The Hindu Business Line : ‘Environment policy in draft form for too long’

Chennai, Dec. 21 The Government of India needs to set national goals for emission reduction norms and environment standards for sustainable development, according to Mr R. Seshasayee, immediate past president, Confederation of Indian Industry.

In the context of international negotiations on emission reduction and tackling climate change, CII’s position was in line with that of the Government, he said.

There is ‘little divergence’ between the industry and Government on the stance that the polluter pays, developed countries should share in cleaning the environment, and while India adopts an environmentally responsible development path it cannot take a disproportionate share in bringing down emissions.

But there is a ‘subtle difference’ in views between India and CII, on the domestic front. CII believes that India should set national goals for emission reduction and environmentally sustainable norms. The environment policy has been in draft form for too long and the industry would like to see it come out fast, he said.

Clean tech

A national mission on developing clean technologies and implementation of the draft environment policy are immediate needs for encouraging sustainable technologies. At the rate at which India is growing, its resources would be overexploited if not used responsibly. Large companies were not investing enough in areas such as a water treatment, he said.

Mr Seshasayee, who is the Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Ltd, addressing members of the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Thursday, said clean technologies are in the possession of the developed world and developing countries and companies should be able to access those technologies. The solution is not in trying to buy the technology cheap through subsidies as somebody at the other end has developed it at a cost.

Governments in developing countries need to come together to create a fund to buy clean technology, he said.

He said that it was unfortunate that the recent conference on climate change at Bali had not managed to give a definite form to the international fund to support developing countries buy clean technologies. However, there were other avenues like the Asia Pacific Forum which enables access to such clean technologies.

“Indian industry needs to be master of the technology or at least access such technologies,” he said.

Catering to the ‘world hunger for clean technologies’ would be the next big opportunity for industry. Environment friendly technologies will in the coming years be a big mover of economies. Developing clean technologies will be a big opportunity for the industry, Mr Seshasayee said.