EFICOR participated in the 8th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2008 held in New Delhi from 7th to 9th February 2008 organized by TERI. The event was held in the background of the increasing concerns related to climate change in the world today that have even been articulated in the fourth assessment report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The event was attended by more then 700 delegates from 20 different counties. The various topics covered were Mitigation and Adaptation Policies for Sustainable Development, Climate Change: Plain Speak, Addressing Climate Change: Vision 2050, Technology and Enabling Policies- Options in the Energy Sector, Emerging Issues of Climate Change: The Business Voice, and Mainstreaming Climate Change: The Media Outlook etc.

The inaugural session was addressed by the honorable Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at Vigyan Bhavan on 7 February 2008. The Summit generated greater significance as it connects issues related to sustainable development with climate change, and emphasized to encourage activities that need to be undertaken for sustainable development across the globe.

The debate on climate change gained further momentum after the 13th COP (Conference of Parties) held at Bali in December 2007 in which EFICOR took part, and the DSDS 2008 is expected to take forward the discussions on both the challenges and the opportunities facing the world today. The impacts of climate change are global and unequivocal, but ironically are felt most by the poorer sections of society who have contributed least in polluting the environment. The measures adopted for combating climate change would also translate into action against poverty, and organizations like TERI have a responsibility to create a climate for this change.

The presenters repeatedly mentioned that India needs to take the lead and be a frontrunner in taking steps to tackle climate change. Developing countries need to find a middle path between development and addressing the sustainability challenges with the forward-looking policy interventions. For example, the subsidies on products like kerosene could be shifted to environmentally benign technologies such as solar devices.

It may be mentioned here that EFICOR is a lead partner of Tearfund UK in advocating the issue of Climate Change especially within the framework of adaptation and mitigation measures of to reduce the negative impact of greenhouse gas emissions.

The event was attended by Rev. Dino L Touthang, Executive Director, Rev. Kennedy Dhanabalan, Director-Development Education and Capacity Building, Mr. Sanjeev K Bhanja Director- Programs and Mr. Ramesh Babu, Manager- Direct Projects.