GAIL takes lead in developing Indian corporate vision on tackling climate change

CORPORATE

by Shrutee K/DNS

New Delhi, November 5, 2015: GAIL (India) Limited, the country’s premier natural gas company, has partnered with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a leading energy and sustainability think tank, to develop a document which outlines the Indian corporate vision on various aspects of tackling climate change and aligning the vision with Government schemes in this direction.

The draft of the document titled “Delhi to Paris: Corporate Vision on Climate Change” was presented during the National Seminar for Corporate Vision on Climate Change organized here by TERI-CBS (Council for Business Sustainability). The final document will be launched at India Pavilion of Conference of Parties (COP) 21 to be held in Paris later this month. It will be attended by Heads of States and Governments across the globe including Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

For the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, the COP21 Climate Summit conference will aim to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate to keep global warming below 2^oC.

As a responsible corporate citizen, GAIL acted as Chapter lead for ‘Improving Efficiency of Energy Use’ and provided inputs towards preparation and participated in meetings, webinars and consultations.

In a special address during the seminar, Hon'ble Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu said, “While the government provides air cover, corporates are the foot soldiers with their ideas and technologies towards mitigation and adaptation to the new reality of climate change.” Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Prakash Javadekar hailed the convergence of all corporates and called the abridged version of the vision document the ‘Corporate Environment Responsibility Document.’

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ashutosh Karnatak, Director (Projects) & Chairman of Sustainable Development Committee of GAIL, shared various initiatives in the area by the company and how natural gas as one of the cleaner fossil fuels has been instrumental in achieving better energy efficiencies for industry.

He also mentioned that going forward, GAIL would like to play a leading role in collaborating with other Oil & Gas industry players for making a positive impact of the sector in respect of sustainability and climate change. As Chapter lead, GAIL propagated that natural gas, an environmentally benign alternative fuel, can act as a bridge fuel as India gears up for the transition from polluting coal and oil to renewables.