Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Leading Personalities to address Bengal Chamber’s Environment and Energy Conclave

Kolkata, 19th August 2009: The Energy and Environment conclave being organized by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry on 28th and 29th August 2009 will have speakers who are the veritable “who’s who” of the environment and the energy spheres- from the worlds of policy, fundamental and applied research, technology and business. The theme of the Conclave is , ‘Solution for Building Competive Advantage’.Shri Shyam Saran, Prime Minister’s special Envoy on Climate Change; Dr.Bikash Sinha, renowned scientist and Former Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre and Mr. Sanjay Mark Wadvani, Deputy High Commissioner of UK in Kolkata will address the inaugural session.Dr. R.K pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernment Panel on climate Change and Director general, TERI will be making a video will be making a video address.

As part of the technical sessions, there would be an Industry Academia dialogue, a CEO’s Roundtable and a Talk Show on the future energy options and whether these would actually increase competitiveness and reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. Some of the speakers who would be addressing the Conclave are Shri M.K De, IAS, Chairman & Managing Director, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd; Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute (and former Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India) and Shri S P Gon Chaudhuri, Managing Director, West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited.

The CEO’s Roundtable would feature, Mr. Aloke Mookherjea, Chairman, Flakt (India) Limited, Hon. Consul, Sweden & Past President, BCCI; Mr. M. S Unnikrishnan, Managing Director, Thermax limited and Mr. Amitabha Mukhopadhyay, President & Chief Financial Officer, Tata Auto Comp Systems Limited.

They apart, some of the other speakers include Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Secretary, Bureau of Energy Efficiency; Prof. S.S Chakraborty, Chairman- cum – Managing Director, Consulting Engineering Services (India) Private Limited; Dr. G.D Gautama, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Power and Non – Conventional Energy Sources, Government of West Bengal and Dr. R.R Sonde, Executive Vice President – Innovation and Technology, Thermax Limited.

There would also be speakers from Canada (presenting on fuel cell technology) and Germany (speaking on energy management by radio). There are many other topics and senior speakers who shall be addressing the Conclave.

The focus of this Conclave is to create a forum for the best minds in environment and energy to meet and brainstorm on issues that are critical for industrial production and sustenance of business and the economy. Through such deliberations we endeavor to create awareness on global environmental issues, discuss the importance of energy conservation and increasing process efficiency as well as minimizing the climatic impact of industrial operations while not deviating from the profit motive. 

Indeed, the Conclave is a most necessary event for industry, Government and academia in the context of the present realities. The world is in the throes of a recession never before seen since the Great Depression of 1929. To matters worse, the threat of climate change is very real and its impact would be most severely felt right here in Kolkata, one of the world’s most vulnerable regions. In every crisis there lies an opportunity and the-present day environmental threat too is giving rise to technologies, practices and innovations, which, if applied appropriately, can have an immense impact on increasing the competitive advantage of firms. This year, the event has been designed such that delegates would have the greatest takeaways in the areas of environmental/energy management, which would also benefit business operations and organizational strategy in the context of environmental threats and compulsions. Simultaneously, we would also be discussing Climate Change, which will be the most dominating issue in future and threaten the very existence of our children and future generations, unless we do something about it now.

The Conclave would enable participants to brainstorm together and learn from thought leaders how to harness the new opportunities, stay away from the ecological threats and build capabilities within the organization to create competitive advantages.



No comments: