@ThinkTank
@ThinkTank · 2:08

Climate Change and India: In Conversation with Shloka Nath

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Now, as a country with the second largest population in the world, India has certainly borne the brunt of this mega issue. And while there have been focused efforts by various stakeholders, be it industry, the government, and the United Nations who have tried to implement efficient and viable policies, we are nowhere close to slowing down the impacts of climate change

Shloka is the acting CEO at India Climate Collaborative and head of Sustainability at Tata Trusts. #indianpoliticsonthinktank

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@ThinkTank
@ThinkTank · 0:36

Impact of climate change on low income groups

Now, Shoka, my first question pertains to the disproportionate impact that climate change has had on communities in India. As we are all aware, there are roughly 800 million people living below the poverty line as per several estimates. Now I was wondering what you have learned from studying this issue closely. What are some of the impacts that it has on, say, agricultural groups and the rural economy?
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@ThinkTank
@ThinkTank · 0:42

Addressing the knowledge gap

My second question is related to climate financing. Shloka. Now, as someone who works with philanthropists and entrepreneurs, what are some of the barriers to funding? I understand that 50% or maybe over 50% percent of funding goes to education and health care. And probably the biggest problem is really the knowledge around climate change. And that's one of the biggest goals that the ICC seeks to work on
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@ThinkTank
@ThinkTank · 0:13

Climate change as a personal issue

My third question, pertains to the influence that this issue has had on you growing up, what really got you interested in the climate change issue and what are the inspirations behind the India Climate collaborative
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@ThinkTank
@ThinkTank · 0:19

Grassroots solutions

Now Shloka on a grassroots level, there have been a lot of solutions that activists and environmentalists have come up with, but what are some of the India centric solutions in terms of policy and things that people can work on on the ground, which you see is something that the government needs to focus on more
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@ThinkTank
@ThinkTank · 0:33

A message for the world

And Shloka. My final question is regarding what you think the India story is, what world you really like the world to know about India's battle against climate change. And if you were to point to certain groups of people or a certain activism, for example, that are doing work that you think deserve more recognition, what would they be? And if there's any other parting message that you'd like to leave us with and with that
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@shlokanath
Shloka Nath
@shlokanath · 4:56

@ThinkTank

According to a number of studies, India has the potential to actually cut 18% of its annual greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture as well as related sectors. So this is really the landscape that we're working in when it comes to agriculture and climate change. I mean, I also want to mention that India really also faces extreme pressure on its land given its high population density and growth, given our low agricultural productivity. We also have very unsustainable agricultural practices
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@shlokanath
Shloka Nath
@shlokanath · 3:39

@ThinkTank

Because they can increase national ambition, they can make patient bets, they can be flexible and take risks, they can fortify relationships across stakeholders, as well as innovative and pilot new solutions that can be scaled by private or public actors. Not to mention the fact that here in India, engaging philanthropic leaders has a cross sectoral impact because it really enables access to a broader pool of finance, given that a majority of Indian foundations are actually associated with large corporate houses
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@shlokanath
Shloka Nath
@shlokanath · 4:36

@ThinkTank

But I'm someone who came to it both from, as I said, this perspective of a deeply sort of personal connection to the planet and the world around us, but also from this perspective of someone who had historically always been interested in the interconnections between the sociopolitical economic aspects of our world. And that's the interesting thing with climate is that it's such an overarching issue
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@shlokanath
Shloka Nath
@shlokanath · 2:19

@ThinkTank

And you'll hear more about that soon as well. But that is a huge focus area for us as well. It's developing a pipeline of opportunities that we can directly funding and finance towards
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@shlokanath
Shloka Nath
@shlokanath · 2:57

@ThinkTank

We look to identify and activate leverage points that can create really significant and positive impact on climate change mitigation, as well as for building resilience for communities across India. I just want to end by saying that I am incredibly optimistic about our ability to meet the crisis where it's at. I do really believe in the power of community led action. I know currently you requested me to list any sort of folks who really stand out
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@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@ThinkTank
@ThinkTank · 0:32

Thank you 🙏

Shloka, thank you so much for this truly insightful conversation. We've learned so much from listening to you, and there are a lot of areas that I know that are yet to be discussed. And on that note, I'd like to open up this conversation. So if anyone has any questions or comments, please, please feel free to post it on the thread itself
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@Bmat
Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 1:54

How to balance need for development with the need to combat climate change.

Often what we find is that the quest for economic development, for economic growth, for infrastructure, for industrialization, is often at loggerheads with the goal to ensure that the development we do is sustainable and that it doesn't have any adverse effect on the climate. So my question would be that is there a sort of balanced approach which we can take to ensure that both economic development and climate action can go hand in hand?
@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:15

A day on your life? @shlokanath

Is it done for you by the agenda of your organization, or do you have a daily rigor that you sort of follow based on what's hot, what's not, stuff like that? I would just be so interested. I'm sure other people will be, too. And again, thank you for being here
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