The 14th Edition of the Chamber's Annual Environment and Energy Conclave was held on 26thand 27thAugust 2021. The theme of this year is ‘Journey Towards Net Zero: At The Threshold of COP26’.

Two Sessions were held phygitally and rest were virtually over the two days.

With the 14th Edition, the Chamber endeavours to curate a Movement for Sustainability and Journey towards Net Zero at the levels of policy, business, society and individual.  UK, USA and Australia were Partners this year.

Shri S. Suresh Kumar, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Power, Government of West Bengal graced the Conclave in Round Table on Policies for green agenda online. Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri, Honorary Distinguished Fellow, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), Ms. Rowan Ainsworth, Consul General, Australian Consulate General, Kolkata and Dr. Gianluca Rubagotti, Consul General, Consulate General of Italy were present in person at the Chamber. 

The Inaugural Session was moderated by Mr. Gautam Ray, Chairperson, Energy and Environment Committee and Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Executive Director (HR & Admin.) - CESC Limited & President (HR) – Power Group, RPSG. Mr. Deb A Mukherjee delivered the Welcome Address. Ms. Sophie Ross, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner Kolkata and Deputy Head of Political and Bilateral Affairs British High Commission, India set the Context for COP26. They were all present in person at the Chamber. 

Ms. Melinda Pavek, Consul General, U S Consulate Kolkata joined the Conclave virtually and it was her first appearance after her appointment as the U.S Consul General, Kolkata. Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance (ISA) and also a ‘Friend of the COP’ was present in the Conclave and delivered the Keynote Address - Vision of ISA for Enabling Finance Flow for Solar. Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Executive Vice Chairperson, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) was also present virtually. Ambassador Manjeev Singh Purishared his views on Global Perspective.

Dr. Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), & Director, Society for Environmental Communications; & Publisher, Down To Earth was felicitated on Leadership in Sustainability. 

She said "Energy transition issue and the energy access issue combined together gives a solution for the poor in the world and that can be done with green energy resources. We need to talk about action today and to do that we need to focus on 2030 and not Net-Zero. Net-Zero believes too much on the role of absorptive capacity of the sinks. We know today the amount of uncertainty in calculating that. The ability to form an inclusive, affordable future is at core of sustainable future for India. It’s not about climate change but about the co-benefits that we will get of being able to not just walk the talk but run the talk and move ahead with greater speed." 

Ms. Sophie Ross, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner Kolkata and Deputy Head of Political and Bilateral Affairs British High Commission, India, said, “With only two months to COP 26, the message is absolutely clear: we must act now to tackle climate change, before it is too late. But amid crisis there is always opportunity.  Climate action is not a narrative of cost, but one of sustainable economic growth – and green growth is profitable. We need to transform the world’s economies towards new, low-emission pathways and India is well-positioned to play a leading role in this process globally. We are glad to be working with Indian States, including West Bengal, in the journey towards a greener and prosperous future for us all.” 

The Conclave featured COP26 enhancing the pace of Sustainability in Business. The Session included:

• Mr. Subir Chakraborty, Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Exide Industries Limited
• Mr. Raghav Raj Kanoria, Managing Director, India Power Corporation Limited
  Mr. Harish Saran, Executive Director, Marketing & Commercial, PTC India Limited 
• Mr. M C Rakshit, Executive Director - Commercial, Damodar Valley Corporation
• Mr. Chandan Sengupta, Senior Vice President and Head Marketing & Commodity Business, Haldia Petrochemicals Limited
• Ms. Madhulika Sharma, Chief Corporate Sustainability, Tata Steel Limited
• Mr Gaurav D Joshi, Senior Environmental Specialist, World Bank 

Mr. Abraham George Stephanos, President Designate, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Managing Director, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited moderated the session. 

The UK Hour was focused on COP 26 and Clean Transition-Sharing of best practices and new opportunities. The session was moderated by Mr. Gautam Ray, Chairperson, Energy and Environment Committee and Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Executive Director (HR & Admin.) - CESC Limited & President (HR) – Power Group, RPSG. Ms. Libby Green, COP26 Diplomacy Lead and Head of Climate and Energy pillar, British High Commission New Delhi | UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office delivered the Welcome Address of the session. The speakers were 

• Ms. Shamala Evans-Gadgil, Transport, Innovation and Infrastructure Lead Consultant, Coventry City Council, UK
• Ms. LianiBagliettoCastellares and Ms. Ira Gupta, Advisory Services Lead, ARUP 
• Mr Andrew Stokes, Business Development Manager, Energy Systems Catapults, UK
• Mr Joe Phelan, Director-India, World Business Council
• Ms. Swati Madan, Project Officer, Energy Transitions, India,  The Climate Group
• Mr.Hemang Shah, India Head, EO Charging UK 

The endeavour was to address on the Journey towards Net Zero by various approaches and engaging with diversified stakeholders. 

Green Entrepreneurship

Two promising Start Ups with their unique innovations joined this Session moderated by Mr. Sanjiva de Silva, Counsellor (Industry, Science, Energy and Resources), Australian High Commission New Delhi moderated the session. 

• Mr. Arijit Das, Incubate, Webel-BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre, Founder and CEO of Schoppen Solutions Pvt Ltd spoke on AI based Bee Corridor
• Mr. Nikky Jha, Co-founder & CEO, Saptkrishi addressed on Nature based storage solutions for Agri Products

Water Forum 

This session was chaired by Mr. Arun Kumar Mukherjee, Mentor, Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The speakers were 

• Dr Ajay Pradhan, President, Consulting Engineers Association of India and Managing Director, Cetus Consulting Solutions Services
• Mr. Rudranarayan Kumar, Chief Manager -Business Development &Mr. Akshan Gupta, Manager - Finance & Accounts, Swach Environment Pvt Ltd
• Dr. Abhijit Mukherjee, Associate Professor- Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
• Mr A B Pandiya, Former Chairman, Central Water Commission 

Building climate resilience for vulnerable landscapes 

Mr. Jayanta Chakraborty, Chairperson, Agriculture & Rural Development Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Senior General Manager, Indofil Industries Limited delivered the Opening Remarks of the Session and Dr. PalattyAlleshSinu, Assistant Professor, Central University of Kerala moderated the session. The speakers were 

• Dr. Robert John Chandran, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education And Research Kolkata
• Dr. Silanjan Bhattacharya, Professor, Department of Zoology, West Bengal State Technological University
• Dr. Renee Borges, Professor, The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 

Moving towards Cleaner Fuels 

Mr. Suresh P Manglani, CEO, Adani Total Gas Ltd chaired and gave the opening remarks. The speakers were 

• Mr Hiren Mehta, AVP and Head - Marketing and Commercial, H-Energy Group of Companies
• Mr. SatyabarataBairagi, CEO, Bengal Gas Company Ltd 

Transition to Renewable Energy 

MrAlokeMookherjea, Past President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry chaired the session. The speakers were 

• Mr. Jason Marenda, Senior Manager, Power Engineers
• Mr Rahul Kale, Founder and CEO, Sun Power Renewables 

Dynamics of Carbon Credit Market and Green Funding 

The session was moderated by Mr. Gautam Ray, Chairperson, Energy and Environment Committee and Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Executive Director (HR & Admin.) - CESC Limited & President (HR) – Power Group, RPSG. 

• Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group
• Ms. Sarah Dobie, Manager, Resilience Programs, Climate Resilience Consulting 

A special feature of this year Conclave was engagement with children. The Chamber had collaborated with Vawsum, an incubate at WEBEL BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre, and curated a creative platform for students in which they may engage, sharing a brief video of their creative expression on their perspective and vision for a ‘Green Planet’. The aim is to engage students to build climate-sensitive ecosystem for the future. The winners are: 

• Yuvraj Kamlesh Khimlaniof  Class I, Cygnus World School, Gujarat 
• MannatPankulArneja, of Calss IV, DLF Public School, Ghaziabad 
• Gargi D Borah of Class VII, Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Golaghat, Assam 

This children after their presentation had interaction with jury members which include Mr. Arun Kumar Mukherjee, Mentor, Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Anjan Chakravarty, Member,Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Director, All Wave Consultancy,Mr Sanjeev Ranjan,  Member,Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Deputy General Manager- Commercial, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, Mr. Ashok Kr Goswami, Member,Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and  Group Head - New Initiative, India Power Corporation Limited, Dr. Sudipta De,  Member,Energy and Environment Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University. 

The programme was streamed in multiple digital platforms including cloud streaming and interactions designed for the Conclave.