The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, India and British Deputy High Commission, Kolkata organized “Net Zero Pathway for States and Businesses” on Monday, 20th March 2023 at Hyatt Regency Kolkata.

The programme was part of a larger initiative where Strategy for Net Zero Pathway for businesses and states were discussed followed by sharing best practices and a comprehensive roadmap.

A high−level delegation from the United Kingdom also visited Kolkata to exchange knowledge on clean technologies, policies and sectoral skill development. The event was attended by senior policymakers and businesses from across India. The event witnessed a panel discussion on various topics like, Net Zero Target for India by 2070; Exploring local livelihoods and good landscape practices through artist/researcher collaborations with communities in the Sundarbans Delta; Corporate Case Studies on Roadmap to Net Zero in India and Electric Vehicle (EV) were discussed.

India submitted its Long−Term Low Emission Development Strategy to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), during the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27), setting out a broad framework for meeting Net Zero goal by 2070. During the Summit few of India’s biggest companies have declared net−zero targets and many companies have also pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. States and cities are adopting clean growth strategy to move towards the Net Zero target. The event was part of a larger initiative to come up with a Strategy for Net Zero Pathway for businesses and states sharing best practices and by coming up with a comprehensive Roadmap on the way forward.

The UK Delegation included representatives from Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies (Cenex) UK, Connected Places Catapult, Motability, NPTC Wales, KPMG UK and Newcastle University.

Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, Managing Director, Cenergist Energy Private Limited and Past President, The Bengal Chamber; Mr. Peter Cook, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner to East and Northeast India; Sri S. Suresh Kumar, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Power, Government of West Bengal were present. Dr. Ashok Kumar Ghosh, Chairman, Bihar State Pollution Control Board; joined virtually with Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Head, Centre for Sustainability, Mahindra University. Other speakers present were Shri Kaliyamurthi Balamurugan, IFS, Chief Environment Officer, Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal, Mr. Surajit Majumdar, Senior General Manager and EA to MD & CEO II CORPORATE, Exide Industries Limited, Mr. Sourav Daspatnaik, Managing Director, Swach Environment Pvt Ltd, Shri Pankaj Kumar Gupta, General Manager in Engineering Division, NTPC.

The UK case studies were presented by Dr. Sagar Mody, Technical Consultant, Infrastructure Strategy, Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies (Cenex), Dr. Niki Black, Senior Research Associate, School of Architecture, Landscape and Planning, Newcastle University, UK and Professor Maggie Roe, Professor of Landscape and Co−Director of the Centre for Landscape, Newcastle University, UK.