Asia, the sustainability centre of the world

With participation from over 41 countries, the second annual WSDS 2018 commenced with a call for unparalleled global cooperation towards mutual sustainability goals. While defining the imperatives of global sustainability, Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI, said "We must move towards a future where the world is better environmentally, economically, and socially". Joining him on the stage were, HE Nils Ragnar Kamsvag, the Royal Norwegian Ambassador to India; Mr Ashok Chawla, Chairman, TERI; and Prof Jeffrey D Sachs, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University.

In his Keynote Address, Prof Jeffrey David Sachs, delivered a hard-hitting discourse on the stakes at hand. Urging the world to act at a speed "that is completely uncharacteristic of our societies", he defined the global imperatives that will define sustainability in the 21st century.

"For the future of the world – China and India have to get it right," he said, summing the world's global shift of economic strength to Asia, and its need to ensure that its growth was sustainable.