Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar today conferred the Climate Solver Awards which seek to encourage cutting edge technologies that ultimately contribute to reduction in Carbon Emissions. The awards constituted by WWF-India is an attempt to catalyze an enabling environment for climate innovations. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Javadekar said Innovation was the sustainable way of development for any Country. It was innovation which impacted the society in Geometric Proportions. Quoting an example of Solar Panels in Gujarat, Shri Javadekar said, it was the innovative use of Solar Energy that gave three pronged benefits to the society. These included enhancement of energy efficiency, saving land resources and minimizing evaporation of water due to placing of solar panels on the banks of Irrigation canals in Gujarat.
Speaking further he said the mantra for the new Government focused on Cleaner energy through a well defined roadmap. The Minister touched upon several key climate friendly initiatives that had been introduced in the Union Budget this year. It included cess on coal increased form Rs.50/ton to Rs.100/ton, raising more revenue for Clean energy, cross-subsidizing solar and other renewable energy research in the field of clean energy technologies, Rs 100 crores allocated for the "National Adaptation Fund" for climate change and Rs. 500 crores allocated for Setting-up of Ultra Mega Solar Projects in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Laddakh to promote the Renewable energy.
Shri Javadekar also released a report on “Solar Air Conditioning and Solar Desalination in India”. Appreciating the comprehensive study on renewable energy, the Minister said the initiative encouraged the use of similar technologies by local communities which would solve the problem of energy, water and environment in an integrated manner. Launched by WWF-Sweden in 2008, Climate Solver is a climate innovations platform developed by WWF to strengthen the development and widespread use of low carbon technologies, which reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The platform aims to stimulate the diffusion of innovative low carbon technologies and also generate awareness about them as immediate and practical solutions to climate change. In this initiative, small and medium-sized enterprises are characterized as innovative firms with the potential to become leaders in India and the world in tackling climate change. They are selected as Climate Solvers based on their development of cutting-edge technologies that contribute to reducing carbon emissions or enabling energy access through sustainable clean energy solutions.