Strengthening Equity and Governance to Converge Climate Action and Sustainable Development
Delhi:Climate Trends and Arthan are organizing a series of online forums to talk about “an intersectional approach to climate action”. The series aims to mainstream discussions about climate change with the wider social sector and work with them to find common solutions that address India’s socio-political and governance issues, and contribute to climate action.
Join us for the upcoming forum on September 9th, 2021, from 2.20 – 5.30 PM on “Strengthening Equity and Governance to Converge Climate Action and Sustainable Development”. It will discuss how climate action and sustainable development are two sides of the same coin, and a common solution towards both is addressing social, political, and cultural inequities in India, by strengthening inclusive governance.
The sessions include a panel discussion on Understanding Regulatory, Legal and Political Barriers to a Clean Energy Transition. This will highlight some important aspects of transforming energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables in the face of regulatory, legal barriers. The panel discussion on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Opportunities for Climate Action will throw light on how the energy transition in India can provide economic opportunities and better involve women, thereby converging women empowerment and climate action. The Panel Discussion on Creating Effective Institutions for Lasting Change will raise important points like how strong climate action will need high-impact institutions. Given the cross-cutting nature of climate impacts, performance can only happen if there is a strong institutional framework that is able to bring finance where needed, commit to climate-smart objectives and measure action and bring accountability and transparency.
Link to Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pYxBRatNSBaU0Mgq8Z4iXA
The forum will see participation from organisations like Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE); World Resources Institute India; Prayas (Energy Group), JustJobsNetwork; auctusESG LLP; Climate Bonds Initiative, UK; EMpower, IDH-The Sustainable Trade Initiative, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW); and Centre for Policy Research (CPR).
Please see below for more details:
Speakers: Jasmer Dhingra (IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative), Vaibhav Chaturvedi (CEEW), Aditya Valiathan Pillai (Centre for Policy Research), Sabina Dewan (JustJobs Network), Namita Vikas (auctusESGLLP and Climate Bonds Initiative), Nisha Dhawan (EMpower), Bharath Jairaj (World Resources Institute India), Ashok Sreenivas (Prayas-Energy Group) and Ritwick Dutta (LIFE)
Agenda:
2:20-2:30 PM- Introduction
2:30-3:30 PM- Understanding Regulatory, Legal, and Political Barriers to a Clean Energy Transition
3:30-4:30 PM- Women’s Economic Empowerment and Opportunities for Climate Action
4:30-5:30 PM- Creating Effective Institutions for Lasting Change
Rationale for the forum: For over three decades, countries across the world have been discussing pathways to achieve sustainable development and address the global threat of climate change. These two issues are intimately intertwined – while the brunt of climate change will be felt heaviest by the least developed societies, sidelining sustainability carries the risk of making climate change and its many impacts much worse. By nature, the impacts of climate change fall on fundamental economic activities like energy, transport, agriculture, business, and industry. Studies show that temperatures alone will jeopardize India’s economic development by impacting agricultural productivity, public health, labor productivity and causing sea-level rise. Therefore, understanding the linkages between climate change and development, and finding convergent solutions towards both is now a critical requirement, especially as climate impacts become more severe and unavoidable.
Climate change affects populations unevenly, with the vulnerable and marginalized at the greatest risk depending on their socioeconomic status. Inclusive governance practices, inclusive policymaking, increased transparency, and accountability lie at the heart of effective climate action.
Inequality features in most social, political, and governance structures prevalent in India. Our development agenda rests on top of existing deep and rigid social divisions across the country. Post-independent India’s developmental path has, to some extent, served in reinforcing these divisions as is evident in the disparities in health, education, and employment (particularly in highly industrialized sectors). The result has been a gross concentration of wealth, and lopsided distribution of risks, including those from climate change. According to a report by Oxfam, India is the second most unequal country in the world, where the country’s wealthiest 10% now holds more than 77% of the national wealth. In just one year, India slipped 28 places to rank 140th among 156 countries in WEF’s Global Gender Gap report 2021. Despite this, India ranks among the bottom 11 countries, out of 157 countries, on its commitment to reduce inequalities.
Climate Trends is a strategic communications initiative building a narrative in India around climate ambition and low carbon development pathways, based on data-driven and fact-based analysis. Their focus is on building an understanding of the public and media on themes of climate change and energy transition.
Arthan is an organisation dedicated to strengthening the social sector in India through capacity building and consulting support in the areas of human capital, strategy, fundraising, and partnerships to name a few. Arthan believes in strengthening the social impact ecosystem by creating opportunities for building thought leadership through Arthan Social Forum, by bringing together diverse stakeholders, experts, and practitioners to build dialogue, accelerate solutions and inspire systemic collective action to address the myriad development challenges we face.
