The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in association with H Energy, presented the 12th Edition of Environment and Energy Conclave on 29th August 2019 in ITC Sonar, Kolkata. The theme, this year, was "Sustainability and Resources Security".

The Conclave brought together State Government, Business Leaders, Overseas Policy Makers and Businesses, Think Tanks together to network and share their knowledge, vision and best practices to enable businesses, government and other stakeholders to achieve sustainable goal with special focus on resources security.

Janab Firhad Hakim, Hon'ble Mayor, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Hon'ble Minister-in-Charge, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Government of West Bengal was the Chief Guest. Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, The Energy Resources and Institute (TERI) delivered the Keynote Address. Mr. Patrick Medecin, Ambassador of Monaco to India, who visited the city for the first time travelled from Monaco, to join the Conclave. He shared "Green is the New Glam - Green activities and Sustainable Policies in Monaco - Opportunities for Cooperations and Scope of Implementations".

The Chamber felicitated Mr. Nitin Desai, Chairman, TERI for his Leadership in Sustainability in the global arena. His international contributions towards development and promotion of sustainable development as the goal of policy gained significant prominence, first as Senior Adviser and principal draftsman for 'Our Common Future', the Report of the Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development and then as Deputy Secretary-General for the Rio Earth Summit, as manager of the Commission on Sustainable Development for its first decade and as the Secretary General for the Johannesburg Summit. He was also known for his organisation of the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development, the Monterrey Summit on Finance for Development and many other global events. He was also instrumental in increasing the involvement of NGOs in the work of the UN. He has been a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Expert Group on Climate Change and has published several articles and papers on development planning, regional economics, industry, energy and international economic relations. In his career with Government of India Mr Desai worked at senior levels in the Planning Commission where he helped to establish and manage the system for the cost-benefit analysis of public investment projects. He was also the Secretary of the National Commission on the Development of Backward Areas and a Member-Secretary of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. He was the Chief Economic Adviser and Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance.

Mr. Desai also addressed on "Advocacy for Sustainability".

The Inaugural Session also included Dynamics of Power Trading in context of Sustainability and Resources Optimization by Mr. Deepak Amitabh, IRS, Chairman and Managing Director PTC India Limited and Making Coal Efficient - Towards Sustainability keeping with the Development and addressing the Power Need by Mr. P S Bhattacharyya, Former Chairman, Coal India Limited and Chairperson, Minerals and Mining Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Inaugural Session was followed by Round Table - Sustainability and Business which was joined by Mr. Sanjoy Mukherjee, Vice President - Distribution Technical, CESC Ltd.; Mr. Vinay Bajaj, Chief Strategy Officer, Exide Leclanche Energy Private Limited; Mr. Hiren Mehta, General Manager- Marketing, H-Energy and Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group. Mr. P S Bhattacharyya chaired the Discussion.

A special feature of the Conclave was Japan's Blue Sky Initiatives. It is comprised of a list of efforts implemented by Japanese public and private sectors in India to improve air pollution. Mr. Yuki Yoshida, Second Secretary( Environment), Economic Section, Embassy of Japan in India made the introduction. Mr. Yohei Maeno, Nitto Denk and Mr Hiroyuki Ito, Hitachi Zosen addressed on Dust Suppressant and Waste to Energy. Mr. Masayuki Taga, Consul General of Japan in Kolkata was also present at the Conclave.

The Japanese Group had a Meeting with the Hon'ble Mayor at the sidelines of the Conclave..

The Conclave also included a presentation on Innovative Solutions for Air Quality by Mr. Virendra Patil, Director of Sales-India, Jiangnan Environmental Technology Inc.

Regional Dialogue for World Sustainable Development Summit of TERI on "Water Secure Economies: Perspectives from the Industries" was organized as part of the Conclave in the second half. Dr. Kalyan Rudra, Chairman, West Bengal Pollution Control Board addressed in the Opening Session. The Session was commenced by Dr. Annapurna Vancheswaran, Senior Director, TERI.

The Opening Session was followed by Panel Discussion on Water Secure Economies. The Panelists were Mr. Anshuman, Senior Fellow & Associate Director, TERI; Mr. Surajit Lahiri, MD, Sunanda Environmental International Pvt Ltd. ; Mr. Mark Pattison, Cenergist Ltd. UK; Mr. Giresh Mohan, Regional Manager, Social Investments Programme, ITC Ltd. Mr Tapas Kumar Ghatak, Geophysicist, IIT Kharagpur, and Geospatial Mapping Expert was the Chairperson.

Dr. Mihir Shah, Former Member Planning Commission, Government of India delivered the Valedictory Address on 'Need for Integrated Policy for Water'. The Session was chaired by Mr. Nitin Desai.

Sunanda Environmental International Pvt. Ltd. also showcased their product of UK technology for ground water testing as Exhibitor. H Energy also put up their stall.