If cows were their own country, they’d be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world ahead of India

Building Back Better was an evening to celebrate the achievements of stalwarts of the industry who are dedicatedly working towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  The evening witnessed participation from over 50 key eminent personalities from the government, top corporate honchos, academicians, think tanks, high commissions and multilateral institutions.

Smriti Irani, Hon’ble Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Government of India and Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog addressed the gathering virtually. The C-suite members who were present include Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric Vehicles; BVN Rao, Business Chairman (Transportation & Urban Infrastructure), GMR Group; Devashish Dasgupta, Head of Government & Corporate Affairs, HUL; Ramnath Vaidyanathan, Head – Environmental Sustainability, Godrej; HE Klas Molin, Ambassaor, Embassy of Sweden, among others.

The evening served as an excellent platform to gain insights on the rapid strides made by the Indian Government in its pursuit to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We had multiple conversations with our guests, which would be published here in subsequent articles. Climate change being arguably the most pressing problem of our generation with no obvious solution, we also conducted a short Climate Quiz to pique the interests of our guests.

It was revealing to observe that while we get into the weeds of implementation and policy making, at times we lose sight of the simplest of questions. Add to it, the awareness on what issues are most important within climate change is limited and the voice of scientists tends to get drowned in pop-culture style solutions of planting trees alone.  The Climate Quiz was a testament to this, as simple questions with non-intuitive answers left the respondents introspecting, surprised, and amused.

Which Energy source is the safest got only 44% correct answers while the jury was split right in the middle on what individuals can do to help mitigate climate risks (refer infographic). The concept of Green Premiums – the extra cost of making climate- friendly choices – is a key idea, because it helps us see which sources of emissions will be the hardest to zero out.

Zero emissions remains an ambitious goal and instruments like carbon trading help organisations to have guilt free albeit unavoidable climate impact, we all need to do more. So while nuclear energy is the safest and the Government should invest in it, one may have to give up burgers for the sake of the planet! How many of us are ready to play our part?

Take the quiz and juggle your knowledge buds at GatesNotes.Com

 

[author title=”- Mansi Chaturvedi” image=”http://”][/author]

 

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ET Edge Insights, its management, or its members

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