Discussion on CarbonNeutral & EcoFriendly Industry

Apr 13, 2022

Running an environment friendly business helps in reducing the impact on the environment and preserves the natural resources, reducing the environmental impact also helps in improving the sustainability of a business. Companies, processes and manufacturing units achieve carbon neutrality when they calculate their overall carbon emissions and compensate for the same via offsetting projects. As offsetting carbon emissions in addition to avoidance and reduction is a crucial step in holistic climate action, reducing greenhouse emissions benefits the companies to reduce operating costs and elevate productivity. In this regard, World Trade Center Bhubaneswar in association with Business Standard Smart Business organized a panel discussion on “Going Green with Carbon Neutral & Eco -friendly Industries - A step towards developing the Best Practices” on Wednesday, 13th April, 2022 on a virtual platform. Dr. Ambika Prasad Nanda, Head CSR (Odisha), Tata Steel shared the objectives and initiatives undertaken by Tata Steel Foundation (TSF) to achieve climate resilience. He underlined how they garner communities together to support their objectives like ground water management, water conservation, quality drinking water, solar energy projects and promotion of drip irrigation. Ms. Swapnasri Sarangi, Team Leader, Foundation for Ecological Society during her address deliberated on the effective methodologies to curb carbon emissions from various factories and industries to move towards zero or carbon neutral set-up. She spoke about how Odisha has an effective picture in the climate map of the country given the prominence of natural calamities in the state. She discussed various significant aspects of achieving carbon neutrality like Agriculture, Transportation, Industries etc. Mr. Siddhanta Das, IFS (Retd.), Chairman, ORERA & Ex. Director General of Forests in Govt. of India, highlighted various environmental factors which need to be addressed before adapting technological advancements to curb the carbon emissions. He delivered on how net zero emissions can be achieved by counterbalancing worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by carbon sequestration. In addition to that, he also drew attention towards global warming which is a major concern in today’s world. “By reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and by balancing the amount of GHGs released into the atmosphere from sources with the amount removed and stored by the carbon sinks, global warming can be kept in check.” he opined. Mr. Abinash Mohanty, Programme Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), gave a detailed presentation on various practices to provide planet-friendly alternatives to the society’s day to day needs and waste footprints. He further explained how CEEW assists the policymakers to build a sustainable future. He spoke about their objectives along with India’s fossil fuel share, solar powered industries and sectoral impacts of India’s net zero target. Earlier in the session, Ms. Nimeshika Natarajan, Assistant Director, World Trade Center Bhubaneswar welcomed all the esteemed panellists and also proposed the vote of thanks at the end. Mr. Shine Jacob, Senior Assistant Editor, Business Standard moderated the session.