New Delhi, Oct 28 The Karnataka government is exploring ways to monetise 130 million tonnes of carbon in the state, and a recently constituted task force has adopted Kolar district to implement its net zero plan, Upendra Tripathy, advisor to the chief minister on climate change, said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the ‘Karnataka Policy Forum’ here, Tripathy said the state generates roughly 170 million tonnes of carbon, of which nature absorbs 30 million tonnes. The remaining 130 million tonnes need to be decarbonised.
“We have to believe in net zero to save Earth and future generations,” said Tripathy, who is also vice-chairperson of the state task force on net zero, set up in July. Karnataka is the only state with such a task force, he said.
The chief minister’s idea is to capitalise on and monetise the 130 million tonnes to compensate for emissions and reach net zero.
“We are adopting Kolar to achieve the net zero plan and scale it to other districts,” Tripathy said, adding that gram panchayats, city municipalities and grassroots communities will be engaged in implementation.
He said multilateral bodies have weakened on climate, citing the US withdrawal from the International Solar Alliance. Military emissions from the war in the Middle East have themselves become a new hazard in global emission calculations, he added.
“In such a time, provinces have a bigger role to supplement.”
We are fighting three important things – global warming, biodiversity and pollution,” he said.
The state can aim to monetise at least 5 million tonnes of carbon by 2030, which is “not a big quantity” for Karnataka, Tripathy said. It is achievable if 10 companies each decarbonise at least 0.5 million tonnes, he added.
The forum is the first initiative of its kind by Karnataka Bhawan in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI). It will hold a series of meetings with different stakeholders to discuss state policies. Ranjeet Mehta, CEO and secretary general of PHDCCI, said meetings would be held on different topics.
Resident Commissioner Sameer Shukla said the forum is not a one-time event. As this was the first meeting, the topic was generic, but future sessions would be more specific, he said.
“This forum is not a lobby forum; it is a forum for open discussion,” Shukla said, adding that it will not make recommendations.
The Chief Minister has mandated that Karnataka Bhawan should not be merely “a transit place” but a venue for regular discussion, while the Chief Secretary has asked for dialogue on issues concerning the state, he said.
The forum will bring together stakeholders from the Centre and the states, embassies and domain experts. It aims to review how existing policies have performed and to identify new initiatives that could be advocated at the national and state levels, Shukla said.
(PTI News)
