POWER TALK SUSTAINABLE PROFITS DEC-JAN 20-21

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ENABLINGRENEWALSustainable Development – an Oxymoron?How can developing nations maintain their economic growth for eradicating persistent poverty, without harming our planetfurther? In fact, the goal is to reverse global warming and bring temperature increase to pre-existing levels. Growth withoutchimneys? Just two decades ago, one might have thought that this was an inherently contradictory phrase. But it is no longer so.Global Overview of DevelopmentLet us take a quick look at the way the world has changed in the last 70 plus years, the same period that India has been anindependent nation. The end of the Second World War in 1945 triggered the end of the colonial era and the rise of USA andUSSR as superpowers, overshadowing the once powerful European countries and Japan. The global population in 1950 was2.50 billion and it currently stands at 7.80 billion, increasing more than threefold during these 70 years. During the sameperiod, Asian countries led by S. Korea and Taiwan since the 1960s, followed by China since the late 1970s and then by Indiasince the early 1990s focused on industrialisation, resulting in rapid growth and concomitant decline in poverty across thedeveloping world. Life expectancy has also increased from 30 years around 1950 to 72 years now, economic more thandoubling in these 70 years. These are good things, without doubtGlobal Warming and Climate ChangeBut just like a coin, there is a flip side to all this growth and development: increasing greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from fossilfuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas, have trapped all the heat generated by our factories, vehicles, aircraft and even ourPower Talk l Sustainable Profits
cooking. As a result, our planet is getting warmer, slowly but surely, leading to visible climate change effects over the past twodecades. The manifestations of global warming and climate change can be seen in the melting of glaciers, the rise of sea levelsand abnormal weather conditions like unpredictable monsoons. National governments, with a few notable exceptions, havecome together to recognise this as a serious problem for mankind and have pledged to do everything possible to reducegreenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing development and thegrowth momentum.The falling tariffs ofelectricity from renewablesources, especially solar,make renewable energy aprofitable optionIncreasing Role of Renewable Energyin the Global Energy Matrix“Renewable”energy is not a 21 st century invention byscientists! Humans have harnessed the power of wind, water and sunlightfrom the dawn of civilisation. However, with the advent of the IndustrialRevolution in Western Europe in the mid-18 th century, fossil fuelsdominated our energy matrix in all our needs, whether at an individuallevel, or at the community level. But over the past two decades, theincreasing awareness of the harmful effects of fossil fuel use to accelerateeconomic development has forced mankind to go back to the drawingboard and devise ways to harness energy from wind, water and sunwithout harming the planet.Over the past decade alone, the share of renewable sources of energyin the global energy basket has grown from a mere 5% to a noticeable15%. During the same period, in India, it grew from a moderate 9% toa significant level of 24%. Two conclusions can be drawn from thisdata: the world has finally woken up to the reality of climate changedue to the widespread use of fossil fuels and has started adoptingrenewable sources of energy. At the same time, India is ahead of theglobe in its awareness and has given an appropriate response. In fact,the Indian government has fixed an ambitious target of 175 Giga Wattsof renewable energy by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030. Hon’ble PrimeMinister of India Mr Narendra Modi has been a champion ofrenewable energy and this has led to this rapid growth with ambitioustargets. His vision of “One Sun, One World, One Grid” places India at aleadership position in the context of increasing adoption of renewableenergy in all our activities, whether at an individual level or at acommunity or even national level. It must be noted that this increasingemphasis on renewable energy to run our cars, buses and trains, ourfactories and homes does not imply a slowing down in our ambitiouseconomic growth plans. The falling tariffs of electricity from renewablesources, especially solar, make renewable energy a profitable optiontoo.In fact, Mr Sumant Sinha, the Founder and Chairman of the company (ReNew Power Pvt Ltd) that I currently work for, hasvisualised a world free of fossil fuels in his recently published book “Fossil Free”, in which he has articulated this strongly &practicallyThe bottom line is:Mr. S Ramasundaram2020 – PRESENTPresident Corporate AffairsReNew Power Pvt LtdNew Delhiwww.renewpower.ins.ramasundaram@renewpower.inramramasundaram@gmail.comwww.linkedin.com/in/ramasundaramSustainable Development is not an oxymoron anymore. On the contrary,only a moron would ignore global warming and climate change due to fossil fuel use and refuse to look at cheaper and climatefriendly renewable sources of energywww.powertalkwitharchanna.com 25
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Page 6 and 7: CONTENT05EditorialArchanna Gaarg10D
Page 8 and 9: mpactSDG AMBITIONSDG PIONEERSCEO WA
Page 10 and 11: A sustainable business is basically
Page 12 and 13: Although due to improved medical ca
Page 14: SHABNAMSIDDIQUICommitted to Governa
Page 17 and 18: and subsequent lockdown has driven
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Page 21 and 22: An SDG frameworkpossible short-term
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Page 27 and 28: DIVYA HEDGE - CEO, The Integrated P
Page 29 and 30: NITIKA SONKHIYA, MYONEARTHNitika So
Page 31 and 32: Business can delivercircularityThe
Page 33 and 34: A real passion for listening andsup
Page 35 and 36: Sustainable marketing in healthcare
Page 37 and 38: RE to Everyone: Hello I am RE!RE to
Page 39 and 40: SPECIAL EDITIONDEC JAN 2020Just wor
Page 41 and 42: DISCLAIMERPower Talk is an e-magazi

POWER TALK SUSTAINABLE PROFITS DEC-JAN 20-21

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