17 Oct :Petroleum Secretary Shri R S Pandey, has urged the oil sector PSUs to promote the message of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to the community at large. Inaugurating a two day seminar on CDM processes and opportunities, organized by Petrotech Society in association with ONGC and IOC, at Gurgaon yesterday, Shri Pandey emphasized on the “ win win situation” associated with the CDM projects.
Citing the instances of drought in Cherapunji and unusual heat wave in Europe, Secretary, MoPNG has informed that climate change is a reality and must be addressed for the community at large. In a precise and lucid manner, he correlated global warming with the process of development, which implies increased usage of energy. “ The world has two major challenges: of equity and climate change” said Shri Pandey,” It is the 70/30 syndrome where 30 percent of population enjoys 70 per cent of energy…. India , for example, though consumes 5% of the global energy, only has 30% per capita energy consumption compared to the global average”. This, affirmed Shri Pandey, is the bane of development and has upset the social balance. “Progress without pollution is the key to sustainable development” said Secretary.
Shri Pandey urged the delegates to propagate the message of CDM to the community at large to reap three benefits. Shri Pandey said, ” You save energy and hence improve bottom line, you save the environment and you earn Carbon credits”.
The two day seminar is being held at IIPM , Gurgaon on October 16-17, 2008. In an impressive but simple inaugural session, Shri K K Gupta, ED, IIPM welcomed the guests. Shri A K Hazarika, Director(Onshore), ONGC and Shri V C Agrawal, Director(HR), IOC were the key note speakers.
Shri Hazarika explained the menace of climate change in his presentation. “ Though the global warming potential of CO2 is much less compared to other Green House Gases, the total CO2 emission accounts for 80 % of the global GHG concentration in the atmosphere” He affirmed that sustainable development is the way to counter the global warming and dwelt on the way to attain that. Shri Hazarika also narrated the success story of ONGC in the area and the remarkable achievements in the areas of CDM project development and M2M activity.
Shri V C Agrawal, in his key note address, talked about the reasons of climate change and the ways to mitigate it. Appreciating the Kyoto protocol as a concept, he expressed the hope that more and more CDM projects be developed in India, especially by oil sector PSUs. Later, Secretary, MoPNG formally released the book containing the presentations of the seminar.
This is the third seminar on CDM that is being held by Petrotech Society in collaboration with ONGC. The seminar is being attended by 81 delegates from various oil sector PSUs.