ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bisleri will share its findings with the central government to facilitate discussions and develop a framework, advancing the concept of water credits for the beverages industry. The proposal is aimed at making beverage makers more accountable towards water usage.
Mumbai: Packaged water maker Bisleri is looking to introduce water credits akin to carbon credits, aimed at making beverage makers more accountable for water usage.
The company has partnered TERI School of Advanced Studies to conduct a study that would set a benchmark for the beverage industry's commitment to water conservation.
The study assumes significance given that several large beverage makers have been criticized for extracting water from water stressed areas. Several companies now report initiatives to replenish water used during their manufacturing process.
Green credit for water conservation
Bisleri said it will share its findings with the central government to facilitate discussions and develop a framework, advancing the concept of water credits for the beverages industry.
“The water sector can generate green credits through water conservation, water harvesting, and water use efficiency, including treatment and reuse of wastewater," the company said. This will be similar to how companies buy credits to offset their emissions.
"This report is about proposing a model to the government—they can use and craft it. So, we are requesting the government to set up a platform as quickly as possible, similar to carbon credits, using this as a template," Angelo George, CEO, Bisleri International said in an interview.
Water savings need localized approaches
The study aimed to review national and international practices and policies in water trading, water credits and fiscal instruments and develop a methodological framework to estimate water footprint of a production unit. The study also tested and estimated the water footprint of two production units of Bisleri in two distinctly different terrains.
Unlike carbon emissions, water savings require a localized approach, factoring in variables such as rainfall and consumption at a watershed level, it said.
Problem of water scarcity
In India, 11 out 15 major river basins will be water-stressed by 2025, with per-capita annual water availability below 1,700 cubic meters, according to data from the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a New Delhi-based think tank.
Bisleri’s move also comes after the government notified a Green Credit Program (GCP ) in October, 2023. The CPG is a market-based mechanism designed to incentivize voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors, by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies. In its initial phase, the CPG will focus on two key activities i.e. water conservation and afforestation. However, there is no official platform yet that permits trading of green credits in India.
Those in the beverage industry said that while the idea is novel, it could face challenges in implementation. “This is a responsible way for the industry to be more water-efficient, although several large companies are already replenishing water they use," said a senior executive in the beverages industry, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Additionally, ground water usage in India is already governed by various national and state-level rules that restrict the amount of water companies can draw for industrial and commercial use.
For instance, bottled water companies must obtain necessary No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for groundwater extraction and then undertake measures for groundwater replenishment. Packaged water units are also penalized for going above the minimum quantum of ground water withdrawal. Rates of ground water abstraction charges for packaged drinking water units vary in safe, semi-critical and critical assessment units, per rules laid out by the Central Ground Water Authority. However, companies also use other sources such as surface or municipal water—tariffs on which are different.
Others said the move is largely aligned to step up sustainable and environment-friendly practices followed by companies.
"If companies are able to follow efficient water use practices and earn credits their processes will be considered more environmentally friendly, because they are going to reduce their water footprint. Moreover, internationally, their product will have more acceptance, because you're contributing to environmental conservation. Third, is that it also reduces regulatory and reputational risk for organizations, said Nitin Bassi, senior programme lead for the sustainable water team at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
However, Bassi warns that creating a baseline water footprint for the industry may have its challenges given the scale and scope of a given water unit. Smaller water units may be at a disadvantage when it comes to assessing their water footprint as their technology may not be at par with those deployed that large companies. "Additionally, while undertaking such projects, validating claims in the long-run becomes a challenge," he said.
Read MoreGuwahati, April 30: A two-day-long ‘Exposure Visit Programme’ for CBSE School Principals has successfully culminated here today at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) where 34 school principals from various renowned CBSE schools from across the country participated.
The visit has been organized by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in collaboration with USTM from 29th to 30th April 2024. The program has been supported by the Department of Skill Education, CBSE under the Skill Education sector.
Addressing the school principals in an interactive session today, Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of USTM said that the role of a school principal is multifaceted and essential for creating an environment where students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. He welcomed all the participants and said that USTM is always open to extending all kinds of support to uplift school education.
In the inaugural session yesterday, Prof GD Sharma, Vice Chancellor of USTM welcomed all the school principals and said that the National Education Policy 2020 has emphasized on Skill Education to become integral to School and Higher Education. Accordingly, CBSE has envisioned promoting Skill Education from Class 6th onwards in all its affiliated schools. He said that an added benefit of such an exposure visit is that it gives the principals a chance to meet other like-minded school leaders, share stories, and gain a lot in the process.
Speaking on this occasion, Dr Jagadish Barman, Jt Secretary, CBSE Centre of Excellence Guwahati said, “This Exposure Visit is expected to leverage the synergies between schools and Higher Educational Institutions and create a positive platform for cohesive interaction in the future learning ecosystem.”
These Principals may, in turn, mentor the teachers of schools in their neighborhood thus, unfold unlimited opportunities for educator empowerment, he added.
In this context, Prof Amit Choudhury, Dean, School of Technology and Management at USTM said that this year CBSE has selected USTM for principals’ exposure visit apart from six other institutions including TERI School of Advanced Studies New Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Asian Academy of Film Television Noida, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Whistling Woods International Mumbai, and Indian Institute of Management–Raipur. The resource persons from USTM were: Dr E Karim, Dr Azmol H Barbhuiya, Dr Monalisa Bora Deka, Dr Alika Borgohain, Dr Baharul Islam, Dr K Aye, Dr S Gazi, Dr Nitu Borgohain, Dr Deboja Sharma, Dr Moutushi Das, Dr Mehjabin Rahman, Dr Papiya Dutta, Dr Palme Borthakur.
Dr Nirmaljit Singh Kalsi, Chairman, National Council for Vocational Education and Training took an online session on “Up-scaling of Skill Education in line with NEP 2020”. Several sessions took place on both days.
The participating schools in the program were Christ International School Bangalore, Mahavir Senior Model School Delhi, RS Jhunjhunwala International School Gujarat, Poddar International School Maharashtra, Manipal School, Brahmani Public School Odisha, DPS Ahomgaon Guwahati, Faculty HS School North Guwahati, Sharada Vidyaniketan Public School Mangalore, Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 Kunjaban, KV NFR Maligaon, Ideal English Senior Secondary School Manipur, Livingstone Foundation International, PM Shri KV Khanapara, Holy Brook Sr. Sec. School, North East Public School Udalguri, Army Public School PRTC Bangalore, SBOA Public School Guwahati, The Priceton School, Sree Swami Vivekananda Higher Primary School, Kendriya Vidyalaya NEHU Shillong, Army Public School Shillong, SJ Patel Eng School Gujarat, Delhi World Public School Haryana, Jnana Ganga Central School, Dr. M Ramanna Shetty Memorial English Medium High School, Kendriya Vidyalaya ONGC Agartala, Kendriya Vidyalaya Assam University, Kendriya Vidyalaya Aizawl, Buhai School Sikkim and Kingcup Public School Itanagar.
Read MoreIPCA Centre for Waste Management and Research, TERI SAS, in collaboration with India Development Service (IDS), USA, organised an international conference on ‘Solid Waste Management for Good Health and Wellbeing’ on 1st March 2024. Several experts from medical services, NGOs, urban local bodies, and recyclers participated in the event. While delivering the keynote address, Deputy WHO Representative to India Ms Payden emphasised that “health sector alone cannot address the issues faced by communities associated with waste management sector, inter and intra-sectoral collaborations is the key and the involvement of people and communities stands important”.
Prof Arun Kansal, Vice Chancellor, TERI SAS, emphasised the need to synchronise the aims of waste management, pollution control, and a healthy, sustainable, and thriving community. Focusing on waste management for health in many ways leads to the definition of purpose for engineers. Health brings in a critical human element to waste management schemes, which is as crucial as trucks and infrastructure. Dr Prasad from the University of Colorado presented a case study mapping health care along solid waste supply chains. Dr Venkatesh from Karlstad University, Sweden, presented his extensive research on ragpickers in India.
Participants organised themselves to deliberate on community health and waste management, New imperatives for waste management policies and regulations, Fiscal measures, and stakeholder roles.
Mr Ashish Jain, Founder Director of IPCA, thanked participants and summarised the need for an integrated community-based approach through effective intersectoral coordination where waste management for health leads to the definition of purpose for Engineers in municipal bodies.
Read MoreDate | News Title | Source |
02-June-2024 | Bisleri proposes water credit ... | Mint (Online) |
30-April-2024 | Principals from CBSE schools a... | The Shillong Times (Online) |
02-March-2024 | International Conference on So... | Skilloutlook (Online) |
28-February-2024 | Rising medical costs is eating... | Deccan Herald (Online) |
29-January-2024 | Padma Shri for Kurseong man Dr... | The Statesman (Online) |
08-September-2023 | G20 & Climate Change & Action:... | Online |
16-July-2023 | Trans Yamuna area of Delhi has... | Jagran (Online) |
11-June-2023 | Surya Foundation dwara Rashtri... | Uttam Hindu; Page No. 05 |
07-June-2023 | Hurdles on the way. Why India ... | The Hindu Businessline (Online) |
23-April-2023 | Subsidence in an Indian town r... | The Japan Times (Online) |
Greenwashing or for that matter ESG washing is becoming as much a concern today as global warming – domestically and globally.
Recently, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) set up an advisory committee on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) matters. Its terms of reference include “continuous enhancement of disclosures specific to ESG Schemes of mutual funds with particular focus on mitigation of risks of mis-selling and greenwashing.” India has no specific laws to rein in greenwashing. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) requires advertisements to be “legal, decent, honest and truthful”, but then it is just a Code for Self-Regulation.
Earlier the UN Secretary-General António Guterres set up a High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities to help ensure credibility and accountability of net-zero pledges. Guterres in his message to the HLEG said, "We cannot afford slow movers, fake movers, or any form of greenwashing.” The HLEG was set up in the backdrop of net-zero commitments by non-state actors, particularly from the private and financial sectors, in the absence of standard criteria for measurement, assessment, and accountability.
“This perception risk… enables greenwashing, announcements that lack concrete decarbonization plans, undue reliance on the use of offsets, and potential unrealistic dependence on removals (in lieu of concrete mitigation action) to reduce absolute emissions,” note the terms of reference.
In France, NGOs like Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth France, Notre Affaire à Tous, and ClientEarth have taken to court oil major TotalEnergies, calling it out for greenwashing for its net-zero claims. TotalEnergies is countering the allegations. In fact, France is also bringing in a decree from January 1, 2023, to prohibit "carbon neutral" claims that cannot be proved.
Clearly, greenwashing has come a long way. When US-based Jay Westerveld as an undergraduate student coined the term greenwashing in 1986, the future environmentalist could have little imagined that the term would make to dictionaries and stick globally. He was prompted by a hotel in Fiji promoting the reuse of towels to save the environment in the garb of saving laundry costs and nothing else.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines greenwashing as making “people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.” According to the Oxford Dictionary, greenwashing is “activities by a company or an organization that are intended to make people think that it is concerned about the environment, even if its real business actually harms the environment.”
In a fast-changing world, greenwashing itself has given reverse birth to the mother term color washing, which in simpler terms is selectively hiding the negatives and promoting the positives to appear environmentally and social correct and reap dividends.
For example, pinkwashing refers to championing female empowerment while indulging in unequal practices toward women. Brownwashing is about seen to be promoting people of color, but following racist policies and practices. Rainbowashing refers to appearing as supporting LGTBQIA+ rights, but not in reality. Whitewashing, as most of us are familiar with, is about covering up for wrongdoing. The latest term to dominate politically correct discourses is ESG-washing.
Newsmaker
A crusader against greenwashing, Assaad Razzouk is a social media influencer and amongst the top 10 Twitter advocates of clean energy globally. His tweet on India crossing 100GW renewable energy capacity was one of the most popular tweets of the last year. His much-awaited book ‘Saving the Planet Without the Bullshit: What They Don’t Tell You About the Climate Crisis’ from Atlantic Books is touted to be a profound commentary with its counterintuitive arguments and set to influence how we view the climate crisis. His mantra seems to rein in big oil to fight global warming rather than go vegan, invest in ethical plans or offset air travel.
Razzouk is against using natural gas instead of fossil methane or fossil gas; promoting the use of carbon footprint calculators because it shifts the onus from big oil to the consumer; corporate net-zero pledges, which lack actual plans. He has called all these instances acts of greenwashing in an interview with ‘CleanTechnica’, a cleantech news site. He would know what he is talking about. The Lebanese-British clean energy entrepreneur, podcaster, and commentator based in Singapore is CEO at Gur?n Energy and host of ‘The Angry Clean Energy Guy’ podcast. An alumnus of Columbia University and Syracuse University, he was also awarded a Ph.D., Honoris Causa, by TERI School of Advanced Studies.
Postscript
Predictably, greenwashing is also lending itself as the grist for humor. Some net-zero greenwashing examples are best captured through the analogy of Sydney-based Greg Taylor, 73, who has pledged to quit drinking by 2050 to keep pace with the global net-zero targets, as reported by ‘The Shovel’, an Australian satire news site. He is targeting to phase out his drinking within 29 years in the interest of his health. When he reaches 101 in 2049, he plans to cut down on his drinking. Till then he will continue drinking as usual because an immediate switch to zero alcohol is not practical. He will save credits from the days he misses out on drinking due to illness for using these to stretch his deadline. In the meantime, he has invested in another fridge for capture and storage purpose. So much for following the net-zero announcement precedences in letter – and spirit!
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