Former President APJ Abdul Kalam has emphasised an urgent need to evolve a global energy independence policy for 2030. Speaking at the FE-EVI Green Business Leadership Awards, he said climate change and energy policy should be integrated to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. ?By 2030, we should evolve an energy independence policy that will have three dimensions ? affordable quality energy for all, minimising dependence on depleting fossil fuels and on development of green energy. This can be done by improving energy efficiency in transportation, residential and commercial sectors besides replacement of petrol in transport with carbon neutral fuels,? said Kalam.
On the use of renewable energy, Kalam said the energy independence platform should comprise wind, solar, nuclear and bio-based sources and they should work at both domestic and commercial levels. ?The areas of operations can be high-circulation, low-intensity products like solar cookers and hybrid cars. The second category could be high-efficiency green power plants and the third can be integrated products,? he said.
Reiterating Kalam’s message, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Union minister for new and renewable energy, said environment was in danger. ?India’s growing population has fast-growing energy needs and coal is still vital for that. But the challenge for us is how to make clean coal,? Abdullah said. ?American and European countries have strong technologies in renewable energy but are they ready to share them with developing countries like India?? he asked.
Speaking on the use of wind energy, especially in the forest areas, Abdullah said the tragedy in forest areas was that Jairam Ramesh (environment minister) would not allow people to cut trees to set up wind farms.
Then, how do we get these wind mills there?? he asked. ?We need to save our forests and ensure that the poor can get access to energy,? he added.
The FE-EVI Green Business Leadership Awards for 2010-11 were presented to Binani Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro in the category of high-energy intensive sectors and Tata Coffee, L’Oreal India and Hindustan Unilever in the category of low-energy intensive sectors. The event was organised jointly by The Financial Express and Emergent Ventures India, an integrated climate change and clean energy firm.
Shortlisting and selecting winners from 591 companies, each with annual revenue of at least R1,000 crore, on the basis of the impact their initiatives have made in areas like climate change and environment, natural resource management and governance for sustainability, involved a rigorous process.
The awards jury comprised eminent policymakers, industry leaders, academicians and thought leaders like former UN under secretary-general Nitin Desai, IRADe executive director Jyoti Parikh, former environment secretary Prodipto Ghosh, Tata BP Solar India CEO K Subramanya, former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, IIM-A director SK Barua, Emergent Ventures MD Vinod Kala and The Financial Express managing editor M K Venu.
Besides, three other companies?Autoboxx Automation Technologies, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) and HyCa Technologies?were recognised for their innovative initiatives in the area of sustainability.
Another highlight of the event was the launch of the FE-EVI Green Business Survey 2010-11, titled Indian Inc: Sustainability Matters.
The survey of 58 companies across 25 sectors shows that while absolute emissions are growing, there is a drop in the emission intensity. Absolute emissions increased 5.6% annually during 2007-2010 and carbon intensity came down 4.11% annually, mostly because the surveyed companies source 16% of their energy requirements from renewables.
About 79% companies cite water and 63% cite fossil fuels as their most critical natural resources because of availability concerns and price fluctuations. However, less than 20% companies view impending regulations as a significant area of concern for their use of natural resources.
The results from the survey highlight the strong correlation between sustainability reporting and corporate performance on sustainability. The companies that do such reporting outperform those that do not do it by 233% on sustainability indicators. Except for 16% of the respondents, all other organisations have failed to develop a coherent sustainability vision. For most of them, the key action areas relate only to managing energy, fossil fuel and water usage.