ANNOUNCEMENTS
Lucknow: The School of Management Sciences (SMS), Lucknow, organised a two-day national conference focusing on sustainable business approaches for a collective future.
At the collaborative event with the Indian Society for Training & Development (ISTD) and the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) , institute director Ashish Bhatnagar said, "Sustainability is not an option, it is a necessity."
Speakers, including former chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh R Ramani, former director of IIM Kozhikode Krishna Kumar, and TERI SAS New Delhi Associate Professor, Shruti Sharma Rana, led discussions on sustainable finance, circular economy, and ESG practices. TNN
Read MoreProminent environmental experts have challenged the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) report declaring Triveni Sangam water unfit for bathing during the Mahakumbh. The experts argue CPCB report is incomplete citing missing data on nitrates and phosphates.
New Delhi: Prominent environment experts have countered Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report claiming poor quality of water at Mahakumbh. The CPCB report said that Triveni Sangam water is not fit for bathing. The CPCB cites high levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD) in the water.
Prof Umesh Kumar Singh, who teaches at Centre of Environmental Science at the University of Allahabad, said that water at Sangam is fit for taking a bath keeping in view the current set of data.
‘CPCB needs to work more’
“A few days back, the Centre Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report stated increased levels of faecal coliform (bacteria) in the water. I believe that the CPCB needs to work more on the report because their data is not complete,” Professor Singh said. “The level of nitrates and phosphates are missing from the report. The level of dissolved oxygen in the water, as shown in the report, is good. And on the basis of the current data, I can say that the water at Triveni Sangam is fit for taking a bath,” Professor Umesh Singh told ANI.
“Report very inconsistent”
Similarly, another professor RK Ranjan termed CPCB report “very inconsistent”. According to RK Ranjan, who is Associate Professor Central University of South Bihar, the Central Pollution Control Board data is very inconsistent and to conclude that water is unsafe to bathe in would be to say things in haste.
He added, “There is not enough data to conclude that the waters in Prayagraj are not safe to bathe in. Similar data can be seen from Garhmukteshwar, Gazipur, Buxar and Patna. There could be many reasons for this to happen. Among others one reason behind this is when a large number of people bathe in the same waters. It also matters from where and when the sample of water is taken.”
“Coliform bacteria is nothing new”
Dr. Amit Kumar Mishra, another environmental scientist from JNU, also holds the same opinion. Mishra says the presence of coliform bacteria is nothing new and called for new data set.
I would say we need more data sets, we need more measurements. There is a huge number of population which is taking bath at Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. If you talk about the coliform bacteria, it is nothing new. If you see the data of the Shashi Snan peaks, you will see that the E.Coli bacteria peaks at that time. So, I would say that we need more data sets, we need more parameters, we need more monitoring stations, especially down the stream,” Amit Kumar Mishra said.
Prof. Chander Kumar Singh of TERI School of Advanced Studies also said that many parameters are not present in the CPBC report.
“In the CPCB report available, many parameters are not present. I believe better information can be given if more data and facts come out,” Prof. Chander argued.
https://x.com/ANI/status/1892903056926486548
Date | News Title | Source |
25-March-2025 | How water green credits can fu... | Hindustan Times (Opinion) |
23-February-2025 | Sustainable biz practices disc... | The Times of India (Online) |
21-February-2025 | Sangam fit for bath’, Enviro... | News9 (Online) |
12-February-2025 | A role for India in South-Sout... | The Hindu (Online) |
02-December-2024 | ICAR Findings Show 34% Decline... | ETV Bharat (Online) |
28-October-2024 | German Vice Chancellor Dr. Hab... | Indian Chemical News (Online) |
14-October-2024 | Climate action is the hot new ... | The Print (Online) |
04-October-2024 | Turning carbon into opportunit... | Deccan Herald (Online) |
25-September-2024 | University of Leeds and TERI S... | APN News (Online) |
08-August-2024 | Teaching climate change: Globa... | Careers360 (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!
Plot No. 10, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi - 110 070, India.
Tel. +91 11 71800222 (25 lines).
Website : www.terisas.ac.in
Email id : registrar@terisas.ac.in
© Copyright © 2025, TERI SAS, All rights reserved.
Visitors No.: 26191981 Since 2023