INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES ACCRA 7-9 NOVEMBER 2001 PAPER BY RAKESH KACKER SENIOR FELLOW,

, TERI, INDIA

Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) is unique organisation which is devoted to the challenge of sustainable development. TERI recently completed 25 years of its existence and this was celebrated in February 2000. The celebration included a series of conferences that underlined the Institutes efforts towards creating harmony between humankind and nature. The outcome of these conferences was a decision to hold an Annual Sustainable Development Summit at New Delhi. The first such conference was held in February 2001 which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India. TERI provided a platform to various segments of societies both national and international to look at the challenges that face us today in our quest for sustainable development. Thinkers, global leaders from government, the corporate world and the academic community as well as civil society, participated in this summit and this represents the essence of TERIs approach- combining knowledge and research with experience to provide workable solutions. 2. The key elements of TERIs approach to sustainable development are: Research at micro as well as macro levels Use of the research for knowledge dissemination and influencing policy at the macro level, as well as through micro level intervention and for educating society including school students Formulation of policies both at the national and global level that would sustain the path of development

TERI is an institute with a very pronounced focus on the problems within India. At the same time TERI has always looked to the outside world for intellectual inputs and practical experience. In the past decade the Institute has made a conscious effort to spread TERI's interests and activities globally, given that globalization will bring major changes in the way economic activities are performed and the manner in which national resources are managed. TERIs interests are spread over a wide range of activities and all of them have a bearing on the central question of sustainable development. Some of the key areas as reported in the Institutes Annual report are set out below. Energy Reforms 3. The Energy Reforms Area has been at the forefront of the restructuring and regulatory reforms in the energy sector since first assisting the Orissa electricity industry restructuring during 1997/98. The mission of the Area is to develop innovative, balanced, and comprehensive solutions in the area of regulatory reform and restructuring of the energy sector. The Area provided technical assistance to a number of regulatory commissions on such wide-ranging issues as the formulation of regulatory strategy, tariff philosophy and determination, captive power policy, environment regulation, and other points of law. The Area assisted the Government of Bangladesh in designing a tariff strategy as part of the regulatory reforms in the electricity industry through a programme sponsored by the Asian Development Bank. At the same time, the Area continued to work closely with regulated utilities in India to introduce them to a new regulatory framework and inculcate commercial principles into their work culture. Regulatory Policy 4. The objective of the Area is to undertake basic and applied research on relevant issues in infrastructure regulation, provide advice to central and state governments on regulatory reform strategies, and provide technical assistance to regulatory commissions and utilities. The Area also keeps track of national and international developments and documents experiences on regulation. It disseminates information and research results on regulatory issues, provides training, and facilitates capacity building. In addition, the Area seeks to

support different consumer forums for the effective participation of consumers in the regulatory process. Centre for Environmental Studies 5. The broad aim of the Centre is to study the environmental dimensions of various economic activities and resource-use patterns, and explore strategies to mitigate the adverse effects on the environment. It conducts applied and policy research to address environmental problems. The Centre has been studying the relations between energy and the environment in urban, industrial, and rural settings through field surveys, experiments, quantitative modelling, and economic analyses. It has examined the environmental impacts of different stages of the fuel chain: from extraction (as in coal mining) to combustion (as in a thermal power plant). This included an analysis of the impacts of air, water and land pollution on human health and ecology, stress on biomass resources, and related socioeconomic a issues. The Centre is now engaged in regional and urban environmental management plans, environmental impact assessment studies, corporate environmental initiatives (e.g. eco-rating, ISO 14001, and networking), an environmental rating system for the municipal sector, human exposure and health studies, environmental management of the mining and power sectors, waste management, and dissemination of environmental information. Resources and Development Economics 6. The Area is driven by the challenge to integrate the long-term goal of sustainable natural resource management with the immediate objectives of rapid economic growth and poverty alleviation. Research in the Area provides insights into the dynamic interaction between socio-economic processes and natural resources. The area aims at fostering socially and environmentally progressive initiatives by governments as well as communities. Rural Energy 7. The Area addresses issues of energy supply and demand and identifies viable solutions to meet growing energy needs of the rural people in a sustainable manner. The activities of the Area include rural energy planning and the evaluation of energy-conserving and

renewable-based technologies and programmes. The Area possesses the requisite skills for developing comprehensive rural and renewable energy plans. It has developed energy plans at the district and block levels for eight states Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, and West Bengal. The Area has taken up the challenge of ensuring access to the rural populace to quality energy services as a means to alleviate poverty. It views environmental deterioration as a source of continued impoverishment. The focus is on vulnerable groups in rural society (women, children, scheduled castes and tribes, the landless, and so on), who have limited means to cope with deprivation. The efforts of the Area are aimed at decentralization of services (credit, installation and maintenance, product customization, capacity-building, etc.) and other institutional processes required to operationalize such a decentralized system. 8. Apart from these the Institute has many areas like forestry ,bio-diversity, biotechnology where apart from policy work there is actual ground work in areas like tissue culture, joint forest management programmes. The linkages between environmental, social and economic issues are a central theme for all of TERIs work. Being in a developing country the need for economic development is axiomatic. The challenge is to combine this with environmental and social concerns. These linkages inform TERIs work in every sphere. As an example the work done in renewables exemplifies the need to combine the need for economic growth with social and environmental concerns. An outstanding example is the establishment of TERIs Retreat. This is a training complex that gets all its energy requirements from renewables. The air conditioning in this complex comes from a unique system that pumps air from underground making use of the fact that this air is at a constant temperature, right through the year. Thus the pumped air cools in summer and warms in the winter. This demonstrates the possibility of using nature in a sustainable manner without giving up the requirements of comfort. 9. To further improve the integration of environmental, social and economic concerns what is required is to find technical solutions that combine these concerns and then to establish

institutions and mechanisms that would ensure that this integration is sustained. The use of market mechanisms help to ensure efficient use of resources. Competitive mechanisms and markets would help in this objective. This needs to be complemented by policy interventions that correct market failures. Thus use of environmental regulations along with market based instruments would correct the tendency of the market to understate the cost to future generations. Social concerns can be addressed by well targeted subsidies as well as by processes that enhance growth and policies that directly attack poverty. These would ensure that the incomes of the poor are enhanced to levels at which they can effectively participate in the market. 10. India being a democracy the government is the key stakeholder, and being the representative of the people is expected to reflect the concerns of the various stakeholders. The legislature is also a forum where laws and budgets of the government, both at the centre and in the states, are approved. Here again different stakeholders can express their views and influence Governments policies. This apart the government does consult different stakeholders on specific policies and also at the time of drawing up the five year plans. Thus TERI is associated in the working groups of the five year plans in the areas of its expertise. Seminars and workshops also provide a platform for different stakeholders to contribute to the formulation of strategies related to plans and programmes for sustainable development. Government also constitutes committees from time to time on specific sectoral problems and issues these committees also include representatives from various elements of society representing different interests. 11. Education and awareness are the key to ensuring the success of the strategy of sustainable development. These have contributed to the increasing integration of the social concerns, which include environmental concerns and the purely economic concerns. TERI therefore recognises the importance of outreach and propagation of its ideas and this is a core part of its activities. This starts from school children and goes upto organising seminars of the type mentioned in the earlier part of this paper. TERI had also undertaken a study (Green India Study) which analyses the experience of the first 50 years of Indias independence(1947-1997) from the perspective of lessons

learnt for sustainable development. This has been followed up with a study (DISHA Directions, Innovations and Strategies for Harnessing Action ) on what the next 50 years (1997-2047) are going to look like and what directional changes need to be made for the purpose of ensuring a sustainable trajectory for the countrys future development.