12th Leadership Summit for Sustainable Development
The 12th Leadership Summit for Sustainable Development held in New Delhi on October 7, 2014, culminated with an exceptional participation and response from the corporates. The summit organized by TERI BCSD focused on "Business as a Driver for Sustainable Development". The extensive line up of speakers and discussants addressed the august gathering with their thought provoking views on sustainability and shared experiences about efforts to mainstream sustainability in respective organizations.
The Summit began with Mr. Dipankar Sanyal welcoming the delegates and setting the theme of the Summit. This was followed by a business keynote delivered by Mr Anil Jain, Managing Director, Jain Irrigation Systems Pvt. Ltd. Mr Jain emphasized the importance of good business practices in order to achieve a higher sustainability benchmark for creating shared value and a sustainable society. Dr R K Pachauri in his inaugural address emphasized India's urgent need for diversification of energy sources to reduce our exposure to externalities in the global market place for fossil fuels. He highlighted how TERI-Business Council for Sustainable Development, with corporate engagement, can undertake a mission to create new and renewable energy based cost effective solutions for India's energy security.
Three CSO Forum reports on waste management, energy efficiency in buildings and corporate social responsibility and a jointly developed Knowledge Report on e-Waste by YES BANK and TERI-BCSD were launched at the Summit's inaugural session. Tata Power Solar, commemorating their 25 years of service to the nation, launched a book titled 'Chasing the Sun'. This book in photographs shows how lives have been positively impacted with access to energy in remotest part of the country.
The Special Luncheon Session, wherein the thought leaders Dr R K Pachauri and Guest of Honour Shri Suresh P Prabhu, Prime Minister's Sherpa at G20 Meeting in Brisbane, Australia, talked about changing mindsets in order to promote renewable energy business models and achieve energy security in the wake of rising uncertainties around coal, gas and oil import.
The discussions deliberated by other distinguished speakers, such as Mr. Ajit Gulabchand from HCC, Mr R Mukundan from Tata Chemicals, Mr Rajiv Ranjan Mishra from CLP India, Mr Ranganathan N Krishna of Grundfos India presented insightful views on scaling sustainability. The last plenary session discussed environmentally & socially responsible finance. This session had participation from State Bank of India, IDFC, World Bank, YES Bank and SIDBI.
The Summit was supported by CLP India Pvt. Ltd (Gold Partner), Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd. (Partner for Clean Energy), SBI (Partner), Tata Group (Partner) and HSBC India (Partner), YES BANK Ltd. (Patron Member), GIZ (Knowledge Partner) and Energetica (Media Partner).
The 12th Leadership Summit for Sustainable Development was followed by the 3rd CSO Conclave on the 8 October 2014.