TOWARDS A RESOURCE RESILIENT INDIA
SECURITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES FOR ALL

THE CRITICAL NEED FOR COHERENCE IN POLICIES AND ACTION

International Convention Hall
BSE Limited, Mumbai
Date: 16th and 17th November 2017

2017 Annual Conference, Highlights of Day 1 - 16 November 2017

Day 1: Focused on understanding resource efficiency and resource resilience in India, while considering availability and accessibility of resources.

Resource Security - Efficiency and Sufficiency by

• Looking at resources through the lens of security, inclusivity, efficiency and sufficiency
• Decoupling economic growth from natural resource use, i.e. increasing socio-economic well-being while decreasing the negative environmental impacts of these actions
• Ensuring economic and social benefits and livelihoods for all along with material resource efficiency.
• Developing the Rural Futures concept for making certain the equitable distribution of resources and by creating livelihood opportunities in the rural areas
• Redefining waste as a leading resource, secondary raw material
• Efficient reuse and recycling of waste products
• Minimising the use of virgin raw materials and looking for alternatives
• Developing a technology change scenario and innovations to support this scenario
• Reducing use of natural resources for household, industries and agriculture to enhance demand side efficiencies through technological, economic and lifestyle choices
• Valuation of marine resources
• Stepping up the positive steps India has taken towards tapping into ocean energy: ocean thermal/ wave/tidal/ wind energy in coastal
• Focussing the long term energy needs of India on non-fossil resources

Possibility for Disruptive Technology: Innovations

• Scarcity acts as a trigger for innovation
• Disruptive technologies to be encouraged such as Factor Five technologies that lead to reduced energy consumption, using 1/5th of the current resource consumption pattern
• Promotion of co-generation technology such as biomass and coal
• Biomass and biogas plants to be up-scaled
• Larger number of decentralised power plants with microgrids



Suggestive Policy Action

• Decision making needs to incorporate effective stakeholder consultations
• Tough action for frugal use of water, recycling and focus on R&D
• Strong strategic approach and actions required across all the sectors and value-chains; decisions to be made based on strategic impact assessment studies
• Parameters to be considered for resource efficiency - cost and time management, quality, safety and sustainability. (This is specific to the construction sector but can applied to all sectors)
• Strategic decision making to avoid locking in resource intensive technologies
• Transitioning towards a shared economy – for example, instead of material intensive electric vehicles encourage use of mass transit systems
• Implementation of the green public procurement policies
• Energy security to be defined as meaningful electricity with quality supply: should be viewed as a service
• Systemic thinking necessary as solar and wind are opportunistic solutions. Thus hybrid solutions of renewable and non-renewables required
• Utility scale of role of private investment is now self-sufficient but policy makers should provide space and opportunity for investment
• Fiscal incentives required as rural markets are relatively slow for investors as RoI is inadequate
• Valuation of ecosystem services and users to be incentivised to encourage conservation
• Policy recommendations for two Technology Missions - PV and Storage
• Policy framework for waste to be considered as secondary resource materials
• Moving from scavenging to preservation, which should start from the individual
• Educating the young on waste management
• Need for limitation on material use - life cycle of products and possibility of secondary use
• Solar panels to be made ensuring end of life recycling and reuse
• Greening the ocean economy; reducing marine pollution



2017 Annual Conference, Highlights of Day 2 - 17 November 2017

Day 2: Focused on market scenario of resource use, sustainable education and transitioning towards a resource efficient economy.

Resource Security: Efficiency and sufficiency

• Natural capital is like a “trust fund” and we are the beneficiaries of these trust funds
• The misunderstanding/ illusion that science can cure all, i.e. science can recover all the damage brought to the natural resources needs to be corrected
• The relation between scarcity and choice is crucial to assess the value of a resource
• Every resource/ material should be looked upon as resource and not waste
• Need for increasing involvement for private sector in achieving the universal sustainability goal
• Private sector need to practice stewardship, adding value to resource efficiency
• The production process of 10 high resource intensive sectors have significant scope of efficiency improvement as they are primarily secondary resource material based



Possibility for Disruptive Technology: Innovations

• Hybrid green composition potential for generating opportunities for new enterprises
• Hybrid material composition to address
• rising waste - generating green products
• jobless growth by creating employment
• Design of product to minimise waste generation



Suggestive Policy Action

• Hybrid products need regulatory support to encourage their utilization. Two broad regulatory requirements includes approval under the BIS standard and a reduced GST rate
• Price volatility can be mitigated, but there is no silver bullet to do so. Different economies and different solutions possible, but difficult to follow through
• The future might demand for an exchange for natural resources like exchange for financial stocks
• Nature is coming back to the balance sheets. For example COKE co. has committed to replenish all the withdrawn water from water table by 2020
• Factor of natural capital is critical for corporate and balance sheet
• Ministry of Environment currently emphasizes on resources and distribution, however, it should emphasize on "sources of resources"
• Rather than pricing resources, there is a need to price – where will you keep the waste
• Rent or royalty to be paid for units of extraction- accumulated funds for investing in renewable
• Transition therefore has to be carefully planned with firm back up supply from large point sources of coal, hydro power to green energy to avoid both fluctuations in the grid and failure of power supply
• Promote the scope for CSR opportunities in waste management
• Need to look at the inclusive development, rather than growth
• Societal sustainability should be the focus, rather than business sustainability
• Reimaging indicators of growth- GDP to SDG
• Corporate and Academic- Responsiveness through sustainability education
• Waste can be addressed by recognizing its usefulness; characteristics; strengths and positives
• Good practices should be replicated and up-scaled in other parts of geography
• Resource efficiency to be part of the curriculum will need to be pushed as a single point agenda through a policy directive
• Education to acknowledge systems thinking processes that think of solutions which are disruptive not just incremental
• Systems dynamic thinking should be incorporated from KG to PG
• Design solutions to include participation of multiple stakeholders
• Urban local bodies to employ environmental engineers
• Green dimension to be in all aspects of governance frameworks for ULBs.
• Working for the environment reflex a hunger for knowledge and a desire to make a difference
• National level inventorization of resources used in the country across sectors and value-chains
• Need multi-level governance that includes partnerships among product design (Design for the Environment), manufacturing and capacity building
• Need for creation of a market for secondary raw materials
• Collaboration with informal sector is important
• Undertake integrated initiatives for acknowledgement of different scheme
• Encourage industrial symbiosis: optimising water and energy use and reuse between companies in industrial production and using secondary resource in industries.
• Resource mapping and innovators workshop should be encouraged
• The government should initiate long term strategic planning and investment in consultation and coordination with private sector
• India needs to develop technology ecosystem across the energy sector
• Simplify approvals and frame policies for promoting research in energy technologies
• Policymakers need to work with companies and technology vendors to establish common data standards for smart meters and smart grid devices
• Encourage poly-silicon manufacturing capability to reduce dependence on imported solar panels
• Commercial mechanisms for purchase of renewable power and financing of energy storage
• Create energy technology ecosystems
• Both economy and ecological footprint should be a measure for performance of companies