed at the forum, and the fear of reaching the 2deg increase in global temperatures, carbon markets will see an upward trend and carbon finance will increasingly see more investments occuring in GHG reduction projects.
Related posts:
- India’s most Sustainable Companies rewarded at CII-ITC Awards
- Rewarding “the Good” @ CII-ITC Sustainability Awards
- 5 Takeaways from the CII-ITC Sustainability Solutions Summit
- Is India’s growth Sustainable?
- Energy efficiency helps business: Indian corporates (One World South Asia)
Linking Sustainability 
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