Workshop on “Know Your Carbon Footprint Associated with Climate Change” held in Guwahati

Guwahati, Feb 12: With an aim to emphasise on minimising carbon footprints, a Guwahati based environmental organisation Voice of Environment (VoE), conducted a workshop on "Know Your Carbon Footprint Associated with Climate Change".

The workshop focused on the urgent need to minimise CO2, as an increase in it would put the Paris Agreement's (adopted by 196 parties at COP 21 in Paris in 2015) goals out of reach. Scientists have warned that emissions must halve this decade if the world is to limit global temperature rises to 1.50 C, beyond which the effects of climate breakdown will envelope the globe. VoE has taken the lead in environmental education.

The workshop further laid stress on the need to create awareness in primary, secondary, and higher education about climate change due to the excess heat of greenhouse gases, especially the abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.

VoE is aligned with international initiatives like the UNFCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997), Paris Agreement (2015). The discussion session has kicked off in the presence of Mr. Suresh Kumar, who has 15 years of experience in the environment, water, sanitation, and climate change with various UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Bank (KFW), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in India as well as in Africa and South East Asia over the globe, as a speaker; Dr. Anu Sharma, Lecturer Higher Education Department, Jammu and Kashmir, Moharana Choudhury, an environmentalist and researcher from Guwahati, Assam, was moderator of the session.

Dr. Anu Sharma explained the concept of the carbon footprint emitted by an individual, a group of people, or an institution in a broader way. Mr. Suresh Kumar, explained the cause of carbon dioxide emissions at the individual and household level, the reason and source of carbon footprint emissions, and their mitigation. He also talked about the anthropogenic factors that cause CO2 emissions; on the other hand, and it encourages people to control their carbon footprints by reducing, reusing, and recycling the process.

To combat climate change, the session concluded that we should all reconsider and review our carbon footprints by reducing our uses and consumption an average we releasing more than 2Kg CO2 if we travel 10 km with individuals diesel or petrol car.