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The science of Climate Change is well established. As per the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), set up by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), various facts about Climate Change are alarming:
- Climate Change is real and human activities are responsible for it
- The Concentration Greenhouse Gases in the Earth's atmosphere is directly related to the increase in the global temperature
- Carbon Dioxide is the most abundant (2/3rd of total) greenhouse gas and is the outcome of burning of fossil fuels
Besides, according to UN Food & Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) Climate change is putting food safety at risk and action is needed to prepare the food system for the challenges ahead. The Climate Change is not only causing adverse environmental imperative, but also severely affecting the food chains and, in turn, food security. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to devise interventions, which not only address issues of the Climate Change but also provide long-term innovative solutions to food security, sustainable livelihood and curb carbon emissions. It important to note that food security concerns have many factors affecting it, and the Climate Change is one of the factors.
Leveraging the power of Social Entrepreneurship and Start ups
The ecosystem of startups and social enterprises addressing the climate change issues has been emerging well. Social enterprises are well poised not just from the point of view of understanding the grass root challenges but also leveraging for-profit scalable model, innovation and technology, to address the challenges and creating more "green" jobs. Well designed interventions to propel and accelerate the startups in the domain on Climate Action, Circular Economy, Waste Segregation, etc. can provide innovative and scalable solutions. Further, Startups in Vertical Farming are not just providing the innovative solutions but also augments sustainable farming opportunities. Such startups can leverage the power of technology and innovation to scale and find out solutions. We at SAP have been partnering with Technology Business Incubator viz., CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad towards propelling start ups and social enterprises. Start up like, Neerx, is one such example, which provides Sustainable farming solution through soil and climate advisory, has been a part of SAP Regional Entrepreneurship programme, Innocity. Another start up The Solar Labs, enables EPCs to better design and plan solar rooftop installations thereby increasing solar energy efficiency. These are a few examples of CIIE.CO interventions. Start ups and Social Enterprises are providing innovative solutions for alternative energy, and are scaling the solutions for the communities. There is a need to augment the enabling ecosystem for such start ups and social enterprises to grow to provide solutions addressing the issues of climate change.
Scalable Non-Profit Model
Non-Profit Organizations play a significant role in addressing the issues of Climate Change and Sustainable Farming & Livelihood opportunities for the communities. With their grasp over grass root problem and strong connect with various stakeholders viz., farmers, communities, Gram Panchayats (Village Council), etc. the NPOs are well poised to provide scalable model. The rural livelihood model of SAP - SankalpTaru programme partnership is the testimony of the same.
Our rural livelihood initiative aims at not just creating green cover through fruit bearing plants, sequestering CO2, increasing water level, but also foster economic opportunities for the farmers. Another key aspect of our intervention is to restore bio-diversity and increase afforestation.
With each flourishing plant viz., Guava, Pomegranate, Mango, Jack-fruit, lemon, etc., we maximize socio-environmental impact and successfully fighting back the detrimental aspect of pollution and strengthening the livelihood of poor farmers to create a rich biodiverse ecosystem. Not just this, such intervention aims at increasing the ground water depth and increase in the green cover. All these efforts lead to conducive ecosystem for the farming. SAP has been significantly increasing our efforts towards propelling sustainable rural livelihood opportunities through non-profit partnerships. Just as an example, our effort of one of the drives yield Rs.3,020,880/season is the amount farmers can earn for 2500 trees planted in total.
Such intervention enable us the opportunities towards addressing the issues of climate action, sustainable livelihood and rural livelihood opportunities. The impact on off-setting carbon footprint is immense; the fruit producing plants not only create green cover while sequestering CO2, but also significantly enhance the economic value for various stakeholders. And needless to mention, the significant environmental benefits. Our efforts and support for our communities through both scalable non-profit model and social entrepreneurship will help us further strengthen SAP's vision of Chasing Zero.
