‘Industry must move towards climate compliance’
Hyderabad: There is an urgent need to create awareness on the climate crisis. There would be no economy if there is no environment, said speakers at an event `Climate Change Impacts on Indian Manufacturing: Policy Change agenda in Energy and Production,’ held by industry body FTCCI in Hyderabad on Friday.
“Climate change can impact all the major sectors in the economy that account for more than 80% of India’s GDP. The overall economic losses due to climate change under business as usual (BAU) is estimated to be about 2% of India’s GDP in 2050. Now is the time for India to act to prevent the country from losing its economic potential by 2050 due to lack of proper effort against climate change,” said FTCCI President Anil Agarwal.
“There is a need to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. It is the cheapest and cleanest energy. We are already witnessing extreme heat in cold places, ice melts, flooding across the world due to the climate crisis,” said Bollampally Indrasen Reddy, Four Solar Energy Systems Managing Director.
“We need to adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in agriculture, water resources, Himalayan region, coastal regions, and health and disaster management. Industry can use materials efficiently, reusing, recycling, and minimising waste,” said Dr Narasimha Reddy Donthi, Centre for Earth Leadership and Sustainability.
K Babu Rao, retired scientist from IICT, said there are no signs of Indian Industry moving towards climate compliance. Sadly, the industry was opting for small coal-fired inefficient captive power plants even now. Cost of environmental degradation in India, according to the World Bank, was Rs 3.75 lakh crores per year, according to a release.
