Workshop organised by PAC, IFMR and Shakti Foundation
Workshop on "Climate Change Mitigation: Financing Low Carbon Growth at the State Level" Date: January 22, 2014
Venue: Bangalore
Shrimoyee Bhattacharya, Senior Research Engineer with CSTEP attended a round-table discussion on "Climate Change Mitigation: Financing Low Carbon Growth at the State Level" on January 22, 2014, held at the Hotel Capitol, Bangalore. The round table was organised by Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bangalore, in partnership with IFMR (Institute of Financial Management and Research) and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. The agenda was to discuss Climate Change Mitigation with a focus on financing low carbon growth at the state level. The panellists from PAC and IFMR shared their knowledge and experience on the chosen subject, especially on the generic financing tools available for funding climate change mitigation initiatives and low carbon growth. A brief pros and cons of the tools from experience of applying them in the Indian context was also discussed to set the context for further discussion. The following session started with a presentation from IIHS (Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore) relating city planning, development and management process with climate change mitigation measures, essentially highlighting the gap in institutional capacity and processes as implementation bottlenecks. The Director General of EMPRI (Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute) shared a summary of the Karnataka State Action Plan on Climate Change (SPACC) as mandated by the National Climate Change Action Plan. IFMR shared case studies of the utilisation of various financing tools so far attempted in various Indian states and their respective success and failure. PAC further shared the status of low carbon growth potential and initiatives so far in Karnataka, implementation status and prevailing issues. In the concluding session it emerged that along with a lack of comprehensive measures, focussed programmes, suitable deign of financing tools and coordination between Government agencies; public awareness and individual citizen responsibility is a major hindrance in achieving low carbon growth targets. The idea of a penalty mechanism primarily as a discouragement tool rather than a revenue source was specifically stressed upon. Representative from KREDL (Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited) shared the current status and issues in implementing Green Cess/ Tariff in Karnataka. The need for tangible value addition from the academia and knowledge societies was mentioned in terms of identifying specific issues and suggesting solutions essentially with identification of implementation agencies and coordination needs. The discussion concluded with an interesting interactive session where participants highlighted the need for prevention and adaptation, along with mitigation measures to effectively achieve success in this front.
