Bangalore - CLP today reiterated its commitment to reducing its carbon emissions to levels compatible with stabilizing the world’s climate, calling for a determined collective response to avert threat from climate change as world leaders meet at the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit in December.
In a new report, "Beyond Copenhagen - Powering Asia Responsibly"
“The world faces a dilemma of how to avoid the threat of catastrophic climate change by making massive and sustained reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide (CO2), and yet do so in a manner which does not require substantial falls in living standards in the developed world or prevent the people of the developing world from achieving their own legitimate aspirations for a better life,” said Mr Andrew Brandler, CEO of CLP Group.
“Companies like CLP are determined to play a full part in solving the climate problem. But in the absensce of strongly supportive governments, our progress will be slow. That is the leadership the power sector seeks in Copenhagen,”
CLP is also on track to meet its intermediate target of having 20% of its generating capacity coming from non-carbon emitting sources, including nuclear and renewable energy. Today the company generates 10% of its power from renewable energy like hydro, wind and solar, compared with just 1% in 2004. If including nuclear energy, total non-carbon-emitting sources stands at 14%.
“Taking the environment seriously means integrating thinking about the environment into our business in the widest sense. CLP India aims to build a balanced generation portfolio, including coal and gas-fired generation, as well as renewable energy and, in doing so, to contribute to the CLP Group’s overall target of reducing the carbon emissions from our generating plants in line with our Climate Vision 2050. Our efforts in these areas have helped cut emissions of both pollutants and greenhouse gases per unit of electricity generated,” said Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Managing Director, CLP India.
The power sector today accounts for more than 40% of the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions. Emission from the sector is forecast to double by 2030, as power begins to be delivered to the 1.6 billion people worldwide who today have no access to electricity – many of them in Asia.
“We believe that ecologically sustainable development need not be in contradiction to achieving the growth objectives of a nation. Our focus in India will continue to be on the “triple bottom line” – economic, social and environmental effects of our company policies, actions and investments which will determine our position as a sustainable organization,”
CLP’s “Beyond Copenhagen – Powering Asia Responsibly”
The report also shares the company’s experience, as an investor-operator power utility in the region, in its efforts to de-carbonise its generation. It has also identified different energies adopted in the region and the challenges they each face in their own market environment.
“There is no ‘silver bullet’ solution – alongside every advantage that attaches to a particular generating technology, there are disadvantages. That said, business as usual is not an option, either,” said Mr Brandler. “We have to accept that solutions are going to be costly, will be technologically challenging, and will need coordinated support from many other stakeholders – above all, governments. Solutions are also going to take time, because any power plant built today is likely to be with us for the next 30 to 40 years,” he continued.
CLP is one of the nine member companies of the Electricity Utilities Sector Project initiated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in 2000. CLP shares with the view of the Project that efforts of all stakeholders in the industry should be taken to address six urgent needs, namely:
1. securing investment in electricity infrastructure
2. bringing more power to more people
3. promoting end-use energy efficiency
4. diversifying and de-carbonising the generation fuel mix
5. accelerating research and development, and
6. reinforcing and smartening electricity grids
Full report of “Beyond Copenhagen – Powering Asia Responsibly”
CLP launched its Climate Manifesto in 2007 to call for urgent action for a new post-Kyoto framework that will help drive a reduction in carbon emissions by establishing effective and enforceable international agreements and structures and allow developing nations to meet their growing energy needs, without undermining the living standards achieved in the developed world.
