Climate change has been a serious topic of discussion since long. The burning of fossil fuels is the biggest contributor to climate change. In fact, the activity accounts for over 75% of greenhouse emissions and nearly 90% of carbon emissions. Factors such as power generation, manufacturing of goods by burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, food production, growing demand for energy, overexploitation of natural resources, etc. have been further contributing to the problem and must be tackled at the earliest.
Climate change: A Serious Health Threat
Every year, around 13 million people lose their lives, across the world, due to environmental factors. To deal with this challenge, India is set on a mission to combat climate change in a sustainable manner. It intends to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2070 and meet 50% of its electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030. The country is also walking steadily on the clean, green path to reduce its carbon footprint.
Several corporates and non-profit organizations are making concerted efforts to deal with this challenge and help India reach closer to its climate action goals.
CII Climate Action Charter: A Step Towards Sustainability
Launched on 21st September 2022, the CII Climate Action Charter (CCAC) intends to help businesses develop long-term action plans to build resilience. The platform will further facilitate businesses to plan and move forward on their sectoral climate action journey and showcase the best practices for addressing climate risks. CCAC has been designed to provide an impetus for collective action by Indian businesses to drive solutions for a just, equitable and sustainable transition.
It will support signatories through in-house tools developed and validated by working group committee experts to understand the state and dependencies of the company on climate change risk and vulnerability risk index across the value chain and provide a platform for Indian businesses to map climate change as a material risk as well as develop long-term actions to build resilience.
The charter is based on four core principles-
- GHG emission reduction – Measure the present GHG emission and develop measurable short-term and long-term targets for GHG emission reduction
- Transition in the value chain – Identify risks to which the value chain is exposed and support in climate transition
- Building resilience – Work with the company’s leadership team to build resilience for future climate change impacts
- Mobilizing green finance – Help in framework development of green bonds usage, accelerate green finance for climate transition and to improve the identification and management of financial risks related to the climate and the environment.
Efforts by the Government to Reduce Carbon Emissions
The Government is making concerted efforts to reduce India’s carbon footprint. At the ongoing COP27 Summit, countries launched a package of 25 new collaborative actions to be delivered by COP28 to speed up the decarbonization process under five key areas, namely, power, road transport, steel, hydrogen, and agriculture. India, along with the US and UK, has agreed to co-lead the Road Transport breakthrough. Furthermore, India is now also a part of the Clean Energy Ministerial Industrial Deep Carbonisation Initiative.
The Bottom Line
Apart from being detrimental to humans, climate change is causing significant harm to the environment at a macro level. As greenhouse gas concentration grows, the global surface temperature also increases. This further leads to environmental hazards such as increased frequency of storms, increased drought, shrinking of natural water bodies, and loss of lives. All in all, the mere existence and the future of the planet are in danger if climate change is not taken seriously.
To sail through this roadblock and make our planet a better place to live, there is an urgent need to understand the need of industry action and its effectiveness towards building a pathway to achieve aspirations such as mapping out net zero future, becoming resilient, driving innovation and creating growth at the same time, building interventions on important pillars like low carbon economy, circularity, collaborations, and balanced ecosystems.
To join this corporate climate action journey, register your business here.