<p>Bengaluru: A low carbon development roadmap for Karnataka is set to be announced soon, said T Mahesh, Director - Administration, Department of Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute, Government of Karnataka at an event on Friday.</p>.<p>The roadmap, for which the draft is already prepared, addresses sectors such as power, steel, transport, he stated at the event organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce.</p>.<p>He also reiterated several schemes in the works by the Karnataka government, such as a voluntary greenhouse gas emission disclosure reduction scheme for significant sectors. The state government is also continuing to develop a green index portal to evaluate public schemes against environmental benchmarks.</p>.Industrial output growth slows to 6-month low of 2.9% in February .<p>He pointed to the foundation formed for the afforestation of 30,000 hectares announced in the recent State Budget. Under the Bengaluru Climate Action Plan, he said the 2025–26 roadmap include afforestation targets of 50,000 hectares with CSR participation.</p>.<p>Karnataka’s climate change plan has also identified 11 critical sectors, the departments for which have been asked to come up with key performance indicators.</p>.<p>At the national level too there are various initiatives being undertaken.</p>.<p>Last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had put out a draft disclosure framework on climate-related financial risks. However, it was realised that there are different challenges in terms of the size of operations of various banks, their reach, data availability, and also in terms of the standard data which can be used for this particular disclosure, said Manish Kumar, Head - ESG and CSR, ICICI Bank said in a separate webinar organised by CareEdge on Friday.</p>.<p>RBI is going slow in coming out with a final requirement because they are assessing the preparedness of the banking sector and focusing on capacity building. It is nudging banks to perform the activity so that they can be better prepared to make the disclosure, he explained.</p>.<p>Mukund Rajan, Chairperson, ECube Investment Advisors and Environment Committee of FICCI pointed out that unlike large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tend to lack current information on new regulations, access to global best practices, or awareness on new technologies available to deploy. There is also a big issue in terms of access to finance that they often struggle with, he said.</p>.<p>Many of the SMEs are not yet ready and therefore need to be given time and guidance could be provided by bigger corporations, he urged.</p>.<p>Prabodha Acharya, Chief Sustainability Officer, JSW Group also added that while steel corporations are taking voluntary action, there is no regulatory requirement currently in place to limit emissions or achieve a net zero target.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: A low carbon development roadmap for Karnataka is set to be announced soon, said T Mahesh, Director - Administration, Department of Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute, Government of Karnataka at an event on Friday.</p>.<p>The roadmap, for which the draft is already prepared, addresses sectors such as power, steel, transport, he stated at the event organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce.</p>.<p>He also reiterated several schemes in the works by the Karnataka government, such as a voluntary greenhouse gas emission disclosure reduction scheme for significant sectors. The state government is also continuing to develop a green index portal to evaluate public schemes against environmental benchmarks.</p>.Industrial output growth slows to 6-month low of 2.9% in February .<p>He pointed to the foundation formed for the afforestation of 30,000 hectares announced in the recent State Budget. Under the Bengaluru Climate Action Plan, he said the 2025–26 roadmap include afforestation targets of 50,000 hectares with CSR participation.</p>.<p>Karnataka’s climate change plan has also identified 11 critical sectors, the departments for which have been asked to come up with key performance indicators.</p>.<p>At the national level too there are various initiatives being undertaken.</p>.<p>Last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had put out a draft disclosure framework on climate-related financial risks. However, it was realised that there are different challenges in terms of the size of operations of various banks, their reach, data availability, and also in terms of the standard data which can be used for this particular disclosure, said Manish Kumar, Head - ESG and CSR, ICICI Bank said in a separate webinar organised by CareEdge on Friday.</p>.<p>RBI is going slow in coming out with a final requirement because they are assessing the preparedness of the banking sector and focusing on capacity building. It is nudging banks to perform the activity so that they can be better prepared to make the disclosure, he explained.</p>.<p>Mukund Rajan, Chairperson, ECube Investment Advisors and Environment Committee of FICCI pointed out that unlike large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tend to lack current information on new regulations, access to global best practices, or awareness on new technologies available to deploy. There is also a big issue in terms of access to finance that they often struggle with, he said.</p>.<p>Many of the SMEs are not yet ready and therefore need to be given time and guidance could be provided by bigger corporations, he urged.</p>.<p>Prabodha Acharya, Chief Sustainability Officer, JSW Group also added that while steel corporations are taking voluntary action, there is no regulatory requirement currently in place to limit emissions or achieve a net zero target.</p>