8/13/2019 Ecobiz Newsletter II Issue
1/4
Recentappenings
Our MissionPromong, praccing, studying,
commenng on & communi-
cang about sustainable business
& social pracces for the devel-
opment of the society.
Content The Jyrngam enets
Part of the paper presented by
Dr Natalie Kharkongor at Oxford Carbon Emission Trading
A fallacy of averages Swaayam
Empowering women for lasngsuccess
Food waste harms climate water land and biodiversity new FAO reportFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released a report on 11Sep13, for first of a kind study done to analyze the impacts of global foowastage from an environmental perspective, looking specifically at its consequences for the climate, water and land use, and biodiversity. The repostresses on having better policies and stresses on the importance of the neeto scale up and replicate success stories.
India and UK form Green Energy ForumIndia and UK have jointly formed a Green Energy Forum to enhance anaccelerate activities and research related to clean energy. The idea behind to introduce long-term and sustainable commercial collaboration in cleaenergy, especially with reference to power and energy sector and also work collaboratively to improve energy efficiency, for better engagemenbetween businesses and policy makers and think tanks.
Greenpeaces challenge To develop a green pump for IndiaWith a mission to green Indias agriculture further, Ingo Boltz, Global Innovation Manager of Greenpeace, is spearheading a new innovation to replace diesel pumps with a viable alternative based on renewable energGreenpeace is looking to develop a renewable energy pump that is chea(maximum Rs 1 lakh), portable and which will provide enough irrigatioperformance. Currently Greenpeace is mobilizing people for the same anhave decided on an innovation challenge which will be judged by a team oexperts to select the best design. Post the design finalization, they are planning to develop prototypes by involving companies and also farmers so as tbuild a robust model.
newsletter14th Sept 2013Issue II
The Flagship Event of
ECoBiZ Club
8/13/2019 Ecobiz Newsletter II Issue
2/4
14th September 20
newsletter
World economies have grown and developed in
terms of and in relation to their GDP. Many coun-
tries developed during these 20 years but what kind
of development have we had? What has really hap-
pened in the past 20 years? The gap between the
haves and the have nots has increased. On the
one side, there is poverty (deficit) and on the other
side, there is wastage (excess). The global economy
witnessed a high degree of imbalance in terms of
extraction and usage of resources. The state of na-
ture and its natural resources like the quality of wa-
ter and air are on a downward spiral and have
reached an alarming point.
The damage done to the ecology and the wastage of
resources all around us forms the base of The
Jyrngam Theory. The theory states that a green
activity adds value to the ecosystem and hence car-ries remuneration. Similarly, any activity leading to
environmental degradation has to be compensated.
The word Jyrngam originates from a Khasi word
which means green. It also means sustainability,
hope, life, and future. The theory has in it the two
main constituents, Jyrngam Benefits and Jyrngam
Levy. Jyrngam Benefits refers to incentives in cash
or in kind provided by the Government or any Insti-
tution to public sector, private sector, householdsand civil society for a green activity or for any con-
tribution towards enriching biodiversity or main-
taining ecological balance. The benefits can be fixed
after assigning a specific value to a green activity, On
the other hand, Jyrngam Levyrefers to payment in
cash or in kind that has to be paid for the damage
caused to the ecology. Likewise, the payment can be
fixed after assigning a specific measure to the harm
caused.
The fixation of Jyrngam BenefitsandJyrngam Levy
will vary from place to place, from sector to sector
and from activity to activity in four identified areas,
viz., environment, economic, social, and governance.
The mentioned benefits will motivate every stake-
holder to enrich biodiversity and ecology as a whole;
and the mentioned tax will tend to reduce ecological
degradation. Hence, Jyrngam Theory talks about
making this world a green, balancing and a healthy
place to live in.
Sustainability Reporting is a sine qua non for balanc-
ing global economy. It is an organizational report
that gives information about economic, environmen-
tal, social and governance performance as per GRI.
According to Corporate Sustainability Reporting of
Altonova energy & sustainability, Sustainability re-
porting makes the connection between corporate
financial performance and corporate environmental,
social and governance (ESG) behavior transparent
and traceable. Hence, Sustainability Reporting
serves as the most appropriate mechanism to ascer-
tain the amount of value added and the amount of
damage caused and thereafter fixing the benefits and
tax accordingly.The Government being an important stakeholder in
maintaining ecological balance needs to come for-
ward to support and encourage all concerned: the
public sector, private sector, and civil society to pub-
lish Sustainability Reporting leading to successful
implementation of Jyrngam Benefits and Jyrngam
Levy.
The Jyrngam TheoryBy Dr Natalie West Kharkongor
Issu
8/13/2019 Ecobiz Newsletter II Issue
3/4
Carbon Emission TradingA Fallacy Of Averages
14th September 20newsletter
A few years back, governments and international envi-
ronment bodies had grown concerned over the increas-
ing rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the
planet. The effects of global warming were evident, and
proactive steps aimed at global climate change had be-
come a necessity. Thus came into effect the Kyoto Pro-
tocol, a treaty signed by 191 countries and the Europe-
an Union, agreeing to limit their emission of green-
house gases to pre-determined standards. However, the
Kyoto Protocol also permitted international emissions
trading, which allowed developed countries to trade
their commitments under the Protocol with other
countries.
In the previous issue of ECoBiZ newsletter, we have
learnt about carbon credits. Since carbon dioxide is one
of the major components of GHG emissions, hence
carbon emissions trading (or carbon trading in short)
constitutes the bulk of international emissions trading.
Based on the permitted levels of carbon emission, all
industries / companies receive carbon credits. These
credits are then compared to their actual levels of car-
bon emission. If a company emits more carbon than it is
permitted to, it can either reduce its carbon emission
levels to the specified limits, or it can buy additional
credits in the open market, from those that emit lesser
than their permitted levels, and hence have extra credits
to sell.
Carbon trading, however, bears uncanny resemblance
to the classic fallacy of averages. The fallacy of averages
is the fallacious information that you get when you re-
place a set of data with their expected values. So, for
example, if you are standing with one foot in a block of
ice and another foot set on fire, your average body tem-
perature might appear to be fine, but the extremes w
actually kill you. By allowing carbon trading to ta
place, a similar situation arises, with carbon emitt
continuing to pollute the environment, and then buyi
carbon credits from other sellers. Since this carb
emission load gets averaged out through such tradin
there is no real incentive for heavy emitters to cut dow
their emission rates immediately. In fact, these hea
emitters can actually continue to increase their carb
emission and buy carbon credits at the same time, wh
lesser emitters keep their emissions in check and sell
their extra credits, thus leading to an overall increase
the carbon emission levels. Hence, the real incentive
cut down emissions comes only when there are no mo
extra credits available in the market to buy. Gover
ments and industries would also love such a schem
since it provides them with a considerable time lag b
fore any proactive action is required on their pa
There are underlying economic implications of carb
trading as well. The buyer of carbon credits can contue with their industrial expansion plans with les
overall environmental impact to show for, while tho
that have already sold their extra carbon credits have
curb their growth to stay within emission limits, sin
they already bear a portion of the load of carbon em
sions caused by another country.
The only feasible alternative to prevent this fallacy
averages would probably be carbon taxing. This is
simpler scheme wherein each industry / company g
taxed at a pre-determined rate for every ton of th
carbon emissions. With such taxation, it would be im
possible for a company to transfer its carbon emissi
burden to other parties, thus holding it accountable
its own emission rates and making it absolutely impe
tive for the company to cut down on its emission leve
Such a scheme, thus, tackles the initial issue of cutti
down upon the growing levels of emission, without fa
ing prey to the fallacy of averages.
Issue
By Sayar Banerji
8/13/2019 Ecobiz Newsletter II Issue
4/4
By Ernesto Dhileeban
Visitus at hps://www.facebook.com/EcobizC
14th September 20newsletter
ECoBiZ Club
Faculty Co-ordinator : Dr Natalie West Kharkongor
Members : Ernesto DhileebanHriday Bikash DasJeremy Simon NongrumPrasanthi BitrakantiRutwik Phatak
Contacts : 8974115744 / 8974055542e-mail : [email protected]
Empowering Women...
...for lasng success Stories of Change:Education:
Over 3000 SHGs are boosting literacy and lead-ership skills among 43,400 women in villages ofJaunpur, Mirzapur and Sant Ravidas nagar districts.Sheila Devi, a 35 year old mother of three says lo-cally formed SHGs have become a lifeline andlearning center for women. She says I now ensurethat my daughter is not only fed well but also goesto school
Politics:
In 2005, only 5 women stood for elections from the500 villages and none of them were elected. In 2010,764 women contested the election and 278 emergedvictorious who will lead their communities and vil-lages into an exciting future over the next five years.
Entrepreneurship:
UNDP is supporting women to set-up an equityshareholding producer company to expand dairy-related employment opportunities to 12,000 women
who will eventually supply milk to the governmentmilk grid and earn a profit a. 5 per liter of milk
Thus this unique partnership pulls together all thethreads that have direct impact on the lives of thewomen and communities- social, economic, politicaland legal through a process that taps into thestrengths of women.
In a country, where physical violence anddiscrimination against women is evident, a small ini-tiative for transforming lives of women is paying offwell in one of the poorest region of the country. In2009, a first of its kind collaboration betweenUNDP India and the IKEA foundation is launchedin 500 villages of Uttar Pradesh which aims to helpwomen secure and enhance incomes and effectivelyparticipate in and contribute to decision-making indomestic and public spheres.
Swaayam, a Sanskrit meaning by oneself isa womens empowerment initiative symbolizing theability, confidence and power of women to trans-form their own lives, the lives of their children andcommunities. The partnership takes an integratedapproach to womens empowerment with the recog-nition that real change implies change in all thespheres of a womans world- social, economic, polit-ical and legal.
As a part of the womens empowerment pro-ject in UP, UNDP is supporting 50,000 women be-longing to Self-help groups evolve a new definitionof empowerment. Activities centered on functionaland financial literacy, leadership and group manage-ment, business skill development and training onlegal rights and politics have opened all kinds ofdoors for many women.
Swaayam Issu
https://webmail.iimshillong.in/owa/redir.aspx?C=1ed430dc109547278fb90aa476fb8aa3&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fEcobizClubhttps://webmail.iimshillong.in/owa/redir.aspx?C=1ed430dc109547278fb90aa476fb8aa3&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fEcobizClubTop Related