November 30, 2017
NITI Aayog and EU Delegation to India release the Strategy on Resource Efficiency (RE)
India’s large population, rapid urbanization and expanding industrial production have led to exploitation of available limited natural resources with concerns regarding resource depletion and future availability becoming more pronounced. Ensuring resource security requires an integrated, concerted and collaborative approach in order to fulfil the needs of a vast and growing population. Also, the environmental burdens emanating due to resource extraction, utilization and disposal, including land degradation, biodiversity loss, as well as air and water pollution remain of great concern. Enhancing resource efficiency (RE) and promoting the use of secondary raw materials (SRM) is a pertinent strategy to address these challenges and reduce dependence on primary resources.
Considering the need and in accordance with the commitment of Government of India, NITI Aayog along with the EU Delegation to India has prepared the Strategy on Resource Efficiency which includes an action plan for promoting resource efficiency in India. The document is developed with the recommendations from the Indian Resource Efficiency Programme (IREP), launched by the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Indian Resource Panel (InRP) in April 2017.The work on Resource Efficiency Strategy and proposed plan of action (core and medium term) will be supported for its implementation by the European Union (EU) funded Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU-REI) led by GIZ in the consortium with TERI, CII and Adelphi. NITI Aayog has provided key support in positioning this document for public consultation, and charting the way forward.
At the release, Mr. JigmetTakpa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said that the Ministry intends to launch aResource Efficiency (RE) Cell at MoEFCC to work with academia, relevant ministries, industry and other stakeholders to support in establishing RE policy research in the country and also support implementation of RE strategy.
Dr.Tishyarakshit Chatterjee, Indian Resource Panel member and former Secretary MoEFCC highlighted that this strategy is the first policy document to emphasize resource productivity in the country. He added that in this regard, the technology access and skilling of informal sector workers need to supported as one of the areas of work of the proposed Task Force under the Core-Action Plan of the Strategy. Sustainable Public Procurement will be an urgent step in this direction to support in the transition of the economy.
Mr. Sachin Joshi, COO of CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, said that the RE Strategy emphasizes on Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) as an action agenda which will be the market transformation tool to transform to a resource efficient economy. This uptake will be similar to the green buildings, electric vehicles and LEDs procurement in the country. He added that new tax regime will need to be looked at so that GST allows for preferential taxation of RE & SRM products.
Ms. Henriette Faergemann, Counsellor, Environment, Energy & Climate change mentioned that it is evident that RE agenda in India has gained not only national priority during the EU-India summit in October this year but also in the G 20 RE dialogue in Berlin, Germany on November 27, 2017.EU will support the GoI, especially MoEFCC and NitiAayog in implementing the RE strategy.
Mr. Ratan P. Watal, Principal Advisor, NITI Aayog,mentioned that sustainability is a global priority and SDGs commitment and 11th Five year plan clearly enunciate importance of Resource efficiency (RE). Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy are important goals and central principles for achieving sustainable development. Resource efficiency very simply put is making more with less materials. In practice, through a life-cycle approach, it leads to minimising impact on environment & the associated societal burdens, transforming ‘waste’ into ‘resources’, fostering circular economy, and strengthening resource security.
The economic rationale for this goes beyond environment and is articulated in the concept of circular economy. It is apparent that the world will have to move from a “take, make, and dispose” logic of a linear economy or what is also called or cradle to grave approach with an extractive model to a new way of designing products in a way that at the end of life, the components/materials can be easily reused and channelled back in to the production process or what is called a “cradle to cradle” approach. It is, thus, a restorative and regenerative by design – keeps products, components, and materials at their highest value and utility at all times and on all scales. The continuing fast-paced dynamic transformation of India will require it to keep abreast with the emerging challenge of depleting natural resource stock, and take proactive steps to turn this challenge into a great opportunity.
RE simply put is making more with less materials by minimizing impact on environment, transforming waste to resources to articulating circular economy by shifting to a new way of production wherein components and materials are channelized back. It is restorative strategy focussing on reducing resource stock depletion;
In India, Resource Efficiency and principles of circular economy correspond closely with several key policy priorities of the Government of India, and its ongoing missions & programmes. For instance, using resources more efficiently, bringing ‘waste’ or secondary raw materials with embedded resources into production cycle can help not only recover value, but also boost resource security for strategic materials. This will aid in achieving the goal of promoting India as a global manufacturing hub through its Make in India campaign and Zero Defect – Zero Effect scheme.
Similarly, the Smart Cities program envisages efficient urban infrastructure and the Housing for All mission has ambitious goals for affordable housing; both need judicious planning for resources to fulfil their aims. Waste and pollution reduction through adoption of RE approach can also contribute positively to the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) and Ganga Rejuvenation missions by addressing the increasing waste-loads of the urban and industrial areas both. Therefore, the rationale is overwhelming for India to adopt a comprehensive RE strategy to build on the principles of the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) patterns as central to its developmental goals.
The Strategy comes out of the recommendations of the Indian Resource Panel for an Indian Resource Efficiency Programme released by MoEFCC in April 2017. The InRP was launched on November 18, 2015 making India to be first country to have such a panel with an objective to contribute towards agenda setting for overall legislative framework and provide policy recommendations to GoI. The project has come to an end but InRP constituted under this project will continue its work with its secretariat stationed at CPCB and supported by the EU’s Resource Efficiency Initiative in India. The panel also serves as an example of the commitment and leadership of India on this pertinent issue, and can serve as a best practice for other developing and developed countries to emulate. Due to the global inter-linkages of many resources, some aspects of this strategy and InRP’s work can also serve as points for potential collaboration with the G20 and other relevant international platforms.
The resource efficiency strategy aims at mainstreaming RE strategy based on life-cycle approach targeting reduced abiotic resource use, especially of high priority materials in selected sectors and to accomplish the same with a short term and medium term action plan (Duration is December 2017 – July 2020). The key interventions of the RE strategy is to develop a baseline data collection framework for the federal as well state level, development of indicator monitoring framework, capacity development and awareness raising of the relevant stakeholders. In the medium term, the policies and tools promoting RE like recycling standards, voluntary labelling or standards promoting SRM utilization, promoting green mining practices, technological facilities for material rich wastes like e-waste, C&D and End of Life Vehicles (ELVs), Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP), economic instruments and development of sustainable industrial areas etc. is proposed. In terms of implementation of the RE strategy cooperation between NitiAayog, MoEFCC and EU – REI project is planned which will provide a multi-stakeholder engagement strategy. These elements of the RE strategy also promote India’s implementation of the SDGs by enhancing resource productivity and minimizing environmental impacts. We recognise that Resource Efficiency has the potential to make substantial contribution to meet the commitments under the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.
Furthermore, with this strategy, India can also utilise the growing international momentum, including that the G20 Resource Efficiency dialogue. The partnerships with G20 countries can bolster the efforts on capacity building on the monitoring frameworks, generating scientific evidence for material use and flows in India and globally, utilising the globally adopted methodologies, exchanging best practices on the standards to enhance competitiveness of Indian industry with an eye on the transition from linear to circular economy. Also, as the first country with a national panel, we seek for active engagement of the Indian Resource Panel with the International Resource Panel to enhance cooperation and knowledge exchange.
Key proposals proposed by Mr. Watalare establishing a Bureau on Resource Efficiency (BRE) in similar lines as BEE to provide enabling support for market transformation, G 20 RE dialogue to be used as a dissemination platform to showcase India’s commitment and RE strategy work to be picked up initially for the automobile sector looking at end of life vehicles as the first step in this direction.
The release was attended by around 75 participants covering range of stakeholders including departments in Government of India,Members of the Indian Resource Panel, International Organisations like UNIDO and European Union, Industry representatives, and research organisations like The Energy and Resources Institute.All participants welcomed this initiative of NITI Aayog and it was agreed that the Strategy Paper along with the Action plan (core and medium term) will form basis for the future action on Resource Efficiency in the country.