Bihar team to showcase carbon neutrality initiatives in Egypt

PATNA: The state government is going to showcase steps taken for a carbon neutral Bihar and, in particular, the brick kiln sector besides a ground level study on green house gas emission in the state at the 27th annual meeting of Conference of Parties (COP) to be held in Egypt from November 6 to 18.
A state delegation comprising Arvind Kumar Chaudhary, principal secretary (environment forest and climate change) and S Chandrashekar, member secretary at Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB), will present the climate-friendly policies of the state government and the findings from the study on making carbon neutral brick kiln sector.
Before leaving for Egypt, Chandrasekar told TOI on Friday that he will be speaking about climate change initiatives being undertaken by the Bihar government, including Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission.
"Bihar is the first state in India to conduct a unique study to document and assess green house gas inventory sources and to come out with the adaptation and mitigation scenario. We will be sharing the initial baseline analysis and corresponding ground level mitigation techniques in the side event at India Pavilion during the COP. We are thankful to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and union ministry of environment forest and climate change for providing us this global platform to showcase our work," he said.
As per a statement issued by the BSPCB, the current study being undertaken is targeted to design strategies for making Bihar a carbon neutral state - a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.
Bihar government has pioneered the usage of greener technologies and have been involved in converting emission intensive brick kiln sector to cleaner enterprises by using environment-friendly technologies. Primary data is getting collected at ground level for the last two years, so that micro-level data is available for more realistic solutions for mitigating green house gas emission.
On being asked about steps being taken by the BSPCB to make Bihar carbon neutral, Chandrashekhar said: "Being the nodal agency of the state government in environment conservation and climate change control, we are collaborating with global organisations like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It is giving a huge opportunity to Bihar to come out with a baseline data regarding how much carbon emission is being generated here. This will help us achieve the desired targets with regard to carbon neutrality with different milestones."
At first, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with UNEP. In turn, UNEP has also collaborated with internationally acclaimed organisations like CEEW, WRI India, Development Alternatives and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation among others. This is one of its kind study being done by various think tanks and expert agencies to come out with emission inventory and strategies to make Bihar net zero by 2070.