The session was moderated by Mr Vikram Chandra, CEO and Managing
Director, NDTV Networks, India which also saw Dr R K Pachauri
being honoured with the Commander of the Order of the White
Rose by HE Mr Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland. While
conferring the award, the Prime Minister appreciated the significant
achievements of Dr Pachauri especially with regard to the IPCC
that he has led so ably. Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister
Vanhanen, Dr Pachauri promised to live up to the spirit of the
honour.
The dinner session was showcased the spirit of the Lighting a Billion Lives campaign which is committed to the dissemination of solar lanterns into villages where many people do not yet have access to electricity and all productive activities come to a standstill with setting sun. It was noted that there are about 1.6 billion such people in the world, 400 million of whom are in India.
Axel Hilgers, Director-South Asia, Lufthansa observed that though mobility by air is often seen as a threat due to the resultant carbon emission. He stated that the aviation industry is taking a number of measures, for example, Lufthansa has reduced its fuel consumption from 6.3 to 4.2 litres per passenger per 100 kilometres since 1990. The world’s largest aviation company is also taking measures to bring down its fuel consumption further, exploring the options of alternative fuel, and supporting carbon credit. He also mentioned that in due course the image of the aviation industry is going to change. Dr Farooq Abdul lah, Hon’bl e Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India expressed concerns that people were still using kerosene or wood as sources of fuel which are hazardous to human health. Referring to the LaBL, he observed that this could be a small beginning, but little drops of water make great rivers which in turn make mighty oceans. He expressed his confidence in the initiative which he thought is going to change the world particularly for the underprivileged people. He also explained how the initiative is providing benefits to the people, for example, in the Sundarbans region of West Bengal where the solar lamps have saved people from snakebites which were so common earlier. Ms Shilpa Shetty, noted Indian actor recalled how she was overwhelmed by the revolutionary initiative. It was quite appalling that so many people live without lights and it did not cost much to bring light into their lives. Shilpa stated that she had already established a foundation with the mission of lighting up the lives of village dwellers.
According to Dr R K Pachauri, such initiatives not only provide basic necessities in a sustainable manner but also enable people to take their destiny into their own hands whereby they do not need to depend on others for the supply of electricity. He lamented the fact that we could not spent 20 billion USD that could illuminate the lives of more than a billion people, but hundreds of billions of dollars could be spent on the Iraq War. He stressed that we are living in a world of distorted priorities which need to be corrected.
