Indo-German Expert Group holds major dialogue on green and inclusive economy

Emerging countries like India need a major financial push to boost adoption of green technologies that are key to sustainable and clean development, and the government needs to bring private sector and financiers on board to achieve this goal, experts from India and Germany agreed at a bilateral conference on Green & Inclusive Economy recently.

The conference on ‘Green and Inclusive Economy – a Contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ held during the last week of October 2015 focused on the issue of green and inclusive development, which does not leave out marginalised communities, and does not cause further damage to the planet.

“India and Germany share many common concerns for economic growth and are working together to achieve the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. India needs inclusive growth that also achieves employment generation and poverty alleviation. India and Germany have been sharing dialogues for a green and inclusive economy for a long time and GIZ has been working with India for nearly 60 years. Together, we hope to achieve the unattainable and are highly committed to our cause,” said Ms Tanja Feldmann, Country Manager, India, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

“The world today is moving towards a greener and sustainable economy but the major obstacle towards achieving sustainable development is lack of adequate of finance to support green technologies. The international business and financial community needs to be taken into confidence and taken on board. Global savings last year amounted to nearly 7.5 trillion dollars and a green and inclusive economy will require approximately 4 trillion dollars. It’s necessary to have standing conference on global finance allocation,” said Mr Rathin Roy, Director of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

Other speakers at the conference included Mr Suneel Pandey, Senior Fellow and Director, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Mr Ambuj D Sagar, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Mr Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Mr D Raghunandan, Delhi Science Forum & Director, Centre for Technology & Development, Mr Appukuttan Damodaran, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Ms Anandi Iyer, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung, Ms Kirsten Jorgensen, Freie Universität Berlin and Mr Jagan Shah, National Institute of Urban Affairs.