Dr. Pachauri speaks

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In July I attended a seminar where Dr. R. K. Pachauri spoke about Climate Change. It was a real wonderful honour to meet him!
 

photo by/credit: Anne McDonough 

At a time when everyone is talking about Environment, Health, Safety, Climate Change, Responsible Care, Energy Crisis, Economic Meltdown, Sustainability, etc, at a recent sustainability seminar here in DCthat I attended had a talk by Dr.R.K.Pachauri on “Status of Global Climatic Change Negotiations".

The audience included CEOs of MNCs, members of the US Department of State, non-profit/NGOs, members of the Congress and media. His talk could not have come at a better time with the US Congress debating the Climate Bill, the just completed G8 summit, the G20 and the Copenhagen meet coming up, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's India visit!

Honours sit lightly on Dr Pachauri who is the co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace. He also serves as the Director-General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, India and has recently been appointed to lead the newly established Yale Climate and Energy Institute. A scientist first, he radiates great humility and has the patience to hear out diverse opinions and the capacity to listen without throwing judgements - qualities which make him the ideal candidate for being the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change.

His talk was insightful, the questions from the audience interesting, and his response even more informative that the two hours just wasn't enough to cover the many topics and ideas people had.

Summary/Highlights of Dr Pachauri’s speech:

• When asked if he is frustrated at the slow progress in Climate Change talks, his response was that of optimism and hope. He pointed out the increase in public awareness of the subject compared to 3 years ago, causing a greater stir amongst world leaders to take action. He was disappointed however that at the recent G8 talks, although everyone agreed to cutting emissions, no one discussed on how to accomplish it.
• He emphasized that the US must lead the way in combating the impact of climate change through joint partnerships with developing countries and better exchange of technologies. Every country has the option to mitigate and/or adapt to the impact of Climate Change. Countries in Africa for example, are often not the source of the problem and therefore mitigation is not an option but have to find ways to adapt. This is in complete contrast to countries like the US, Europe, China and India, which have to do both. According to Pachauri, it is in every country’s vested interest to address the issues of Climate Change.
• Addressing the issue doesn’t imply that one must forego the technological advances that have allowed for conveniences and improve lives. Simultaneously people must find ways to reduce our environmental footprint, for example in the US, better use of rail system instead of flying, which would reduce the environmental footprint.
• Recently, when Hillary Clinton was in India, the Environment Minister vehemently opposed any talk of India needing to cut down emissions. Dr. Pachauri had four points to make:

1. The Environment Minister's comment is part of the negotiation process. Every country has to take a stance and this is what he has done. That's the political/diplomatic aspect of the negotiations. It doesn't mean that India is not taking any mitigating actions.
2. However, the West must realize, instead of looking at overall statistics, they must look at the realities of energy usage by India and the US. Energy usage in India is growing no doubt exponentially. But it's still very small compared to the usage of an American. And therefore it's unfair and unreasonable to expect the same cuts in gases for countries that are so different.
3. In addition, the developed nations have gone through the phases of pollution-creating technologies and slowly changing to better/cleaner technologies over a period of several decades. Many of the emerging markets have jumped that time slot and are already using products/technologies that are meeting the current EU standards of quality, for example.

However, this does not work in area of meeting electricity needs in India for example. Using new technologies have high costs and the government is under pressure to keep up with the demands of usage. There is an idea of placing a solar power plant in Rajasthan and diverting the electricity to various locations, leading to cheap electricity over the long run but huge initial capital is needed. Therefore, Pachauri suggests better financing systems should be in place for these types of projects.

4. In Climate Change negotiations, Pachauri clarified, the main issue is who is responsible for the stock and flow of carbon emissions. US along with other developed nations must take up responsibility for the stock that is already there before mitigating the flow comes into the picture. Reasons go back to the above points mentioned.

• Issue of water will become a global problem. In Asia, this is a very sensitive subject and no dialogues are taking place. For example, China is intending to divert water from Tibet. This will affect the flow of the Brahmaputra river that flows through South Asia. Open discussions between countries, especially in Asia must begin to address the numerous issues facing them.
• When asked about the 5 year gap of reports released by IPCC compared to other studies that are done on an annual or biannual basis, Dr. Pachauri cautioned not to jump to conclusions over every new piece of evidence that comes into place. Fluctuations in temperature are normal for earth to go through. Looking at temperature changes in the span of 1-2 years should not be the reason for drastic changes. This is the reason IPCC looks at 5 year gaps.
• Someone in the audience commented on C.K. Prahalad's book, "Bottom of the Pyramid" and how this concept can be taken into addressing Climate Change impact. Pachauri responded by saying that if a business is to look at the situation and is able to find a product to address the issue, it is a competitive advantage for them. One of the areas that is often ignored however, is agricultural revolution, starting with irrigation technology, as access to water is going to become a bigger challenge, especially in the Southern hemisphere.
• Another big shift he has seen in energy consumption is the shift in eating habits - a huge shift globally towards animal protein. He compared his visit to a province in China in the late 60s and his recent visit. How, at that time meals at home consisted of rice, vegetables - mostly greens and maybe once a week or so some meat. However, in his recent visit the very family was consuming still rice, greens and meat on a daily basis. If there is one thing everyone can do for the environment, "people must consume less meat. It takes up so much of natural resources to sustain the industry." Due to his work recently, a town in Belgium has started vegetarian-day once a week.