Experience & Expertise to Combat Climate Change — Indiaspora’s 4th Annual Climate Summit 2024
As extreme heat, rising sea levels, wildfires, droughts, water shortages and climate induced emergencies rise, collaboration on strategies and suggestions from experts in the field are pertinent to mitigate the impacts of the burgeoning climate crisis.
Over 30 speakers from diverse backgrounds shared their expertise at Indiaspora’s 4th Annual Climate Summit 2024 titled Urgent Climate Conversations: Our Planet at the Brink, held online over two sessions on April 4th and 5th. At the summit, leaders in public and private sectors shaping policy decisions to mitigate climate change impacts and entrepreneurs working towards scalable solutions to build resiliency came together with venture capitalists and non-governmental organization founders and executives. The speakers and attendees covered geographies across the globe and brought forth interesting and engaging perspectives on the state of climate crisis, mitigation strategies, and community led solutions from various continents and countries.
Both sessions of the summit were opened by MR Rangaswami, Founder and Chairperson of Indiaspora. He introduced the non-profit as a force of good and reiterated the commitment of Indiaspora members towards initiatives to avert the climate crisis. MR spoke about the Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) of senior executives representing large, influential companies demonstrating a commitment to sustainability as core to business strategy that he founded in 2007.
Sustainability and Partnership Commitments from the White House
The opening keynote for the western hemisphere session, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability, was given by Andrew Mayock, Federal Chief Sustainability Officer, White House Council on Environmental Quality. Mayock enumerated the varied initiatives including the electrification and shift in power supply to clean energy of the US government’s 640,000 vehicles and 300,000 buildings. He outlined many government initiatives to make the supply chain more climate-smart and resilient through programs like the $4.5 billion Buy Clean Initiative catalyzing low-carbon materials. This initiative increases climate impact through domestic and international public and private sector partnerships including the 50-country Greening Government Initiative and the 13-state Federal-State Buy Clean Partnership.
Another public sector leader, Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, candidly opined on the US-India partnership in the energy space and confidently declared India as US’s greatest energy partner in his talk, Shared Challenges, Collaborative Solutions: The Climate Crisis through the US-India Lens. “India is projected to double its power consumption by 2050. The question is if India will create sustainable economic growth in a way that is less damaging to the environment than what was chosen by the US, Europe or China. The answer to this question will determine if we as a planet will succeed or fail in meeting the challenge of the climate crisis,” said Secretary Lu. He added that India is looking for help from the private sector and its international partners to support PM Modi’s ambitious target of non-fossil fuel production of 500 Giga Watt power by 2030. “The US is working closely with India to support its rise as a global clean energy superpower,” he mentioned a recent meeting between US Energy Secretary-Jennifer M. Granholm with India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas- Hardeep Puri and their declaration that the US India partnership is the most important energy relationship in the world. “In addition to working together on green energy transition goals, we are poised to launch the most expensive and sophisticated earth imaging satellite mission called NISAR this year to observe earth’s complex natural processes with the joint mission to share this data with the world to better understand and mitigate severe consequences of climate change,” added Secretary Lu.
Implementation of Initiatives to Fight Climate Issues
In a conversation between Rwitwika Bhattacharya, CEO of Swaniti Global and Aparna Shrivastav, Deputy Chief Climate Officer at U.S. International Development Finance Corporation moderated by Clare Shakya, Global Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy, these experts shared their views on challenges like the urgent need for finances to be directed towards initiatives to fight the climate crisis and operationalization of global and local ventures for combating hyperlocal climate disasters.
Climate Effects Are Not Created Equal
In her keynote on women bearing a disproportionate burden of the climate crisis, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and Former Chief Scientist at the WHO, enumerated the ways in which women face terrific strain from the growing climate crisis. Not only childbearing and rearing duties but also as main water providers and cooks and caretakers of food for the family. “Growing disruptions due to the climate crisis have shown rising domestic violence and human trafficking incidents that impact women and children more. Climate change mitigation and adaptation policies need to involve women of various social sectors,” suggested Swaminathan. “Local connections to create environmental conservation stewardship is pertinent.
Looking at wildlife, agriculture, livelihood and sustainability together is the key,” said Krithi Karanth - CEO, Center for Wildlife Studies and National Geographic Explorer. The important role of women’s engagement and community ownership at hyper local levels towards waste management and other enterprises to tackle the growing climate concerns was further highlighted by Vishal Kumar, CEO of Waste Warriors and Parnasha Banerjee, Associate Director of DASRA in their talk on Circular Economy and Recycling. The grim reality of more girls missing school due to climate change than because of patriarchy was also highlighted, not just as a warning for the future but as a current happening that needs urgent intervention on a global scale with local measures. Climate change impacts the constitutional guarantee of right to life, the Supreme Court of India said in a recent judgment, emphasizing that India must prioritize clean energy initiatives such as solar power as citizens have a right to be free from the adverse effects of the climate emergency.
“Time is against us. Let us become accountable for all and ensure that no one is impacted negatively when a change is implemented,” said Nassima Sadar Gravier, an Obama Leader and Founder and CEO of Afro Climate in her talk, From Crisis to Hope: Africa’s Promising Climate Narrative.
Respecting Ancient Wisdom
Speaking on the traditional ways of rainforest harvesting and life in the treacherous terrains of the Thar desert in the western state of Rajasthan in India, Arati Kumar Rao, National Geographic Explorer and BBC 100 Influential Women 2023 and opening keynote for the eastern session, took the audience on an engaging photographic journey of life and living in the most populous desert of the world. Rao highlighted examples of native wisdom and adaptability of the population in the desert that gets merely 100 mm (4 cm) of rain annually. “I encourage you to tweak what you think about a desert. It not only supports the human populace but is home to a variety of wildlife including some endangered species that have learnt to read the land and adopt,” said Rao. She further emphasized the need for the governments to look at issues holistically and not in silos and to include the local population in decision making strategies.
Nature Conservation and Restoration
“Most effective and inexpensive strategy amongst the various nature-based strategies to conserve biodiversity while combating climate change is preventing deforestation,” said Seema Paul, Program Director at Sequoia Climate Foundation. Seema spoke about equity in efforts to combat the climate change challenges and the need for equitable compensation towards displaced communities to prevent conflicts. “Countries in the south are asking those nations that have caused the problems to go first in adapting mitigation steps and strategies,” commented Paul. Other speakers on the panel included Jainey Bavishi, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy NOAA Administrator, Monica Shukla, Founder & CEO of The Humble Bee and Radhika Khosla, Research Director at the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development. Sumedha Tanwar, Communications Strategy & Youth Engagement Specialist at 1t.org (World Economic Forum) moderated the panel.
Role of Renewables
James Abraham, Founder and Chairman of Mynzo Carbon moderated a talk between Tejpreet Chopra, President & CEO of BLP Group/Industry.AI and Srinivas Vishwanath, CEO of Vibrant Energy on the role of renewables in India. The speakers shared their individual entrepreneurial journeys and optimism about total elimination of fossil fuel for power and the reality of the availability of round the clock renewables power in India by 2030. The entrepreneurs positively highlighted the Indian government for its commitment towards climate friendly policies.
India’s Growth Opportunity
The panel on India’s Growth Opportunity featured Mayur Singh, Co-Founder at Green Collective, Hisham Mundol, Environmental Defense Fund's Chief Advisor in India, Nikit Abhyankar, Scientist at Berkeley University, Sandeep Chandna, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tech Mahindra, and Pragya Saboo, Principal at Climate Capital. They discussed climate tech’s massive promise in India, the need for higher spending in research and development, citizen led approaches supported by businesses, and the need for emerging economies like India to be supported in its efforts by advanced economies.
Global Wealth Inequality and Global Revolutions
“We are concerned optimists. History has shown us that global wealth inequality has been the main reason for global revolutions and political instability,” said Gaurav Gupta, Global Managing Partner of Dalberg Advisors in his closing keynote on Navigating the next decade of multiple disruptions. He reminded the audience about disruptions we face today: political instability, post-pandemic recovery, AI and automation, in addition to climate disruptions we continue to see year after year. Gaurav suggested that organizations working on social impact have to consider the imbalanced inequalities nations and regions face around the world. In order to move the needle, we need to look at the climate disruptions as one piece of the issue. Climate challenges intersect with other social challenges on many planes. Understanding these intersections will allow organizations like Dalberg to leverage the capital needed to drive change.
Shalini Kathuria Narang is a software professional and a freelance journalist. She has reported for national and international newspapers, magazines and news sites. She is also a poet and her poems have been published in several anthologies including Starry Nights: Poetry of Diaspora in Silicon Valley and Pixie Dust and All Things Magical. She is a monthly contributor to Masticadores USA and has been published on Spillwords Press and San Antonio Press. She is originally from New Delhi and currently resides in the Bay Area, California.
