World Environment Day: Corporates come up with solution to cut pollution
Jun 03, 2022
New Delhi [India], June 3 : With the World Environment Day 2022 being celebrated on June 5 on the theme 'Only One Earth' the corporates have come up with solutions to minimise the impact of emissions on the planet.
This year's theme 'Only One Earth' calls for a transformative change to policies and choices to enable cleaner, greener, and sustainable living in harmony with nature.
Petrol and diesel emissions contribute significantly towards the pollution of air, soil and water as well as global climate change. Despite numerous efforts by the government, India remains one of the highly polluted countries in the world and "vehicular pollution" driven by fossil fuels remains a major concern in the country, said Suyash Gupta, Director General, Indian Auto LPG Coalition.
In contrast, Auto LPG happens to be an environment-friendly fuel with a global warming potential (GWP) of zero and emits very modest amounts of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. It is also being estimated that Auto LPG not only reduces CO2 emissions by up to 15 per cent compared to petrol-powered vehicles but also eliminates nearly 80 per cent of particulate emissions on replacing a diesel engine, Gupta said.
"Considering the rising pollution levels across the country and worldwide, that can directly contaminate the surface bodies of soil and water and kill trees and affect other living beings, an instant policy transformation is required to make auto LPG a predominant vehicular fuel instead of petrol and diesel," he said.
"Also, unlike the skyrocketing prices of petrol and diesel, auto LPG is around 40-50 per cent cheaper for consumers. Thus, it becomes obvious that a concrete policy push is required to make Auto LPG the predominant vehicular fuel to support state and regional air quality management approaches by the government," Gupta added.
Amarnath Halember, Executive Director and CEO, NextG Apex India Pvt Ltd, said "The retail industry is becoming increasingly aware of the necessity of having a consistent approach to sustainability and carbon footprint management. This is something we've been advocating to all our clients, from the start--having sustainability as a best practice is the best way to a cleaner future and greener goods."
"Hence, NextG Apex promotes practices such as going paperless; choosing green packaging options which includes reduced packaging; creating eco-friendly products; focusing on recycling; reduce E-waste by ensuring single device and own device concept, selecting eco-friendly features such as LED light fixtures, water-efficient sinks, etc.; opting for green power where available; reducing transportation emissions; making green HVAC choices, etc. in our retail consulting," Halember said.
Akshit Bansal, CEO of Statiq, noted, "In 2019, India led the global score in pollution-led deaths with 2.4 million people dying due to outdoor air pollution; hence it's a key environmental issue for the nation. In this scenario, electric vehicles (EV) causing significantly lesser emissions (up to three times) over their lifetime than conventional vehicles seem like an important part of the solution."
"EVs are zero-emission vehicle options that add no greenhouse gases or air pollutants while being used and this could be a huge factor in reducing outdoor air pollution significantly. Since a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tonnes of CO2 annually and burning fossil fuels is the main cause of the Greenhouse Effect that leads to global warming and air pollution, and increasingly intense natural disasters--we need to propagate EV as the vehicle of choice, for a brighter future for the environment and us by stalling this effect." Bansal said.
