Sustainability Initiatives launched report ‘SI Imprint: Confluence’

Sustainability Initiatives launched our report ‘SI Imprint: Confluence’, a compilation of the work done by SI in the last 10 years, during the second session of ‘Golden Dialogues’ organized by VK Group on 11th March 2023. The book was released at the hands of the Chief Guest, Mr Pradeep Bhargava, Chairman, Automotive Stampings and Assemblies Limited, Pune and Former President MCCIA. The unveiling of ‘Confluence’ celebrates more than a decade of conscious efforts and endeavors towards building resilient urbanscapes. With an increasing threat to our natural resources and a pressing need to alternative ways of advancing, Ms Apoorva Kulkarni, trustee of SI, vowed to strive to innovate and invent more significant contextual solutions for sustainable development in all sectors of urbanism.
‘Golden Dialogues’ is a series of panel discussions on the topics central to the changing urbanscapes of India, organized by the VK Group, Pune, as a part of their 50th year celebrations. The second session was on the topic ‘Climate Action for Sustainability’. The panelists consisted of stalwarts in the climate action plans and policies: Guest of Honour , Prof. Amitav Mallik, Head of EECC and Founder Trustee of Pune International Center; Dr. Sunita Purushottam, Head of Sustainability at Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.; and Mr Abhishek Rajurkar, Asst. VP at National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd., moderated by Dr. Anagha Purohit, Partner at VK:e environmental.
Dr. Poorva Keskar, partner at VK:e, opened the session reminding the listeners of the adverse effects of climate change experienced on a daily basis, including floods, droughts and unpredictable weather. While cities occupy only 2% of the earth’s surface, they consume almost 78% of the world’s energy and produce almost 60% of the world’s GAG emissions. As a pioneer in bringing the issue of environmental protection into the forefront of National Security, Prof. Amitav Mallik has developed a vision for carbon-neutral PMR and convenes the Climate Collective at Pune. His talk centered around reimagining climate secure cityscapes. Dr. Sunita elaborated about her experience at the COP27 and India’s stand on the climate action policies. Rather than focusing only on ‘net-zero’ concepts, she stressed on the need to ‘reduce’ the use of resources and energy on an individual level and for the people to demand for environmentally responsible products. A financer in the construction sector, Mr Abhishek Rajurkar gave an insight about the carbon market, where carbon credits are traded as a commodity and the impact it can have on the global carbon emissions.
In collaboration with VK Group, SI also conducted a competition to increase awareness about climate change and to recognize individual efforts taken towards combating it. More than 150 people including student, faculty, employees and common citizens took part, out of which 5 Climate Champions were awarded certificates for their exceptional steps taken to reduce their personal carbon emissions.