OVERVIEW

Modern civilisation is humanity's finest achievement. It was made possible by scientific progress which enabled us to produce energy and materials in large quantities. The flip side of this roller-coaster ride is that our ways of producing energy threaten to erode the quality of our life and even imperil the future of our civilisation. The future of everything we have accomplished since our intelligence evolved will depend on the wisdom of our actions over the next few years.  From the first chipped stone to the first smelted iron took nearly 3 million years; from the first iron to the hydrogen bomb took 3000 years; but from the first car to global warming took less than 100 years. We can no more afford to allow tipping of the balance between cleverness and recklessness, between need and greed. It is wake-up time!
 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently given the most authentic wake-up call. The three reports (describing the science, impacts, adaptation and mitigation of climate change) of the Fourth Assessment Report released by the IPCC this year, finally lay to rest the debate over who and what is causing climate change and what needs to be done about it. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, primarily from energy use are the leading cause of climate change. Warming is now unequivocal with the average warming at 0.740C over the period 1906–2005, and 11 of the last 12 years being the warmest on record. Severe impacts have been predicted for natural and human environments for a range of possible temperature increases. A radical change in our outlook towards development, particularly production of energy needs to be effected immediately if GHGs are to be stabilised.

To identify causes and search for solutions towards combating the biggest challenge facing India in the 21st century, WISE organised 'Climate Change India 2008' on 22—23 April 2008. The conference was the single, biggest platform for articulating policy and mitigation measures. Issues ranging from impacts of climate change on each sector of the economy, including primary resources, production, infrastructure, to the industrial, financial and social sectors were raised and discussed. Most importantly, the conference covered adaptation and mitigation strategies relevant to India, to ensure sustainable economic development in the 21st century.  

‘Climate Change India 2008’ witnessed the greatest inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral gathering of researchers, academicians, policy makers, industry chieftains, representatives of the renewable energy industry, financial and insurance sector professionals, and social activists. Eminent faculty, each an expert from the field were key speakers and made highly topical presentations through nine extended sessions.  

IPCC authors present at the conference were felicitated at the hands of the Chief Guest, Dr Vandana Shiva, eminent environmentalist and Founder, Navdanya. One of the highlights of the conference was a policy panel discussion featuring V Subramanian, Secretary, MNRE, Govt. of India, and Dr Pramod Deo, Chairman, MERC. Eminent corporate heads also participated in the CEOs forum.