'We need energy management in our homes'

Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, Director-General of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) is an influential voice in the areas of energy, environment and conservation of natural resources in India and has been a consultant with government departments, institutions, and organisations.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2001 for his contribution to the field of environment. He was elected the Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in April 2002. He spoke to Sayandeb Chowdhury on the IPCC report that has triggered a global debate on the need to address issues of climate change with the utmost urgency and resolve.

What are the crisis points with the planet?

First, the warming of the earth: average temperatures are going up and this is likely to result in more frequent and severe heat waves. Then, the rainfall patterns will change, with an impact on availability of water resources. Thirdly, the threat to living species cannot be overestimated. Global warming just means uniform warming of the earth. But what triggers this global warming also produces all kinds of other impacts. It alters temperature, precipitation patterns, causes melting of ice, dips in temperature. It happens because we are interfering with nature’s long established process of climate control and management. 

Can the situation be mended?

We must first clear our perceptions about the kind of adaptation measures we can undertake to counter the various impacts of climate change and ensure that we can minimise negative effects. But there are some areas where we need to turn immediately, like management of water resources. An enormous amount of water is wasted in every sector of the economy, just agriculture alone consumes more than 80 per cent of water used. We also need to move away from fossil fuels and start investing heavily in public transport. Also, we need better energy management in our homes, proper usage of energy-efficient appliances, better-designed buildings.

How do you plan to influence policy-making and involve the corporate sector and the public?

It must be a combination of all of these. We need a policy framework which encourages eco-friendliness, provides incentives, disincentives, regulations, new building codes. Most of our architects and builders are ignorant and negligent of new knowledge in minimising energy wastage. We have to educate them. We also need to create public awareness.

Corporates must take the lead, since they have resources and technology, but the demand must come from the public.

Do we have the technology and the mindset to grow without harming nature at the scale we are doing now? 

Oh yes, there are enough options. For example, our public transport system is a mess. We unjustly rely on greater ownership of private vehicles. It’s stupid. You can’t have the middle and richer classes get all the fruits of development while poorer people are continuously pushed away. And this is going to create on a wider scale a society divided into ultra-chic gated colonies and hellish ghettos. I am not saying you can bring a radical difference overnight. But we can at least think of radical deviation. 

Has the Indian political establishment been cooperative?

I do see some signs of change in the government. But how it gets translated into action is yet to be seen. There is resistance too. One kind of resistance comes from ignorance. The second, from vested interests. But that’s human nature. I believe that in the end people will be convinced that something needs to be done now. Our reports are based on solid science, and the preparation, scrutiny and review they undergo ensures that every government has ownership of it.

Developing countries feel that rich countries used up natural resources and created the mess and now want other countries to apply restraint.

It’s a valid point of view; developing countries can’t take actions that forego the opportunity of development as it will in some sense shackle them. But there are various models of development. One doesn’t necessarily have to follow the model of the developed countries. We have to look for a way that allows growth without damaging the environment. And let’s face it; the resources are getting scarce anyway. Where is more oil going to come from and who is going to pay for it?

What is the Working Group III report, to be tabled next week, going to say? What other role does IPCC have?

It details the mitigation options — which is an essential part of the whole debate. The IPCC is an independent, intergovernmental panel, an autonomous body which will also seek to disseminate information on climate change. The UN has set up a convention which will work towards taking meaningful action, as was the case with the Kyoto protocol.

Are you hopeful?

We better be hopeful. It would be very irresponsible on our part not to take the findings of science seriously. In fact, none of what we are saying is a bolt from the blue. Scientists have been speaking about the negative effects of civilization on climate since the nineteenth century. We cannot sit idle anymore.