"We need to find means to create a market for green products"

How is India placed on the issue of climate change?
As far as India is concerned, the impacts of climate change are going to be pretty diverse. We are going to be very vulnerable in our coastal areas. In some cases there is a specific ecological problem.

If you look at the Sunderbans, for instance, which have these protective mango plantations, all of those are likely to be completely inundated and of course depending on the strength of sea level rise, we are likely to see complete submergence of the Sunderbans. The projections of the IPCC as far as sea levels rise is concerned till the end of this century is anywhere between 9 cm and 88 cm.

Is it not a really large range?
It is simply because the way the economy is shaping up, the way emissions are going to take place over the 100 year timespan. One cannot really come down to anything more pin-pointed than this range. It is dependent on a whole set of assumptions that drive human activities in this century.

But even if you were somewhere in the lower end of the range and even if you had an increase by a foot, it is dangerous enough for the Sunderbans as well as other parts of our coastal areas.

In addition, we have got a serious problem developing with water availability. If one looks at the melting of the glaciers, for instance, in the Himalayan range, this could give us larger flows of water in the immediate short term but once the body of ice constituting these glaciers is reduced, then flows would also reduce and that has major implications for water availability, at least in the northern parts of the sub-continent.

Also, another is mitigation of emissions of GHGs. Even if we take very drastic steps to reduce the emissions of GHGs today, the impacts of climate change will continue for decades if not centuries.

So we have no choice but to adapt to climate change.

What are your recommendations on the change?
There are so many areas where attention has to be given. Like, Americans consume far too much energy. The domestic insulation patterns must change.
It is not unusual to find someone sitting with a T-shirt in his home in the peak of winter, while the temperature outside is -10°C.

The heating inside allows you to sit in a T-shirt so you can enjoy your beer. I mean both things need to change.

What about the costs that are never taken into consideration?
These are really behavioural changes that have to be brought about. Public transport, for example, is a far cheaper option in intra-city travel than passenger vehicles and yet people do not invest in public transport in that country. So that is another area where major changes are required.

What is preventing us from adopting green practices. Are there shortcomings in knowhow, insufficient research or higher costs involved?
You have to find means by which a market can be created so that competition and the need for being able to succeed in a competitive environment will result in better products and services.

A good example is a solar water heater. There is no reason why in this city, for instance, every house doesn’t have a solar water heater. We all use geysers and electricity being the source of heating which is terribly inefficient. Often it also takes place at the time when there is peak demand for power, which is only adding to power cuts and solar water heater is a totally viable option.

If there was a regulation that requires every new home to be fitted with a solar water heater then you create a market and in that market there would be competition, people will come out with better products and people where you don't even have regulation will probably also buy them.

I think we just need to be a little imaginative in seeing how one can bring about market-based solutions that would help.

What is the next step to be taken?
We have got a huge amount of data available with us. We are also analysing for the Fourth Assessment Report in the IPCC. Science is galloping ahead. There is an enormous amount of research taking place on the impact in different parts of the world.
Now, we have to somehow prevent the dangerous level of climate change where certain regions of the earth are likely to be submerged or reach a level where livelihoods would be threatened in a big way. That’s a crucial question and the fact is that we have to start taking action.

So, how’s India Inc responding to climate change?
Global industry is getting responsive to climate change. Indian industry has still to respond to it. It is not at a stage where it would, because in any case, the developing countries are not required to cut down emissions but some global leaders of corporate sector are very determined.

Apart from BP and DuPont, GE has recently announced a major programme called eco-imagination. They are moving beyond the obvious. In fact, they advertise the fact that BP stands for Beyond Petroleum.

So I think a fair amount of action is happening in these places.