India Inc. initiates

Climate change isn’t something that only ‘they’ need to take care of. The corporates must understand that it poses a real threat to them, the business world. Businesses must act now or face hugely higher costs in future. In an impassioned plea, Nitin Desai asks the corporates to take this issue on board, and not just as a CSR activity alone. Climate change in the form of global warming induced by the accumulation of green-house gases in the atmosphere is already underway. For strategic purposes, one can distinguish between the implications of a moderate increase (2° C) and a catastrophic increase (5° C+). The moderate increases will affect hydrology, coastal zones, mountain ecosystems and biodiversity with significant impacts on agriculture, health, settlements. It is probably unavoidable because of the accumulation of greenhouse gases that are already there; but we can cope with the consequences if we put our mind and money on the job. On the other hand, a temperature increase that approaches 5°C threatens a catastrophic scale of disruption; but it may not happen for decades. So, we still have time to prevent the worst if we start acting now. The case for action applies as much for individual enterprises as it does for governments. The threat is real, act now or face hugely higher costs in the future. This is why industry must take this issue on board, and not just as a corporate social responsibility activity. Some sort of global regime that constrains or imposes a cost on emissions of the principal greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, will be in place within the lifetime of the plants and equipments that businesses are installing now. It could take the form of carbon quotas, agreed carbon taxes, a commitment on carbon mitigation policies, cooperative technological efforts and so on. The bottom line is that there will be an implicit or explicit price for carbon. At the present stage, this magnifies itself in India as an opportunity. Enterprises that can prove carbon savings over and above business-as-usual can use the clean development mechanism to earn carbon credits and sell them for compliance purposes to western enterprises. There is now no serious penalty for carbon inefficiency; but that will certainly change soon enough. The Government of India will resist any premature imposition of commitments and insist that the principal polluters, the western nations, must bear the burdened of adjustment and demonstrate a more serious willingness to restrain their use of the global atmospheric commons before leaning on low per-capita emitters like India. However, India has committed itself to ensuring that it’s per capita emissions will at all times remain below those of the industrial countries. If these countries truly implement the goal of reducing their emissions by 80-90 percent by 2050, the headroom for growth available to India will be severely constrained. The government has recognised this and its National Action Plan on Climate Change integrates climate change concerns into development strategy. Indian enterprises must also integrate climate concerns fully into their long term strategic planning because carbon constraints and environmental changes will start to bite within the lifetime of the investments being made now. Second, they must anticipate. Climate change will alter the physical environment and resource base for industry. All historical data used for planning must be re-examined in the light of potential changes in temperature\' hydrology, sea level rise, extreme climate events and consequential changes in biotic resources, habitat and health. Third, they must innovate. The drastic reduction in carbon emissions that is needed cannot be done with existing technologies. An intelligent enterprise will reflect this in today\'s decisions to avoid huge retro fitting costs at a later stage. The potential areas for technology development and for innovative business models can be identified quite readily. In a summary form, some of the energy related areas that deserve serious attention in corporate planning in the immediate future include: Energy efficiency: CFL/LED lighting, building design, appliance standards, vehicle efficiency Cleaner fossil fuel use: Fuel switching, combustion efficiency Lower costs, greater usability: Effective business plans for new renewables like solar and wind Power from waste: Bio chemical conversion, waste water use, sewage utilisation and recycling. New business models for demand side management.