Reflections from Two Conferences: Voices are getting louder

Last week, I was looking at the graph showing my monthly carbon foot-prints. It showed spikes for the previous two months. I was not surprise because the increase was mainly on account of my air travel for two conferences: one in Bangkok and the other in Antwerp. As of now, the only fast travel option available is by air. But I hope to travel to these places by high-speed rail in my life time! What has fueled my hope is the insight that I got during one of the conferenes. International Union of Railways (UIC) is going to launch “Train to Paris” campaign in view of Conference of Parties (COP) 21 negotiations on Climate Change scheduled to take place in Paris later next year. The campaign would focus on “Avoid – Shift - Improve” strategies to reduce emission from the transport sector and rail is ready to take its responsibility as the backbone of sustainability mobility. I am sure global climate change leaders travelling to Paris would realize the need to develop smart transport network across the globe, where the sustainability advantageous of each mode is exploited.

In May, I was in Bangkok, Thailand for 11^th Asia-pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production and then in June in Antwerp, Belgium for International Union of Railways (UIC) 5^th Energy Efficiency Conference. Besides building new relationships, exchanging experiences etc., the insight that I got after these two conferences is voices of common citizen for sustainable actions are getting louder, at least in Europe. I am sure, it would be difficult for political leadership in such countries to ignore these voices and postpone action to some future date. I, however, don’t have the same confidence for countries in the Asia-Pacific. Political leaderships in these countries are still debating on how much weightage should be assigned to sustainability and most are settling for softer options like doing some adhoc projects with financial support from international partners. Sustainability for them is not something that came on governance radar organically after citizen discourse and churning of ideas. I think, what is at the core of differences in these two parts of world is citizen awareness about environmental and social sustainability. I feel, we should not ignore the crucial role that public opinion plays in forming policy decisions of a State. Organizations engaged in kick-starting sustainability projects in Asia-Pacific should start to devote a larger part of their energy to bridge the gap in awareness level for meaningful actions on long-term environmental sustainability.

In Bangkok, focus was on ways to decouple economic growth in the region from resource consumptions and why this is important for the region when it’s spending is expected to reach $32 trillion by 2030. In fact, one of speaker even made a case for making Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) the core of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which would come into play from 2015 onwards. While there have been quite impressive works on SCP in these region especially in Big4 i.e. Japan, South Korea, China & Australia, much needs to be done at other places. I would say ASEAN countries have picked up fast and are now committed to a common policy on SCP. It is the South Asian countries that are still holding back. Most of them are waiting for some kind of dole out that will incentivize them to integrate SCP dimensions in policy decision. I am sure this approach would not yield the desired result. Dr. Arab Hoballah, Chief, SCP Branch, DTIE, UNEP, hit the nail bang on the head, in my opinion, when he observed that future spread of SCP in the region would depend on whether we can make SCP a business case. Many business leaders have already lapped up this opportunity. One of the most shining examples is, and I think I have mentioned this before, Unilever’s Sustainable Living Planet, which combines corporate and sustainability strategy and is based on the business case for sustainability. I would say, making such transformations is easier for MNC having global pool of talents. The real challenge lies in making this commonplace among SMEs, which are at the bottom of business pyramids.

In Antwerp, as the name of the conference suggests, focus was on energy efficiency to secure environmental sustainability. Over the years, energy efficiency has emerged from its earlier avatar of a research topic in universities and research institutes, and has become manifest in public opinion. Though it’s not a secret, few people realize that rail transport is one of the most energy efficient mobility options till date, its share in global GHG emission being less than 1%. The tragedy for mankind, as one speaker noted, is that while globally, paved roads grew in length by 32%, railway lines decreased by 3% during 2000–2010! Where is the coherence in thought and action? The real challenge for reducing GHG from transport sector is to realize modal shift from road/air to rail. The next challenge would be to retain rail environmental leadership by continuously innovating sustainable solutions. The Chairman of UIC was quite emphatic that energy efficiency is the foundation of the rail sector’s environmental leadership. He emphasized on the need for a global target shift in response to the call from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to set ambitious goals for reducing carbon emission. What excites me is that this is completely doable provided we develop effective partnership with all stakeholders. UIC is already on the job and is coordinating a research program called Shift2Rail. Way to go!

Back home, got the opportunity to attend the UN Public Lecture on “Climate Change and Sustainable Energy for All” delivered by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Chairman, IPCC. His message for stakeholders was simple. If we want to avoid the tipping point for climate change, we need to act now! This pretty much sums up the discussions during these conferences. I urge readers of this blog, leaders in their own field, to take this opportunity to inspire, engage and equip people surrounding you to achieve a sustainability-abundant future.