Bengal Chamber organises 12th edition of Annual Environment and Energy Conclave

The Conclave aimed to focus on the following areas to address the Theme of  Technology, Collaboration, Best Practices Sharing, Market Mobilization, Industry-Academia Collaboration and Funding.

The Bengal Chamber is also the Outreach Partner of TERI for World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS).

The Regional Dialogue of WSDS in Eastern India is being held in partnership with the Chamber in Kolkata. This year, the same was held as part of the Conclave and the focus was “Water Secure Economies: Perspectives from the Industries".

For the first time ever, Patrick Medecin, Ambassador of Monaco to India, visiting Kolkata attended the Conclave. He addressed on the “Green is the New Glam” – Green activities and Sustainable Policies in Monaco and Opportunities for Cooperations and Scope of Implementations here.

“The Environment and Energy Conclave has addressed energy transfers, energy technology, energy security, water management and many others. Corporates today have recognized the importance of waste management. The focus should be on efficient utilization of resource”, stated Indrajit Sen, President, The Bengal Chamber.

“Resource security is at heart of sustainability. The world is now focusing on business for good. Technology for good”, stated Deb A Mukherjee, Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber.

On the occasion The Bengal Chamber felicitated Nitin Desai for his Leadership in Sustainability in the global arena.

Nitin Desai, Chairman, TERI, said that "water management is the key to facing the challenges in agriculture sector. If you get the water management right you get the other things right like landfills, settlements etc. Calcutta in that way has fared much better than other cities in managing waste because of the landfill. The people have done a good job about waste management here. Calcutta is one among four metros that have fared well."

Ajay Mathur, Director General, the The Energy Resources and Institute (TERI) stated that "we are looking at a future where reasons for survival , profitability and global good have to be focused upon.Resource efficiency, recycling and upscaling  are need of hour. In case of water conservation, In a densely populated area we need to focus on storage. The ideas are there, and there are lot of ponds and tanks which existed need to be rejuvenated. That is one large issue. The second is we have extracted so much ground water that a lot of arterials or water flow aquifers have been denuded. The challenge is to fill them and regulate them . As soon as you fill the aquifers somebody down stream pumps it out ,So if you want to get water right you need to get lot of other things right also”.

Deepak Amitabh, IRS, Chairman and Managing Director, PTC India Limited, deliberated on dynamics of power trading in context of sustainability and resource optimization.  He spoke on trading, optimizing and sustaining resources. “For trading complementarity has to be checked, as also value and time sensitivity. Hardcore power trading is not just about surplus capacity. Supply is predictable but demand is organic. Managing power facility requires smart appliances. “

Janab Firhad Hakim, Mayor, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Minister-in-Charge, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Government of West Bengal, who graced the conclave expressed that "Ground water is diminishing at an alarming rate and won’t be available in the future. To compensate this loss we have to focus on rainwater harvesting. To minimize carbon emission, we from KMC are handing over street vendors with electric oven and also street iron vendors would be supplied by electric heater. We are talking with CESC to arrange for electric lines for these facilities to be provided to street vendors."

Yuki Yoshida, Second Secretary (Environment), Economic Section, Embassy of Japan in India made a presentation on ‘Japan’ Blue Sky Initiatives’ along with representatives from Nitto Denkand Hitachi Zosen.  The “Japan’s Blue Sky Initiatives” is comprised of a list of efforts implemented by Japanese public and private sectors in India to improve air pollution.

Proshanto Banerjee,Senior Advisor H Energy  also attended the programme sharing on “Sustainability and Business Models”

The programme showcased Innovative Solutions for Air Quality from China by Jiangnan Environmental Technology Inc. and Water Testing Technology from UK by Sunanda Environmental International Pvt Ltd.