‘Climate change’ is a problem that has been raising concerns globally for quite some time and its solution remains in the term itself – ‘Change’ – which should start from an individual level. It entails making changes in the way we carry on with our daily lives – the way we spend, the way use resources at all places, the way we travel, the way we do business, etc. – with an aggressive aim to reach the zero target for emissions, landfills, water wastage and pollution, and so on. Mitigating climate change through decarbonisation is no longer a choice. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report estimates that the world will probably reach or exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming within just the next two decades. The United Nations Human Rights Council on 8 October unanimously voted, for the first time, for recognising a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a universal right. While the fight must be sustained uniformly around the world, each step counts in the long march. In 2020, the world learned a hard lesson: We don’t know what is immediately around the corner, even when we think we are fully prepared for the moment. Hence, a people-centric sustainable approach is critical to ensure risk mitigation. Corporates, organisations, think-tanks, and governing bodies must join the effort to craft measures that promote sustainable and equitable growth for a resilient society, which will only be possible through a re-adjustment of strategies. Role of Technology - Green Tech Innovations for Sustainable Growth Innovative use of emerging technologies can be a game-changer in protecting the environment. Organisations can deliver intelligent solutions using 5G, which can enable remote monitoring of energy sites, distribution of energy within a smart-grid, automation of distribution etc. Emerging technologies such as blockchain can help deliver supply chain transparency and paperless transactions for businesses across industries and government. The use of GPUs (Graphical processing units) to boost AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithm training consumes a lot of energy. The shift to quantum computing can address this as the computation using a quantum computer consumes less power. In addition to the game-changing use of emerging technologies in building a sustainable world of tomorrow, I believe in the power of the 4R mantra – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover – in restoring the world of yesterday. There is a lot that we can learn from countries such as Sweden in this regard. For instance, Swedes recycle about 84 per cent of their used plastic drink bottles and aluminium cans. Everyone who buys a plastic bottle or can has to pay a minor deposit, a deposit the consumers get back when they recycle the empty bottles and cans.
