Industries cannot go on openly disregarding repercussions to the environment, they say.
By Niket Nishant
Hungry and deprived beings, squeezed in among concrete giants and groveling in filth, with no clean air to breathe.
This could soon be the fate of the human race, if engineering, architecture and designing continue to be done with little consideration for the environment, experts said at the annual symposium of the Contract and Commercial Design (CCD), a platform for architects and designers across the country.
Mr. Prashant Dhavan, a graduate from the Indian School of Business and co-founder of “Biomimicry India”, said, “The need of the hour is to make industries conducive not only to humans, but also to the environment. Human-centric approach to industrialization will not work in these times.”
“The cement industry, for instance, is one of the largest carbon-emitting industries. And it has had this tag for a long time. Using renewable resources in the manufacturing of cement can be a great start towards the shift to clean energy,” he added.
A 2018 report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that cement makers emit 7 per cent of the global carbon emissions. Another IEA report says that the industry is the third largest industrial energy consumer, most of which comes from coal.
Other efforts — like recycling of industrial waste and proper disposal of non-biodegradable waste— were highlighted at the event. The need to achieve the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting the annual increase in global temperature to 2 degree Celsius by the year 2100 was emphasized.
Mr. Sarabjit Singh, member of the organizing team of CCD, said, “The idea behind such conferences is to stress the urgency of climate change, and send out the message that the corporates are not indifferent to this.”
Giants in the designing industry, like Bristol, HN1 and Aquaspecial attended the event.
In 2018, India emitted 2,299 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), a 4.8 per cent rise from last year, a report by the IEA showed. India is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, according to a report from Carbon Brief.
