October 2, 2016. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha, flagged off the #ACT4EARTH initiative at the Terminal 3 of Delhi’s IGI Airport, in order to rally the general public around the goal of energy efficiency.
Expressing his support to the campaign, Jayant Sinha said, “The hashtag #Act4Earth is a great initiative on Gandhi Jayanti. It is all of our responsibility to dedicate ourselves to sustainability to make this Earth a better, liveable planet for all its inhabitants.”
This initiative is a joint effort among TERI, an independent think-tank on energy, environment and sustainable development; GMR Group, the lead consortium member in DIAL which operates IGI Airport in Delhi; and the Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), which is a joint venture of state-run power companies, responsible for the implementation of the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). As part of this initiative, a photo booth has been set-up at the T3 Airport in New Delhi, inviting people to pledge their commitment towards environmental protection and sustainable development.
Speaking on this occasion, Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director-General, TERI, said, “All of us have the right and an obligation to do the right thing – to be green, to think of the future. On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, lets pledge to do the green thing. It’s the least that each one of us can do.”
Srinivas Bommidala, Chairman Airports, GMR Group, assured of GMR’s commitment and focus on energy efficiency. He said, “We strongly believe that the collaborative approach is the key for combating climate change. As part of our extensive strategy on Sustainability and much in line with Prime Minister’s vision we have taken various efficiency initiatives. These include green infrastructure such as, Solar Power Generation, Water and Waste Management initiatives. Last week, we won the accolade of Delhi Airport being the first airport in Asia-Pacific to achieve Carbon Neutral status at ACI event in Montreal, Canada. The globally reputed Airport Carbon Accreditation has upgraded Delhi Airport to “Level 3+, Neutrality which is the highest level of environmental achievement available to airports across the world under this programme. As part of Business Excellence, we see sustainability as one of our key business objectives going forward.”
India’s commitments in the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to reduce emission intensity by 33–35% between 2005 and 2030 will be no small feat. In the last two years, India has made great strides in diversifying its energy mix by moving towards renewable sources like solar and wind. Through its 8 missions against climate change, India has introduced mechanisms for monitoring the air quality and levels of pollution. This is in addition to stronger commitments to alter the energy mix and increasing the capacity of renewable energy to 40% by 2030, enhancing energy efficiency and increasing carbon taxation.
The objective of this initiative at T3 airport, is to educate and encourage general public to switch to energy-efficient mechanical and electrical systems like LED bulbs, thus, doing their bit to help India reduce its energy emissions and become more energy efficient.
