The state government has decided to put its weight behind green and environment-friendly industrial projects, and such projects will be given preference in terms of expedited clearance and other non-financial benefits.
This was stated by Valsa Nair Singh, state environment secretary, while addressing the conference, ‘Green co - the next wave for sustaining growth,’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Mumbai on Friday.
According to a statement issued by the CII’s Pune office, Singh said India is extremely vulnerable to the challenges of climate change with 65 per cent areas being drought-prone, 12 per cent being flood-prone and 8 per cent under cyclone threat. The per capita water availability is set to decrease from 1,820 cubic metre per year to 1,140 cubic metre. The Union government will fund the state based on the environment protection index constituted by the Planning Commission. This will be subject to the state spending 2 per cent of the funds on environment related activities, Singh said.
The statement said the state government has also taken initiatives, such as sponsoring PhDs and MPhil candidates and disbursing funds to foster research in environment protection.
In her welcome address, Leena Nair, chairperson, CII Maharashtra state council and executive director - human resources, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, said, “The CII has been driving several initiatives in the area of green buildings and climate change. It has also developed a code for ecologically sustainable business growth, which has drawn voluntary commitment from 450 organisations.”
Naushad Forbes, chairman, CII western region sub-committee on climate change and sustainability and director, Forbes Marshall Private Ltd, said the CII and Indian Green Building Council are working for the cause of reducing environmental impact of buildings.
He said in a bid to promote energy efficiency and reduce industrial carbon emission levels, the government has evolved a perform, achieve and trade regime designed by the National Mission for Energy Efficiency. Under the scheme, BEE has set energy efficiency targets for industrial units and issued them energy saving certificates against those targets. Units that exceed targets for energy efficiency can sell the certificates to units that fall short of targets. He stated that the energy efficiency trading scheme that was currently being piloted in Gujarat should be extended to other states.
S Raghupathy, executive director, Confederation of Indian Industry said the CII has plans to promote green technology all over the country and make India a global leader in green buildings by 2015. Currently India, with 1.05 billion sq ft space of green building, is second only to the US, Raghupathy said
Pradeep Bhargava, deputy chairman, CII western region and managing director, Cummins Generator Technologies India Ltd, and H N Daruwalla, conference chairman and convenor, CII Maharashtra Energy and Environment Panel, and executive vice-president and business head (E&E Services), Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co also spoke on the occasion.
