IIM Calcutta’s CDEP launches a new initiative - BRIDGE
In April 2022, IIM Calcutta’s Centre for Development and Environment Policy (CDEP) launched a new initiative - Building Roadmaps for Industrial Decarbonisation and Green Economy (BRIDGE). Broadly, BRIDGE has three interrelated objectives: first, contribute to the creation of knowledge and knowledge bases on how to accomplish an effective and just carbon transition; second, build awareness and train executives of public and private energy firms in evolving best practices on transition in India and other developing nations; and third, build awareness and expertise among postgraduate students and encourage doctoral research on low carbon transition finance and strategy. The first training programme under the BRIDGE Initiative was conducted for NTPC in April 2022. Subsequent editions of the training programme have been planned for NTPC, Coal India, and ONGC.
Working towards the objective of creating knowledge bases on pathways of transitioning towards the goal of net zero emissions for the industry in India and developing countries, an annual report has been published. While the findings of the annual reports will have a clear policy orientation, their primary objective is to help formulate a research agenda for developing pathways towards the transition to low carbon for industry and creating knowledge support systems to enable the transition. This initiative aspires to be a one-stop-shop for anyone looking for extant and evolving knowledge, both in terms of theory and its applications, related to the transition to low carbon emission for the industry in India. This could help towards providing pointers for other countries in the global south while learning from them at the same time.
For the year 2022-23, the theme of the report is ‘Transitioning away from Coal for Energy generation’. To initiate the task of formulating the first report, a two-day roundtable discussion was held at IIM Calcutta campus in Joka on May 16th and 17th 2022. More than 30 contributing researchers and policy practitioners representing 20 organizations involved in the entire spectrum of decarbonisation activities participated in this event. The slated date for the launch of the first Annual Report is March 2023.
While inaugurating the roundtable, Professor Uttam Sarkar, Director, IIM Calcutta, pointed out that climate change was one of the most severe challenges facing humanity today and that this was IIM Calcutta’s small contribution to the process of decarbonisation. While closing the roundtable, the Convenor of CDEP, Professor Runa Sarkar, remarked that both the breadth and the depth of the contributions were amazing, as was the passion with which arguments and ideas were put forward. This she said, augured very well for the planned report.
The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and the Stitching SED Fund are CDEP’s partners in the BRIDGE initiative.